Everyone loves going to parties, right? With summer in full swing in the northern hemisphere, it may seem like there is a party every day. If you find yourself hosting a party and you’re not sure what to make, I list the five best inexpensive recipes for dishes that everyone will enjoy. These dishes aren’t only limited to the summer; the readers experiencing winter in the southern hemisphere can enjoy these recipes for a winter party as well.
2Imam Biyaldi or Imam Fainted
I discovered this dish while ordering food in a Turkish restaurant. I was curious about the name, but never found out the meaning until a friend sent me the recipe. Now I know why the Imam fainted! As a friend explained to me, the story behind the name of the dish was after the Imam found out how much olive oil his wife used, he fainted because olive oil was expensive in ancient times (now it’s not too badly priced). I used a lot of olive oil, especially in frying the eggplant.
This is a totally vegetarian side dish, eaten cold. You could keep it in the fridge. Joy’s advice: Eggplants come much smaller in Turkey. If you use one of the large ones in the markets here, just think that an average sized eggplant here is about two and half eggplants in Turkey. If I make any one of their eggplant dishes, I cut an eggplant lengthwise into two and go from there.
Ingredients:
Imam Fainted
4-5 eggplants,the smaller the better
1 cup of oil
Filling:
4 garlic cloves, sliced
1 onion, sliced
1 tomato, diced
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp sugar
Salt to taste
Directions:
Peel the skin of each eggplant in alternating stripes. Sprinkle salt on top and put aside for 20 minutes or put them in salt water. Squeeze, wash, and dry them with a towel.
Heat the oil medium-high and fry all sides of the eggplants until you get a nice colour. Cut a slit in each eggplant and scoop out most of the seeds, making sure they don’t fall apart. Place them in a clean pan.
Meanwhile, cook all of the filling ingredients in a small pot on medium heat for a very short time. All the water should evaporate. Stir non-stop.
Fill the eggplants with the filling using a small spoon. Pour in 1/2 cup of water in the pan from the side carefully so you don’t move about the fillings. Cover the lid. Cook on medium heat until the water evaporates. Add about two tablespoons of warm water and keep covered until it cools.
