Vegan Stuffed Eggplants filled with fresh tomatoes, green peppers, parsley, onions and plenty of garlic. What can go wrong, right? This is an authentic Turkish recipe, our all time family favorite.
It might look like a difficult recipe, but I’ll give you all my tips to make your life easier.
Story behind the name: Imambayildi
Before I get into the tips and details of the recipe let me tell you a little bit more about the funny name of this dish. The name in Turkish is “imambayildi”. The translation to English means “the priest fainted”. There are various stories about how the priest has fainted; the reason is different in all of these. It is either he fainted because he loved the dish or he fainted when he learned how much material has been used in it. It is upto you which version you chose to believe.
Ingredients
- Eggplants: choose ones that are the same size, thin and small if possible. However if this is not possible you can go ahead and use large eggplants, cut them into half vertically before frying.
- Tomatoes: use fresh tomatoes in season for best results. If not possible you can use a can of chopped tomatoes.
- Green peppers: use banana or cubanelle peppers for best results. If not possible green bell peppers will also work for this recipe. You can read more about types of peppers here.
- Garlic cloves: you will need to use fresh garlic cloves, refrain from replacing with garlic powder.
- Onions: you will need to slice them, if you find chopping easier, you can do so.
Cooking the Vegan Eggplants:
Start with peeling the eggplants in stripes to make them look like they are wearing pyjamas. Then brine them by soaking them up in a salty water to get rid of their black and bitter water. Keep the eggplants in this water for about half an hour. Rinse and dry. Then fry all sides in a high smoke oil. I use sunflower oil or olive oil if I fry.
Make a cut in each eggplant vertically, this cut will be used later to turn the eggplants into a shallow boat as seen in the picture below.
If you want the eggplants to be less oily you can fry them in an air frier or in the oven. Make sure you lightly oil them and cook until golden brown and soft before starting to stuff them. If you choose to use the oven make sure to make several holes in the eggplant with a toothpick.
While the eggplants are getting ready, continue preparing the stuffing; do some chopping; slice the onions, deseed the green peppers and chop, peel the garlic cloves and cut vertically into halves and finally chop the tomatoes and the parsley. Start with the onions, then the garlic, and the green peppers, followed by tomatoes and finally the chopped parsley. Sauté all with olive oil until all are well done.
Gently make shallow holes with shape of a canoe in each eggplant using the back of a tablespoon and fill generously with stuffing.
Make sure to garnish with a garlic clove on top of each stuffed eggplant. Add enough water to cover the bottom of the pot if the tomatoes have not left enough water. Cover the lid and cook for about 20 minutes.
Garnish with additional chopped parsley. Serve chilled or at room temperature as a side dish or warm as a mains.
If serving as a main dish, pair it with rice and a salad of your choice.
Other Eggplant recipes
If you’ve liked this recipe and curious about other eggplant recipes you might want to take a look at the following:
Stuffed Eggplants / İmambayıldı
Ingredients
Eggplants and brining, frying
- 6 eggplants short or long and thin
- water to cover
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 100+ millilitres olive oil for frying
Stuffing
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 onions
- 10 garlic cloves
- 1 green pepper
- 2 tomatoes
- ½ bunch parsley
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon sugar
Garnish
- 5-6 stalks parsley
Instructions
Eggplants
- Peel the eggplants in stripes. Cut off the stem and discard the leaves if any. To brine; without cutting the eggplants, put all in a bowl with water to cover and add a teaspoon of salt. Rest for at least 15 minutes so the eggplants leave out their black and sour water. If the eggplants rise on top of the water put a heavy pot on top to prevent this.
- When the time is up, take the eggplants out. Rinse, squeeze out the excess water and dry with a paper towel.
- Decide on the flat side of the eggplant. Turn it around and make a slight vertical cut on the opposite side, do not make the cut all the way to the corners. This cut will be used to fill in the stuffing.
- Fry the eggplants in olive oil, turning sides as necessary. Use a wide pan with some height. When golden brown and softened take the eggplants out on a paper towel, set aside and start preparing the stuffing, using the same pan.
Stuffing
- Slice onions; first cut into half and then cut to thin slices, but do not chop. Sauté with olive oil until they become translucent.
- Chop the garlic cloves and add and sauté for another 1-2 minutes.
- Add the chopped peppers. Stir 1-2 minutes
- Chop and add the tomatoes. Stir 1-2 minutes.
- Chop the parsley and add to the mixture.
- Add the black pepper, sugar and salt.
Combining
- Place each eggplant to the pan, try not to put one on top of the other.
- Using the vertical cut and a dessert spoon open an oval hole in each eggplant and sprinkle with salt, pepper and sugar. Then will fill the hole generously with the stuffing.
- Make sure there is either the juice of the tomato on the bottom of the pot, if not add warm water.
- Cook over medium heat, with lid on for about 20 minutes.
Final
- Keep lid covered until the pot cools. Carefully transfer the eggplants to a serving dish.
- Serve chilled or at room temperature; as a starter/side dish. You can garnish with additional well-chopped parsley before serving.
Notes
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