İmam bayıldı
İmam bayıldı ( Turkish for “The Imam passed out from delight”; Greek Ιμάμ Μπαϊλντί Imam Baildi ) is a vegetable dish made from stuffed, braised eggplants in Turkey , Albania, Bulgaria and Greece . Legend has it that an imam (prayer leader) fainted with delight when he tried it for the first time because of the extremely delicious taste - hence the name of the recipe.
For preparation, the aubergines are peeled lengthways from the base of the stem four to six times in a width of about one centimeter so that the aubergines look striped. They are then soaked in salt water until they are filled so that they do not turn brown. In the meantime, the filling is made from skinned, diced tomatoes , green, mild, finely chopped peppers , chopped flat parsley , very finely chopped onions , garlic and various spices - in the classic variant salt, thyme , black pepper , nutmeg and / or cinnamon and some sugar - manufactured. Some cooks add a finely chopped anchovy fillet to each eggplant . Then the aubergines are patted dry and slit lengthways at a peeled point, filled and placed in a flat roasting pan. After a mixture of hot broth and olive oil has been poured over them, they are cooked in the oven over medium heat for around 45 minutes.
İmam bayıldı can be served warm with rice and other side dishes or cold as a starter.
Another Turkish dish is prepared in a very similar way: Patlıcan karnıyarık . The main difference is that the filling also contains minced meat . Like most minced meat dishes, Patlıcan karnıyarık, unlike İmam bayıldı, is only served warm in classic Turkish cuisine.
literature
- Adil Beytorun, Roswitha Beytorun: From Turkish Kitchens . BLV Verlag, Munich et al. 1984, ISBN 3-405-13205-3 , ( BLV, idea and practice / eating and enjoying 525/526).