“Imam bayildi” is Turkish for “the priest has fainted”, and a very well-known Turkish aubergine dish. Usually the aubergines are scooped out and then stuffed, but as that takes longer, in this recipe I simply chop them. The original recipe also uses a lot of onion, which I don’t like. The characteristic spice in this dish is allspice, also known as Jamaica pepper. I serve this with maftoul (Palestinian or giant couscous) and feta and garnish with some lime wedges.
Turkish-style vegetarian 20-minutes • 675 kcal per person 
Ingredients
For two people:
- Fresh ingredients and groceries
- 1 large aubergine
- 2 medium tomatoes
- half a pack feta (Greek goat cheese)
- 1 lime
- 1 cup of maftoul (Palestinian or giant couscous)
- From the store cupboard
- a handful of pine kernels
- 1 tablespoon ground allspice
- some salt or soy sauce
- optionally some sugar
- some garlic oil
- some olive oil (1 tablespoon) for frying
Preparation
- Wash the aubergine and cut into slices of about half a cm thick.
- Put the aubergine slices in a microwave pot with 2 tablespoons water and cook for 5 minutes at full power (900W), stir, then cook for 3 more minutes on full power.
- Put the couscous in a microwave pot with 1.5 cups of water and a teaspoon soy sauce. Cook for 90 s at full power, then for about 10 minutes at 40%. It’s ready when almost all liquid has been absorbed. Fluff it up with a fork and add some lime juice and lime wedges (about half a lime).
- Heat the oil in a deep pan. Fry the spices and the pine kernels for a few minutes over medium to low heat.
- Add the finely chopped tomatoes and fry for a few more minutes, until the tomatoes start to soften.
- Add the aubergines, juice of half a lime and maybe a pinch of sugar, and fry for a few more minutes at low heat
- Serve with the couscous and feta.