To tell you the recipe for the Eggplant of the Fainted Imam also called Imam Baildi I start with the premise that in many, I would say the majority of the recipes I have read to better document myself, the whole eggplants should be fried!
On one hand, I like being faithful to those who have over time studied a preparation that starts from traditions and legends of a country or a religion, but on the other, the idea of eating and then proposing an original Turkish ethnic recipe with an eggplant dripping with oil because it’s fried did not appeal to me, so, while apologizing to the faithful executors of the Eggplant of the Fainted Imam Baildi, I BAKED the protagonist vegetable of the preparation and clearly ate it too!
This eggplant recipe is widespread throughout the Middle East, including the Balkan states influenced by the Ottomans like Albania, Greece, and also in Armenia and Iran.
The Eggplants of the Fainted Imam are a flavorful and aromatic Turkish traditional dish.
It is a dish with eggplants stuffed with onion and tomato, a very old vegetarian recipe perfect for a summer dinner that we can serve hot or cold!
BIG QUESTION…WHY is this eggplant-based recipe called “of the Fainted Imam” or Imam Baildi in Turkish?
There are more versions of the IMAM BAILDI recipe from the research I did on the web….
• The first recipe, and perhaps the one I would also give, is the one that says he had a fainting spell (poor guy) thinking about the absurd amount of oil where the eggplant was cooked and which he would then have ingested due to the famous transitive property (if A equals B and C equals B, then A and C are equal as well!)
• The second recipe of the Eggplant of the Fainted Imam is that this dish was cooked during Ramadan and the scents, the aromas of the dish, so intoxicated the Imam to the point of making him lose consciousness…
• The third recipe, and perhaps the one closest to the truth, speaks of the marriage between the imam and the daughter of a rich merchant, who brought as dowry 12 bags of the finest olive oil. The wife cooked these Imam Baildi Eggplants with onions for the first time, and the husband was favorably impressed and asked for them again the next day and again and again! He asked for them for 13 days straight and on the next request (and we are at 14🤢) the wife had to confess that the oil was finished and he had a breakdown, fainting to the ground!!
Perhaps none of these is the original one, but this dish for those who love onions is definitely flavorful, and so, stop with the words and let’s move on to preparing these stuffed eggplants with onion and some tomato Turkish recipe!
°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°
I have opened an open and free recipe channel on WhatsApp with no notifications and no sound, which you can subscribe to by clicking on the link here https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaHbGIn9cDDig7Cw2x0F and every day you can read one sweet and one savory recipe!
°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°
EGGPLANT OF THE FAINTED IMAM (IMAM BAILDI)
The kitchen of ASI
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Very cheap
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 2
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Turkish
- Seasonality: Summer
Ingredients
- 1 eggplant
- 2 white onions (large)
- 1 tomato (large and ripe)
- 2 tablespoons tomato puree
- 1 clove garlic
- to taste parsley
- to taste salt
- to taste pepper
- to taste extra virgin olive oil
- to taste sugar (a pinch in the tomato sauce … classic advice, right?)
Tools
#adv
- Baking sheets
- Knives
- Cutting boards
- Pans
Steps
1) as mentioned above I preferred to bake the eggplants, so after washing and cutting it in half, I scored the inner flesh and placed it in a baking sheet lined with parchment paper with the cut side lightly oiled and placed down on the paper itself
2) I bake at 356°F for about 20/25 minutes or until the flesh is well cooked;
3) I scoop out with a spoon the inner cream of the eggplant and put it on a plate;
4) while the eggplant is baking, in a pan I add 2 tablespoons of oil and when it is hot I put the clove of garlic and the onions peeled and cut into thin rings;
5) now I continue the preparation of the Turkish eggplant recipe I cook for about 10/15 minutes stirring and pouring a ladle of water if necessary, the onions must become almost transparent;
6) While waiting to add the eggplant flesh baked in the oven I place in the pan with the onions the washed and quartered tomatoes, a pinch of sugar continuing cooking at moderate heat and preferably with the lid on;
7) when the eggplant is ready I excavate the tender and tasty interior and add it to the pan with the rest of the filling of the Eggplant of the Fainted Imam (Imam Baildi);
8) I adjust for salt and pepper (if I prefer, I can add cinnamon, chili pepper, and pine nuts, turning off the heat after 3/4 minutes).
9) I stuff the baked eggplant halves with this onion-based mix and bake with a sprinkle of parsley and a drizzle of oil for about 10 minutes and serve on the table.
Bon appetit and good cooking with the summer recipe of eggplants stuffed with onion and tomato!
Annalisa
The blog already has many eggplant recipes and I’ll leave you the most-read ones
RETURN TO THE HOME FOR NEW AND TASTY RECIPES from the ASI KITCHEN BLOG
Do you like my recipes? Then follow me on your favorite social network! You can find me on INSTAGRAM PINTEREST YOUTUBE TWITTER and on the blog’s page on Facebook to not miss any recipe or special and to comment with me on the various preparations!!!
Copyright © 2022 Annalisa Altini, All rights reserved
Sources of inspiration for various recipes and other information here and there
Annalisa recommends…
1) ANOTHER NECESSARY CLARIFICATION for this Turkish recipe is that it is suitable for those who love onion… if you don’t like it even if it’s very cooked I would say transparent, tender and with a pinch of sugar so with a softer aroma, you can read another little eggplant-based recipe here!
2) There are many versions also with different cooking methods of the recipe of the Eggplant of the Fainted Imam: frying, baking, additions of pine nuts, chili peppers, cinnamon, often accompanied by Greek feta or yogurt, flavored with mint and honey and….
3) To make it a single dish we can serve them with couscous or with long-grain Basmati rice, little ideas to try as soon as possible!
