İmam Bayıldı (Olive Oil Braised Stuffed Eggplant)

Ingredients

• 4 eggplant, small and slender
• 2 tsp salt
• 1½ dl olive oil
• 3 onion, halved and thinly sliced
• 8 garlic, thinly sliced
• 1 green bell pepper, finely sliced
• 4 tomato, three diced and one cut into rounds
• 4 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
• 1 tsp white sugar
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• ½ tsp black pepper
• 1½ dl water, warm

Method

1. 1.

   Slit and salt the eggplants — Peel the eggplants in stripes so alternating bands of skin remain, then cut one deep slit lengthways in each, stopping short of the stem and the base so they stay in one piece. Rub the cuts with 1 teaspoon of the salt, sink the eggplants in a bowl of cold salted water and leave for 30 minutes to draw out the bitterness.

2. 2.

   Fry the eggplants soft — Drain and pat the eggplants bone dry. Heat 4 tablespoons of the olive oil in a wide frying pan and fry them over medium heat for 8-10 minutes, turning, until the skin blisters and the flesh yields easily when pressed. Lay them slit side up in a baking dish just big enough to hold them snugly.

3. 3.

   Cook the onion and pepper filling — Pour the remaining olive oil into the same pan, add the onion and green pepper and cook over low heat for 15 minutes, stirring often, until completely soft and sweet with no colour at all. Stir in the garlic and diced tomatoes and cook 5 minutes more, then take the pan off the heat and fold through three-quarters of the parsley, half a teaspoon of salt and the black pepper.

4. 4.

   Stuff and cap with tomato — Open each eggplant into a wide pocket using two forks and pack the filling in, heaping it well above the rim — they should look overstuffed, because the flesh sinks as it bakes. Cap each one with a slice of tomato.

5. 5.

   Braise in the oven — Whisk the sugar and lemon juice into the warm water with a pinch of salt and pour it around, not over, the eggplants. Bake at 180 °C for 45 minutes, basting twice with the pan juices, until the eggplants collapse at the touch of a spoon and the liquid has reduced to a glossy, oily syrup.

6. 6.

   Cool before serving — Let them cool in the dish for at least 30 minutes — this is a dish eaten warm or at room temperature, never straight from the oven, and it is better still the next day. Spoon the pan juices back over and scatter with the remaining parsley.