“Imam Bayaldy”, the recipe of which we will consider below, is a very tasty and satisfying Arabic dish, which is very popular in Turkey. It should be especially noted that the name of such a dinner has a lot of translation options (“The Imam went crazy,” “The Imam lost his senses,” “The Imam was stunned,” etc.). But all of them, one way or another, convey the state that occurs after eating this unusual and very tasty dish.
"Imam Bayaldy": a recipe for cooking Arabic dishes
Required Products:
- large young eggplant - 2 pcs.;
- medium onions - 3 pcs.;
- Bulgarian pepper of any color - 2 pcs.;
- ripe red tomato - 6 pcs.;
- fresh greens (parsley, dill) - half the bunch;
- Odorless vegetable oil - 75 ml;
- small table salt - add to the dish to taste;
- allspice black ground - a few pinches;
- small fresh garlic - 7-10 cloves.
Processing the main ingredient
The dish “Imam Bayaldy”, the recipe of which is surprisingly simple, requires the use of only young and fresh vegetables. Indeed, if you purchase an older product for this dinner, then it will turn out not as tasty and juicy as we would like. Thus, you should take 2 large eggplants, wash them well, and then make a deep pocket-incision and remove the peel cross-wise. After this, the vegetables need to be dipped in slightly salted water and kept there for 45 minutes. This procedure should completely deprive them of bitterness.
To make the Imam Bayaldy dish more aromatic and tasty, the soaked eggplant should be washed, dried and fried in vegetable oil from all sides. After the product is covered with a delicious and beautiful crust, it must be laid out on paper napkins and deprived of all fat.
Preparing the filling
Eggplant "Imam Bayaldy" require careful processing of vegetable fillings. To do this, peel the onions and garlic, and then chop them into small cubes and fry them in a saucepan until golden brown, using oil.
In addition to these vegetables, this dish also includes products such as fresh bell peppers and ripe tomatoes. To deprive vegetables of a hard film-peel, they should be washed well and scalded with boiling water. Next, the vegetables must be finely chopped with a knife and also fried in sunflower oil.
After all the components of the filling are thermally processed, they need to be combined in one dish, and then seasoned with salt, allspice and chopped fresh herbs.
Shaping and baking dishes
To form such an unusual vegetable dinner, you should take a deep form, put ½ part of the filling on its surface, and fill the pockets of eggplant with the other half. Next, the stuffed vegetables must be placed in the dishes (on top of the substrate), and covered with cooking foil on top. In this position, an Arabic dish must be baked in the oven for half an hour at a temperature of 180 degrees.
How to serve for dinner
The dish "Imam Bayaldy", the recipe of which is presented above, it is advisable to serve in a hot condition with bread, herbs and fresh garlic.