Eggplant, peppers and tomato sauce recline on a bed of couscous.
When they first served this dish to the imam, he fainted. That's why it's called Imam Bayaldi, which means The Imam Fainted. Or so they say.
I served it to my family, and they liked it pretty well too, so it's become a staple dish here at Chez Flake. It's kid friendly, too, or at least my teenagers seem to like it. My oldest daughter had me make it for her French class, and we pretended it was from Tunisia, where they speak French sometimes. (I later heard someone in the class fainted, but I'm not sure about that.)
Different recipes for Imam Bayaldi follow different procedures for assembling the dish many are more of a stuffed eggplant. I figure the Imam really doesn't care how it's assembled, it's the ingredients that count: eggplant, tomatoes, peppers, and mint.
Serve it with couscous, and keep your smelling salts handy. It's been known to cause lightheadedness.
Imam Bayildi (spelling corrected)
This is a pretty forgiving recipe. Feel free to toy with the tomato products if you're so inclined. I've used canned tomatoes and jarred tomatoes, and added tomato paste or tomato sauce when there didn't seem to be enough sauce to cover the eggplant. I've also used one large eggplant and cut down on the amount of sauce. Play around; the Imam will forgive you.
2 medium round eggplants
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons olive oil
1 large onion, sliced in rounds
1 red, green or gold bell pepper sliced in rounds
3 cups crushed tomatoes (canned or jarred is fine)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint leaves
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil leaves
2 cloves garlic minced
1 cup bread crumbs
1/4 chopped Italian parsley
2 teaspoons non-hydrogenated margarine
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 lemon, sliced, for garnish
sprig of parsley, for garnish
Cooked couscous, for serving
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Slice the eggplant into 1/2 inch rounds. (Peeling is optional.) Salt the eggplant slices and set aside for about 20 minutes and let them sweat. Rinse and pat dry. Place on greased baking sheet and bake 10 to 15 minutes while preparing the sauce.
Sauté onions and peppers in 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat. When onions are soft, add tomatoes. Lower heat, and add herbs. Simmer for 15 minutes.
Prepare topping: Melt margarine and 2 teaspoons olive oil together in small sauté pan. Add bread crumbs and 1/4 cup parsley and sauté until bread crumbs start to turn brown. Turn off heat.
Remove eggplant from oven and layer in a 13 x 9-inch dish. Smother with the sauce. Add breadcrumb topping, spreading evenly to cover. Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes. Uncover and bake 10 minutes, until topping is golden brown.
Remove from oven and let sit 5 minutes. Garnish with lemon slices and parsley sprig and serve over couscous.
Alternative topping suggestion: I added pine nuts to the topping the last time I made this. Toast 1/4 cup pine nuts (in oven 7 minutes, or stir in dry saute pan over medium heat) and remove to food processor. Chop until they resemble crumbs. Add to bread crumb mixture.
