Imam Bayildi
Whole aubergines split, stuffed with sweet onion and tomato, and braised in olive oil until they can be cut with a spoon.
- Prep
- 30m
- Cook
- 1h 15m
- Waiting
- 1h
- Total
- 2h 45m
- Serves
- 4
- Effort
- Moderate
Method
Tap a step number to mark it done. Tap an ingredient once for got it, twice for need it.
| 4 | Salt the split aubergines 20 minutes, rinse, then fry until browned on all sides 30m Frying first sets the skin so they hold their shape through a long braise. | Open the aubergines out, pack the filling in and settle them in the pan 10m Snug and upright, so they braise in the liquid rather than floating in it. | Braise covered on the lowest heat for 55 minutes, then cool to room temperature 1h 55m An hour of cooling is not optional. Hot, the oil sits on the tongue; cool, it tastes of the aubergine. | |
| 2 tsp | ||||
| 5 tbsp | ||||
| 3 | Cook the onions slowly until sweet and translucent, then add the tomato 25m No colour on the onions. This filling should be sweet and soft, not caramelised. | |||
| 100 ml | ||||
| 6 cloves | ||||
| 3 | ||||
| 1 tsp | ||||
| 1 1/2 tsp | ||||
| a large handful | ||||
| 150 ml | Pour around the aubergines, not over them 2m | |||
| 2 tbsp | ||||
| 3 tbsp | ||||
-
Salt the split aubergines 20 minutes, rinse, then fry until browned on all sides
30m- small aubergines 4
- coarse salt 2 tsp
- olive oil 5 tbsp
Frying first sets the skin so they hold their shape through a long braise.
-
Cook the onions slowly until sweet and translucent, then add the tomato
25m- onions 3
- extra virgin olive oil 100 ml
- garlic 6 cloves
- tomatoes 3
- caster sugar 1 tsp
- fine salt 1 1/2 tsp
- flat-leaf parsley a large handful
No colour on the onions. This filling should be sweet and soft, not caramelised.
-
Open the aubergines out, pack the filling in and settle them in the pan
10m- from 1 Salt the split aubergines 20 minutes, rinse, then fry until browned on all sides
- from 2 Cook the onions slowly until sweet and translucent, then add the tomato
Snug and upright, so they braise in the liquid rather than floating in it.
-
Pour around the aubergines, not over them
2m- water 150 ml
- lemon juice 2 tbsp
- extra virgin olive oil 3 tbsp
-
Braise covered on the lowest heat for 55 minutes, then cool to room temperature
1h 55m- from 3 Open the aubergines out, pack the filling in and settle them in the pan
- from 4 Pour around the aubergines, not over them
An hour of cooling is not optional. Hot, the oil sits on the tongue; cool, it tastes of the aubergine.
Why so much olive oil
The name translates as the imam fainted, and the usual explanation is the quantity of oil. It is doing real work. Aubergine flesh is a sponge of air pockets that collapse when heated, and oil filling those spaces conducts heat evenly and stops the flesh drying to leather over an hour of braising. It also carries the fat-soluble aromatics out of the garlic and parsley into every part of the dish.
Salting before frying is worth the twenty minutes: it collapses some of that sponge structure in advance, so the aubergine absorbs noticeably less oil.
Notes
- Small, firm aubergines with tight skin. Large ones go seedy and bitter.
- Keep the heat low enough that you can only just hear it. A hard braise splits the skins.
- Made the day before is better. It is a room-temperature dish by design.