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Imam Bayildi with Rice Pilaf

This is one of my favourite Turkish dishes. Translated literally, Imam Bayildi means ‘the imam fainted’. The story goes that the imam fainted upon hearing how much olive oil goes into this dish – an ingredient so expensive that it made the poor imam swoon at the cost of what he had just eaten. Smaller aubergines work best for this dish as they soften more quickly. Imam Bayildi is a mezze traditionally eaten at room temperature, but I like it just as much straight out of the oven.

I made this Imam Bayildi in the third Istanbul episode of my show, you can watch it here.

This is a recipe from my second cookbook “Anne’s Kitchen – Barcelona, Istanbul, Berlin”.

October 24, 2014
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