İmam bayıldı (literally: "the imam fainted" in Turkish) is a Turkish dish consisting of whole aubergine stuffed with onion, garlic and tomatoes, and simmered in olive oil. It is a (olive oil-based) dish and is found in most of the former Ottoman regions. The dish is served at room temperature or warm.
Origin of the name Legend has it that Imam Bayıldı earned its name from an Imam (a religious leader) who fainted upon tasting the delectable flavors of this dish prepared by his wife.
A Turkish folk tale relates a different version in which the imam married the daughter of an olive oil merchant. Her dowry consisted of twelve jars of the finest olive oil, with which she prepared an aubergine dish with tomatoes and onions each evening until she had used all the oil, so she could not serve the dish on the thirteenth day. In response, the imam fainted.Gregory McNamee Movable Feasts: The History, Science, and Lore of Food, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2006, , p. 82. Yet another folk tale suggest that the a Greek cook prepared it for the imam.
Geographic distribution
Imam bayildi is also well-known under minor variants of the Turkish name in Bulgaria, North Macedonia, southern part of Romania (Brăila, Constanța etc), Greece ( ),Less commonly known as , , aubergines "imam" Albania and Kosovo (imam ballajdi), Armenia, and the Arab world (, ),Marie Karam Khayat and Margaret Clark Keatinge, Food from the Arab World, Khayats, Beirut, 1961. and in English as "Imam bayeldi". During Ottoman times, the dish also spread to Anatolia's Pontian minority; in their language, it's called .
Variants An imam bayıldı made with ground meat becomes a karnıyarık.
See also Caponata List of eggplant dishes
References