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Published: Aug 5, 2021 · Modified: Aug 7, 2021 by Yusuf

Turkish Imam Bayildi Recipe

Name: Turkish Imam Bayildi Recipe
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 1 h 10 min
Total time: 1 h 25 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Turkish
Ingredients: 4 medium eggplants; 4 tablespoon olive oil; 4 tablespoon olive oil; 1 medium onion, chopped or sliced; ¼ cup sweet green peppers, chopped; 3 large tomatoes, peeled and diced; 3 cloves garlic, chopped; ½ teaspoon sugar; 1 teaspoon salt; ½ teaspoon black pepper; 2 tablespoon fresh mint, chopped; 2 tablespoon parsley, chopped; 1 cup water; 1 tablespoon tomato paste

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Imam Bayildi is a well-known and popular vegan and vegetarian eggplant dish in Turkish cuisine. Roasted eggplants are stuffed with a plant-based filling containing onions, fresh ripe tomatoes, and a few herbs and basic spices. This is an incredibly easy recipe to make and you can even freeze it for future use!

For a meatier version of this dish, try our karniyarik recipe. It is almost the same but contains ground beef. If you are looking for some other delicious vegan and vegetarian dishes, you can try our delicious vegetarian cauliflower casserole or our Turkish okra aka bamya recipe.

Imam bayildi eggplants served with tomato sauce, herbs and a half lemon in a white oval dish.

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What is Imam Bayildi?
Why We Like This Recipe
About The Ingredients
How to Make
Serving Suggestions
Tips
FAQs
More Eggplant Recipes
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What is Imam Bayildi?

The name is broken up into two words; “imam” refers to a religious leader in Islam who works in mosques. “Bayildi” means fainted and is used in the Turkish language to describe how much you love something.

Together, imam bayildi basically means imam fainted; a way to describe how much an imam once loved this dish.

What is the difference between Turkish stuffed eggplants called karniyarik and imam bayildi? They are very similar to each other. Karniyarik is made with a filling consisting of ground beef, onions, peppers, tomato paste, and spices. Imam bayildi is made without ground beef and also contains some additional herbs and served at room temperature.

Imam bayıldı also has very little sugar in it. Sugar is often used in such Turkish vegetarian dishes that are served cold or at room temperature.

Another difference between them is that imam bayildi is one of those vegetarian Turkish foods that we serve cold or at room temperature and with a generous amount of extra virgin olive oil. It is even considered a type of mezze.

Imam bayildi is mostly paired with other vegetarian cold dishes like braised green beans with tomatoes, stuffed artichoke bottoms, fresh fava beans and served on the same plate in restaurants. The perfect summer mezze platter!

Why We Like This Recipe

This is an easy recipe to make. Despite taking a while to make, it technically only has three steps; roast the eggplant, make the filling, stuff, and roast them again.
You serve them in individual portions. If you struggle with portion size then this is the perfect dish for you. You can serve one to two stuffed eggplants per person depending on the size. This will also help you figure out how much to make for your guests.
It looks fancy. With that boat shape, it looks really appealing on a plate. Perfect for dinner parties! You can garnish it with more herbs if you like.
This is a healthy version of imam bayildi. Unlike the traditional recipe which calls for frying eggplants, we roast the eggplants. It cuts out a ton of unnecessary fats. All of the ingredients are also unprocessed and all-natural.
This is a tasty vegetarian recipe that is not heavy. You know we love a light tasty vegetable dish in summer, so this is a fantastic alternative for karniyarik.
It is freezer friendly. You can make it ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator for up to 4 days and in the freezer for up to 3 months.

About The Ingredients

This is a very simple imam bayildi recipe that uses basic ingredients in the best way possible. The combination of different ingredients creates a very well-balanced and delicious flavor.

Eggplants, a green pepper, an onion, a bunch of parsley and mint, olive oil, garlic, tomato paste and spices in mini bowls on a grey background.

The hero ingredient is obviously the eggplants/aubergines. Globe eggplants, also known as Italian eggplants, work the best for this recipe. Choose good quality eggplants to directly improve the overall quality of your dish.

The filling consists of onions, green peppers, tomatoes, garlic, salt and pepper, and some fresh parsley and mint.

The simple sauce calls for tomato paste and water. It is obviously the best when you have homemade tomato paste made from summer tomatoes. But if you are in a hurry, you can use store-bought tomato paste or puree.

Olive oil is the second hero ingredient in this recipe. Be generous about it when you are making imam bayıldı. As in most Turkish eggplant recipes, we use a good amount of olive oil to give the dish a nice and rich flavor. We even love to drizzle some over each right before serving. YUM!

How to Make

This recipe does take a while to make, but is definitely worth the effort! All of the ingredients in this recipe are beautifully blended to create a well-balanced flavor profile that is not only healthy but filling as well.

Hands pricking an eggplant with a fork and more eggplants on a grilling rack.

First, prepare the eggplants. Preheat your oven and line a baking pan with non-stick baking paper. Peel the eggplants in strips without removing the stem. Allow them to soak in salted water for 15 minutes and then gently squeeze out excess water and pat them dry with a paper towel. Prick some holes on the eggplants using a fork.

Hands oiling eggplants on a grilling rack with a brush.

Brush each eggplant with some olive oil, and bake them in the oven for roughly 30 minutes or until they are tender.

Chopped onion and pepper, pureed tomato and garlic cooking in a white pan.

Second, prepare the filling. Heat the olive oil and sauté the onions until they are translucent. Add the chopped green peppers and cook them for about 2-3 minutes. Then, add in your tomatoes, garlic, sugar, salt, and black pepper.

Imam bayildi filling with tomatoes, onions and herbs in a white pan.

Cook these ingredients together for roughly 5 minutes. Remove the filling from the heat and add your freshly chopped mint and parsley.

Stuffing roasted eggplants with tomato and onion filling with a spoon.

Third, stuff the eggplants. Cut a slit on each eggplant without slicing all the way through. Use a teaspoon to make a boat shape for the filling to lay in. Divide the filling between all of the eggplants.

Next, make the sauce. In a small bowl, whisk together the water and tomato paste and pour the sauce over the eggplants. Place them in the oven again and continue baking them for 40 minutes.

Imambayildi in a white baking pan with tomato sauce and chopped herbs.

Remove from the oven and serve at room temperature or chilled.

Serving Suggestions

Traditionally, we love serving imam bayildi with some homemade yogurt or cacik (a cucumber yogurt dip), and some delicious side dishes like rice orzo pilaf or bulgur pilaf.

If you like you can create your own menu and simply pair it with whatever you like as a side dish. Buckwheat groats might be a great gluten-free option or wheat berries for a nutty grain option.

You can, however, also serve this dish as part of a mezze platter. These platters can include a wide variety of fresh fruits and vegetables served with a variety of traditional Turkish dips and sauces.

It also includes some finger foods like cig kofte, lentil balls aka mercimek koftesi, stuffed grape leaves dolma, or some Turkish sigara borek. These are only a few of our many mezze platter recipes you can find.

Stuffed roasted eggplants topped with tomato sauce and herbs in a white dish.

Tips

Definitely choose the best eggplants like globe eggplants and the best tomatoes you can find, even if it comes at a slightly higher price tag.
You have to soak the eggplants in salted water. Not only does it help soften them and extract extra moisture, but they help remove the bitterness that eggplants have.
The same goes for poking holes in your eggplant before roasting it. These holes will help your eggplant cook better and more evenly. Skipping this step can cause some parts to be overcooked while others aren’t cooked enough.
Do not be shy when using olive oil. This is a type of olive oil dish and especially when roasting them, it is important to use a generous amount. Before serving this dish, add even more olive oil!
You can fry your eggplants instead of roasting them.
If there are any leftovers, you can easily wrap and freeze them for up to 3 months.

FAQs

Is imam bayildi and karniyarik the same?

Although they seem to be very similar, these two dishes are not the same. Karniyarik contains ground meat while imam bayildi is a vegetarian dish. Imam bayildi also contains sugar and additional herbs which karniyarik doesn’t.

Can I cook it in a pan over the stove?

You can definitely prepare these in a pan. You would follow the exact same method, but instead of roasting the eggplants, you fry them (or steam them) in a pan on the stovetop.
Also, instead of baking the stuffed eggplants, place them in a pan and cook them covered on the stovetop over medium low heat.

Can I freeze it?

This recipe does freeze well. You can stuff the eggplants and either freeze them before the second roasting or after.
Either way, wrap each tightly in plastic wrap, then foil. You can also place them in a freezer-safe container for extra protection.

Can I substitute tomato puree for tomato paste?

You can definitely substitute these two ingredients. Tomato paste has a slightly more intense and bitter tomato-like flavor, however, the added sugar in this recipe will counteract that.

More Eggplant Recipes

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