Imam Bayildi Recipe | Abel & Cole

Ingredients

300g white basmati rice
1 onion
2 red peppers
2 garlic cloves
4 aubergines
A handful of flat leaf parsley
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 cinnamon stick
400g tin of chopped tomatoes
40g flaked almonds
Green salad, to serve

Prep: 15 mins | Cook: 55 mins

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Method

1. Preheat your oven to 200°C/Fan 180°C/Gas 6. Tip the rice into a large bowl and cover with cold water. Set aside.

2. Peel and roughly chop the onion. Halve the peppers and scoop out the seeds and white pith. Pop the onion on a baking tray. Drizzle over 1 tbsp olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Turn to coat the onion in the seasoning. Add the pepper halves to the tray, skin-side-up, and the unpeeled garlic cloves. Roast for 20-30 mins till the veg are lightly charred and tender. Check every 10-15 mins to see if they’re ready.

3. Meanwhile, halve the aubergines and slice a shallow criss-cross pattern into the cut sides, around 1cm-deep. Pop them on a separate baking tray (or in a baking dish). Brush each aubergine half with ½ tbsp olive oil. Season with a little salt and pepper. Slide into your oven on the shelf below the veg and bake for 30-35 mins till tender.

4. When the onion and peppers are tender and charred, take them out of the oven. Let the veg cool for a few mins, then peel the skin off the pepper halves. Slice the peppers into thin strips. Pop the garlic cloves out of their papery skins and crush them. Scoop the onion, peppers and garlic into a pan.

5. Finely chop the parsley stalks (keep the leaves for later). Add to the pan with the dried oregano, cumin seeds and cinnamon stick. Add the chopped tomatoes. Stir well, then set on a medium heat. Pop on a lid and bring up to a simmer. Cook for 5-6 mins, stirring often, to thicken the sauce a little. Remove and discard the cinnamon stick.

6. After 30-35 mins, the aubergines should be tender. Take them out of the oven. Let them cool for a few mins, then scoop the cooked flesh from the middle of the aubergines, leaving an ½cm-thick wall. Leave the hollowed-out aubergines on the baking tray. Roughly chop the cooked aubergine. Add to the tomato sauce.

7. Taste the tomato sauce and add a pinch more salt, pepper or a pinch of sugar, if you think it needs it. Spoon the sauce into the aubergines to fill them. Drizzle ½ tbsp olive oil over each aubergine, then return them to the oven and bake for 20 mins till lightly browned. Scatter the flaked almonds over the aubergines for the final 5 mins of cooking to just brown them.

8. While the aubergines bake, drain the rice and rinse well. Fill and boil your kettle. Tip the rice into a pan and add 600ml hot water with a pinch of salt. Pop a lid on the pan, set on a high heat and bring to the boil. When it’s boiling, turn the heat right down and gently simmer for 8-10 mins till the rice is tender and cooked through, and the water has been absorbed. Take the pan off the heat and let the rice steam in the pan, lid on, for 5 mins.

9. Fluff the rice and divide between four plates. Add the baked aubergines and serve with salad on the side, garnished with the parsley leaves.

10. Get Ahead
You can assemble the stuffed aubergines the night before you want to serve them, roasting the aubergines, making the sauce and filling them with the sauce. Cool and store on a tray in the fridge, ready to slide in the oven and bake for 20-30 mins till browned and warmed through.

11. Love Your Leftovers
The baked imam bayidli will keep in the fridge for up to 3 days in an airtight tub. Reheat in the oven covered with foil, or in the microwave, till piping hot. We don’t recommend reheating rice, so cook it in smaller portions as you need it.