Vegan Mediterranean stuffed eggplant (Imam Baylda)

This is a popular vegan dish prepared in the Mediterranean. It tastes great paired with fresh bread. This specific recipe is Bulgarian, but in Greece and Türkiye the dish is called imam bayildi.

Ingredients:

• 5 small eggplants

• 1 tbsp. salt for salting eggplants

• 1 tbsp. olive oil for cooking

• 1 medium onion, diced

• 3 carrots, peeled and shredded

• 5 cloves garlic, sliced

• 1 bunch parsley, chopped

• 1 tsp. salt for cooking

• 2 large tomatoes, grated

• 3 tbsp. olive oil for baking

Steps:

1. Preheat your oven to 375F.

2. Cut the tops off of the eggplants horizontally (see video below). Set the top of the eggplant to the side and carve out the inside of the eggplant to make space for the stuffing.

3. Salt the carved out eggplants and let them rest in a large baking dish while you prepare the stuffing. Chop the eggplant insides, these will be part of the stuffing.

4. To prepare the stuffing, heat a large skillet on medium heat. Add olive oil, onion, carrots, eggplant insides, and salt. Allow to simmer on low heat for 5 minutes.

5. While it is cooking, grate tomatoes and chop the parsley. The consistency of the grated tomatoes will look like tomato sauce. Add tomato sauce and parsley to the onion mixture and cook on low heat for 10 mins.

6. Stuff the eggplant with the vegetable mixture. Cover with the top of the eggplant. Fill in the baking dish with the remaining vegetable mixture. Pour the remaining olive oil for baking on top of the eggplant and and then lightly salt the top of the eggplants.

7. Bake dish uncovered for about 1 hour.