Roland asked in my log so I am posting the story and recipe of a dish that is said to have made the imam (muslim high priest) faint with delight when he first tried it. In the Ottoman empire most cooks were Armenian so where this dish comes from is still a topic of dispute. The vegetable part of this dish is probably of indian origin, while the meat part is clearly of armenian or turkish origin. In 90% of the cases this dish has no meat and meat is served on the side. I like to combine things and think of this as the closest easy dish to chili that Bulgaria has.
spices:
you can go crazy here, but the essentials are: cinnamon, cumin, mint, black pepper and sweet red pepper. Put it as much as you like.
Wrap the aubergines and zucchini in aluminum foil and cook in the oven for 30 minutes. When they cool off, dice them and set aside.
Dice all other vegetables and quickly stir fry them in a pan using 1 tbsp olive oil. When slightly cooked, set aside. Cook the beef in a pan, adding all the spices. Mix all the precooked ingredients in a baking pan or pot, add 1/2 cup water, tbps olive oil and the tomato sauce and bake for 30-40 minutes stirring occasionally. It tastes great cold and hot. You can serve it with yogurt or feta cheese on the side, as well as wrapped in a tortilla (I bet!). One thing about this dish is the more oil you put in, the better it tastes. Originally, all vegetable ingredients are fried so you can imagine how much oil it has before you modify the recipe.
I have used this as on a halibut dish at the restaurant, except I cut the eggplant, zuchini and tomatoes into rounds (1/4" thick) and then roast them in the oven. I sautee the onions (small dice) and garlic (minced) separately with thyme, bay leaf deglazed with sherry, and then spread the mixture on a sheet pan. Over the onion garlic mixture I make overlapping rows of eggplant, followed by zuchini and then tomato (I also throw in some yellow zuchini for color). I then put the sheet pan into the fridge.
Crank your oven up to 400 F. On the stove, get a saute pan smoking, and sear a piece of halibut (seasoned with S&P) on one side then transfer to a oven safe pan, seared side up (my saute pans are oven safe, so i just flip it over). Place a layer of the veggies on top of the halibut, and the place it in the over to finish cooking. The juice from the vegetable will season the fish as it cooks.
I serve it over some saffron cous-cous with pureed roasted red peppers (red pepper coulis)
Takes a little prep time, but once you have the veggies done, it is a quick and easy dish.
Ahhh.... I thought maybe Bulgaria tried to purge itself of Ottoman rule culture (much like the Spaniards tried after the Moorish rule). I've seen the dish in the middle eastern states and Turkey.
I've made this a few times, but thought I'd bump it up again for those people doing TNT. Normal people can eat it with some pita bread...
Here's my version from today.
imam bayalda (the imam fainted)
Originally by Galya Talkington
Butchered by Roland Denzel
Note -- I did all of this in my Rival slowcooker, with removable metal pan. Browning was done on the stove, then final cooking on the heating element. You can use a large pan to cook, then use a baking pan or a crockpot to finish up.
2 aubergines (eggplant)
2 onions
4 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp olive oil
1 lbs ground lamb
1 7oz can tomato paste
2 cups water
1 tbsp turmeric
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
4 tbsp sweet paprika
1 tbsp ground cumin
2 tsp (at least) salt
2 tsp ground black pepper
pinch or more of ground cloves
Brown the meat and spoon the meat into a bowl. Leave the fat behind and pour into a small bowl for later.
Dice the eggplant (keep the skin on, if desired) and saute in batches, using the lamb fat. Use olive oil, if you run out of fat. As eggplant browns up, remove it to the bowl with the browned lamb.
Smash and chop the garlic and set aside.
Chop the onion and brown them in more fat or oil. When the onions have about 5 minutes left, add the garlic and continue to stir. If the garlic comes close to browning (don't let it burn), add 1 cup of the water, stir, and lower the heat.
Add the spices and tomato paste and stir well. When there are no more lumps of tomato paste, add the browned meat, eggplant, and additional water.
Crockpot or slow cooker it for a couple of hours.
or
In a covered baking dish, bake at 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes, checking every 15-20 minutes to stir and make sure it doesn't dry out (add some water, if necessary).
Like Galya said, it tastes great cold and hot. I just eat it like a bowl of chili, but you can serve it with yogurt or feta cheese on the side, as well as with pita bread or some low carb or whole wheat tortillas.
This is a longtime favorite dish of mine, although I have never seen a recipe for it that called for meat.
The most common story behind the name of this dish is something like this:
An Imam married a woman whose father was in the olive oil business. As a wedding gift, the father gave them several large containers of olive oil. The bride prepared this dish for her husband and he loved it so much that he asked for it every day. Several days later he asked for it, and his wife said she could not make it because all the olive oil was gone. It had been a rather large amount of olive oil and this is why the Imam fainted -- that much olive oil was gone.
Other versions of the story have him fainting because it is just that good.
Indeed, most recipes for Imam Bayaldi call for quite a bit of oil. I cut it way down. It is REALLY GOOD. I shall have to try adding the fish or veggie protein of my choice next time.
imam bayalda (the imam fainted)
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