Imam bayildi

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Imam bayildi[1] ( Turkish: İmambayıldı, litarally: "the imam fainted" [1][2]), one of the most notable Turkish zeytinyağlı (olive oil) dishes, is braised eggplant stuffed with onion, garlic and tomatoes.

This is usually considered as deriving from the tale of an imam, who swooned with pleasure at the flavor when presented with this dish by his wife, although other accounts suggest he fainted at the cost of the ingredients.[3]

Another folktale relates that an imam married the daughter of an olive oil merchant. Her dowry consisted of several jars of the finest olive oil, with which she prepared each evening eggplant cooked in that oil and with tomatoes and onions. On the thirteenth day, there's no eggplant dish at the table. When informed that there was no more olive oil, the imam faints.[4]

It is a kind of meze as a vegetarian dish. It consists of eggplant stuffed with onion, garlic, and tomatoes, then simmered in olive oil. It is served cold like other dishes cooked with olive oil.

Imam bayildi is also well known in Bulgaria and Greece, with the same Turkish name. It is also generally known in the Arab world, as imam bayouldi.[5]

[edit] See also

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ a b Jennifer Speake, Mark LaFlaur. "imam bayildi." (English). The Oxford Essential Dictionary of Foreign Terms in English. Oxford University Press. Retrieved on 2008-04-16.
  2. ^ "imambayıldı." (Turkish). Online Turkish Dictionary. Turkish Language Association. Retrieved on 2008-04-16.
  3. ^ John Auto, The Glutton's Glossary: A Dictionary of Food and Drink Terms, Routledge, 1990, ISBN 0415026474, p. 146
  4. ^ Gregory McNamee Movable Feasts: The History, Science, and Lore of Food, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2006, ISBN 0275989313, p. 82
  5. ^ Marie Karam Khayat and Margaret Clark Keatinge, Food from the Arab World, Khayats, Beirut, 1961
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