Imam Bayildi

What's in a name
Aubergines, olive oil, tomatoes and a good story.

Shortly before the recent Jubilee Weekend I had a meal with a couple of friends at what is fast becoming one of my favourite eating houses in town. This little gem of a place lists itself as Mediterranean but it leans heavily towards the eastern (Turkish) end. Having kicked off with a table full of dips and big basket of flat breads, two of us had gone for a main course of aubergine stuffed with seasoned mince beef and cheese. This was delicious. So much so that been in the middle of an aubergine phase (my pasta sauce of choice at the moment is aubergine and tomato) I decided to see if I could knock up something similar in my own little kitchen.

The menu called our aubergine dish 'Imam Bayildi'. But was it?

Do we have a case under the Food Description Act...

Imam Bayildi literally translates from the Turkish as 'the imam (priest) is exhilarated' or even more literally 'the imam fainted'. The name allegedly comes from the story of a Turkish imam, who swooned with pleasure at the taste of the dish when it was presented to him by his wife. A slightly more cynical version is that he fainted at the cost of the ingredients or the amount of oil used in the cooking. An even more imaginative tale relates that an imam married the daughter of an olive oil merchant. Her dowry consisted of twelve jars of the finest olive oil, which she used to cook aubergine with tomatoes and onions each evening. On the thirteenth day, there was no evening meal for the imam's table. When informed by his new wife that there was no more olive oil, the imam was so overcome he fainted.

Now I'm a great lover of olive oil and have tins and bottles of the stuff in my kitchen, but whether using my last drop would make me faint I'm not so sure. Obviously which version you go with is up to you but, as a Yorkshireman by birth, the cost of the ingredients has a certain ring of possibility for me. On balance though I go for the swooning with pleasure story. Call me an old romantic if you want but the combination of good olive oil and aubergine has more than a little effect on my own sense of well being (and balance).

Enough about the name and the lovely stories behind it, we are trying to determine here if the dish my friend and I had really was Imam Bayildi. Well we have already had a little clue from the story of the new wife and her dowry. She as you remember made the meal with oil, aubergine, tomatoes and onion - no meat! And indeed every recipe I have been able to find for Imam Bayildi is veggie – no meat.

So what was the aubergine, mince beef and cheese dish we both enjoyed that evening?

There is apparently a similar dish to Imam Bayildi called Karniyarik and this does include mince, or as the American speaking world seems to call it, ground meat. As you can imagine Karniyarik has it's own super descriptive translation and that is 'riven belly' or even better 'split belly'.

Lets have a look at a couple of recipes, one for Imam Bayildi and one for Karniyarik. I'm not saying these are truly authentic or classic recipes as my knowledge of Turkish cuisine is not that great but they do seem to be pretty standard.

Imam Bayildi: All the recipes I looked at for both this dish and the Karniyarik dish start by peeling the aubergine lengthways in stripes and then either frying in olive oil or baking in the oven until soft. With this in mind I decided to grill mine! I employed a little trick I got from Simon Hopkinson. This involves running a small sharp knife, only just cutting through the skin, round the top of the aubergine just below the stalk, then making an even number of evenly spaced, similarly shallow cuts along the length of the aubergine right down to the end. Then after 20 mins or so of grilling on all sides you can easily peel away alternate strips of aubergine skin using the small knife.

While the grilling is happening finely chop some onion and soften gently in a pan with lots of good olive oil. While the aubergine is grilling and the onion is softening skin two or three nice red tomatoes and chop. When the onion is softened add a finely chopped or crushed garlic clove and cook for a minute or so longer then take off the heat. Now add the chopped tomatoes and any juice to the pan with a good handful of chopped flat leaf parsley, a squeeze of lemon and a decent pinch of sugar. Season and gently mix all the ingredients together. Some recipes say to add a spoonful or so of water but there seemed to be enough juice from the tomatoes for me.

Now cut the stalk off the softened and striped aubergine then cut it in half lengthways. Lay in an oven proof dish cut side up. Carefully make criss cross cuts in the flesh making sure you don't go all the way through and us the back of a spoon to make the two halves into 'boats'. Pile the onion and tomato mix into the indents spreading any remaining mix over the length of the aubergine. Drizzle with more olive oil if you like (and I like). Cover the dish with foil and bake in a moderate oven for 40 to 45 mins removing the foil for the last 15 mins.

Imam Bayildi is apparently classed as an olive oil dish in Turkish cuisine and as such and should be eaten at room temperature, so leave to cool. I left mine to cool for as long as I could but it was still pretty warm when I got stuck in. You, dear reader MUST 'do as I say and not as I do' and have more self control and leave to cool fully (I'll be checking).

Karniyarik: Prepare the aubergine as for the Imam Bayildi but do not cut the stalk off or cut in half. Instead lay the aubergine in the oven proof dish then cut into the aubergine down its length and open up using a spoon till it resembles a 'split belly' and set aside.

For the belly stuffing fry a finely chopped onion in a little corn or vegetable oil, a little harsher than for the Imam Bayildi. When it is starting to colour add a finely sliced clove of garlic and give it a minute or so before adding some diced green pepper. Keep a couple of slices of pepper for placing on top of the stuffed aubergine later. Give the onion, garlic and pepper a stir to coat the diced pepper in oil before the adding the mince (about 250g for two large aubergines) and brown. When the meat is browned and most of the liquid has been cooked off season and add the spices. A lot of recipes I looked at didn't mention spices as such but some mentioned all spice, cinnamon and paprika. I just went with a little all spice but only out of sympathy as it has been sitting in the cupboard unloved for some time. Add a couple of skinned and diced tomatoes and a good squeeze of tomato paste. Give it a couple of minutes to cook the paste through then remove from the heat and stir in a large handful of chopped flat leaf parsley.

Stuff your belly! Spoon the mince mixture into the 'belly' of the aubergine then decorate the top with the slices of green pepper and a slice or wedge of tomato. Now 'let down' (a touch of Rick Stein there) a spoonful of tomato paste with some hot water. Pour this around the stuffed aubergine.

As with the previous recipe, cover the dish with foil and bake in a moderate oven for 40 to 45 mins removing the foil for the last 15 mins. Fortunately unlike the Imam Bayildi this is classed as a meat dish and as such should be eaten hot, so no tortuous waiting for it to cool. Straight in there, serve up on a plate with the red tomato sauce spooned around the aubergine.

I know this doesn't make any sense but these two dishes are very similar but very different. I enjoyed them both equally and even though I say so myself they certainly looked the part on the plate.

Was the dish we had in our little restaurant Imam Bayildi? Well on this evidence definitely not. Was the dish we had in our little restaurant Karniyarik? Well maybe a version of. Was the dish we had in our little restaurant really delicious? Most defiantly. Does it matter the name was wrong? No, most definitely not!

I notice that one amateur internet reviewer claimed the Kleftiko at our little restaurant was not authentic either. Well it would be wrong for me to comment without trying it first so it looks like another visit is called for.

Any offers...