Imam Bayildi is an excellent vegetable side dish. It certainly shows the Ottoman influence over Greek cuisine. This is a dish with a legend behind it… google it for a fun look at this story. Excellent served hot, warm, or even at room temperature.

Ingredients:
2 lg eggplant
1/2-1 6 oz (157) ml can of tomato paste
1 lg onion
2 sprigs of mint – basil is another option
3 cloves garlic
salt & pepper, to taste
olive oil for frying and cooking
water, as needed

18 Comments

  1. My grandmother was Armenian and she spoke turkish and it is spelled Imam Bialdi but is pronounced Imam Bindy. I hope that helps. 🙂

  2. I have noticed that female eggplant have 3 times the seeds of male eggplant.

  3. My mom always rinses the salted eggplant in col running water quickly and patted them dry with a kitchen towel nefore drying in olive oil, staarting with skin side down. for 10 minutes then the cut sides for 5 minutes each. The skins should turn brown and the cut sides should also form a brown crust. Use plenty of olive oil. The egg plant should become warm butter soft, or like brie cheese soft.

  4. My mom always used both spearmint and parsley for the filling. Plus green bell pepper and one large tomato diced.

  5. The water steams the onion instead of caramelizing them. You want them to become transluscent.

  6. My mo cut her eggplant in halftop to bottom and then cut each half into quatyrtds. fry them skin side down first then the cut sides. and set aside to cook one the filling is done cooking she would split each piece darefully so as not to cut through the skin. then stuff each piece with a tablesppon of four of the filling. The eggplant pieces she placed in a baking tray and bake for a half hour at 350F. She sould sreave it with pilaf and a green saladm abd some pita bread to dip into the sauce.

  7. so tasty! what do you traditionaly serve it with ? just bread or some other sidedish like rice ?

  8. Outstanding video. Thx. Actually I'm amazed at so few comments. I guess everyone is too busy eating Imam Bayildi.

  9. NOT Greek! The name itself is Turkish. Imam is a Muslim clergy and Bayıldı means fainted (from pleasure in this case, swooning is a good description).

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