İmam bayıldı – eggplant with tomatoes and onions
One possible variant of the food originated from the era of the Ottoman Empire. The direct translation of the dish name sounds like Imam’s fainted The fairy-tale accompanying this food says that when Imam came home and finished eting the dinner, he examined a woman what were the ingredients of the food and if hearing that it contained black pepper, cinnamon and olive oil, because of the high price he fainted. Apparently, times have changed a lot and nowadays even the eggplant is not very expensive in the autumn, neither cinnamon and black pepper.
Try to cook this food and surprise your family or friends. Hardly anyone is fainting on it, but anyway it’s quite tasty meal.
Preparation time: preparation time 20 min, cooking time 30-40 min
Level: easy
Serves: four
Ingredients
1 big or several small eggplants (to cover two layers of the cooking pan)
1 400ml can of chopped tomatoes
1 medium onion
2 garlic cloves
0,25 ts cinnamon
3-4 tbs Olive oil
Bunch of parsley to garnish
Black pepper and salt
Preparation
1. Cut the eggplants into 1 cm thick slices and bake in a dry pan on both sides at high heat for a few minutes, put aside
2 Chop finely the garlic and the onion
3. Mix tomato sauce chopped tomatoes, 3-4 tablespoons of olive oil, add chopped onions and garlic, add salt and pepper
4. Place the eggplant slices side by side into a heat-proof, season with salt and cover with tomato sauce
5. Place the second layer on the eggplant, season and add the remaining sauce.
6. Cook at 250 degrees for 30-40 minutes until the eggplant is very soft.
Serve with baked potatoes, rice or bread. This food is also suitable to eat both warm and cold as main or side dish.
Ready!
