Yes I am a mamma's boy, and I am proud of it. Finally she's here with me, staying with us in our home. Over the weekend I was at my sister's place. Mom made one of my most favorite dishes of all times. "Imam Bayildi " ... I know, that sounds like a space ship or some kind of exotic animal, but it is not... It actually is an eggplant dish. They say that us, Turks know 1000 different ways of making eggplant. I seriously believe that. I love any kind of eggplant dishes, especially the ones that you can stuff them with all kinds of different ingredients. Cold dishes, hot ones, they all are amazingly delicious.
The dish that my mother made was "Imam Bayildi" literally means "Imam fainted". Imams are the religious figures in Islam. Imam Bayildi is an eggplant cut down the middle and stuffed with lots of onions, garlic, tomatoes, green peppers and parsley and then simmered in olive oil about an hour. There are several mythical stories about the origins of the dish. The imam (Muslim prayer leader) fainted or swooned when he tasted how good it was; that the imam fainted when he saw how much expensive olive oil was used; that the imam was delighted when a shopkeeper's wife was required to quickly prepare a dish for the imam's unexpected visit.
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| Eggplants are already fainted along with the imam... :) |
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| Mom is stuffing the eggplants... |
Anyways, it was absolutely the best Imam Bayildi I ever had. I don't know if the actual dish was so delicious, or I really missed my mom so much... Either ways it is a blessing having a mother at the age of 76, totally independent and an amazing cook... I love you mom...
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| Now it's my turn to faint... Yummmmmmyyyyy... :) |
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