İmam Bayıldı — Eggplants Braised in Olive Oil

Ingredients

• 4 small eggplants
• 3 onions, sliced thin
• 6 cloves garlic, sliced
• 3 tomatoes, chopped
• ½ cup olive oil
• 1 tsp sugar
• Big handful parsley, chopped
• 1 cup hot water
• Juice of ½ lemon
• Salt and black pepper

Method

1. Peel the eggplants in stripes, salt them, and let them drain 20 minutes. Pat dry and fry in half the olive oil over medium until soft and collapsed on all sides, then set in a snug baking dish.
2. Cook the onions in the remaining oil over medium-low with a pinch of salt until completely soft and sweet, 15 minutes. Add the garlic, tomatoes, sugar, and plenty of salt and cook 10 minutes until jammy.
3. Stir in most of the parsley. Slit each eggplant open lengthwise, press to widen the pocket, and stuff generously — the filling should be spilling out, not tucked in neatly.
4. Heat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Pour the hot water and lemon juice around the eggplants and bake, uncovered, 30 minutes until the liquid has reduced to a slick of oil and juices.
5. Cool to room temperature — this dish is a zeytinyağlı, meant to be eaten cool, and the flavor genuinely improves as it sits. Scatter the rest of the parsley before serving with bread.