Imam Bayildi/Fainted

This is my version of the dish (and not the authentic one). I have seen various different versions of preparing this dish and I picked up few points from each and made this. And I LOVED it so much that I ate that whole brinjal/eggplant piece at one go. Ravi couldn't eat so he took half for the lunch today. After eating this I felt that I should make this often, atleast twice a month.

The changes that I made to this dish are: I added all types of peppers (had in the refrigerator) and instead of only garlic, I added ginger-garlic paste (as I ran out of garlic pods) and then I added bread crumbs at the end and didn't put chilli flakes. Adding bread crumbs made a huge difference and made the dish much more delicious. And I didn't throw the core part, I made bhaingan bartha with it, but could not take pictures of that.

Here is the story why this name was given to this dish (copied from Asha at Foodie's hope)

TURKISH IMAM BAYILDI (The Imam Fainted!): "There are many stories about the origin of the name of this dish. One of them we heard while visiting Ankara, Turkey's capital. A long time ago a Turkish Imam (a muslim clergy man ), known for his love of good food, surprised his friends by announcing his engagement to the young daughter of a wealthy olive-oil merchant. The friends did not know about her ability to cook. But they presumed part of her dowry would include olive oil. They were right. For her father gave the groom twelve jars, each one large enough to hold a person, of the precious oil. After her marriage the bride proved to be an excellent cook and each day prepared a special dish for her epicurean husband. One of them, eggplant cooked in olive oil, became his favorite. And he ordered that his wife prepare it each night for dinner. This she did for twelve consecutive days. On the thirteenth, however, the dish was missing from the meal. Queried about its absence, the bride replied, "Dear husband, I do not have any more olive oil. You will have to purchase some more for me." The lmam was so shocked that he fainted. And since that day, according to the story, his favorite dish has been known as Imam Bayildi, The Imam Fainted!"

You need...

One large eggplant, cut into half and scoop out seeds from the center
1 large red onion, chopped
½ green, yellow and red peppers, chopped (optional-but tastes good when added)
1 or 2 roma tomatoes, chopped in rounds or into small pieces, I wanted to decorate it with tomatoes, so used round ones.
1-2 tbsp ginger garlic paste
½ cup breadcrumbs
1 tsp cumin
a pinch of cinnamon,
2-3 tbsp lemon juice
½ cup oil
cilantro, chopped for garnishing
1-1/2 cup water
salt to taste

1. Heat oil, add onions, peppers and stir fry for 2 mins.
2. Add ginger garlic paste and cook for another minute.
3. Add tomatoes and fry for another minute.
4. Add cumin, cinnamon and salt and remove.
5. To the same pan, add tbsp oil and bread crumbs with ½ tbsp ginger garlic paste and remove after a minute.
6. To arrange, fill the whole cooked mixture from step 4 into those two eggplant slices (by removing tomatoes-can be used for decoration on the top). Add bread crumb mixture on the top, arrange tomatoes and add cilantro all over.
7. Finally drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice.
8. Arrange these two pieces in oven proof dish. Add water from the sides and cover it tightly and bake at 375 for 30-40 mins.

Very healthy meal and next time I will try to reduce the oil a bit.

Recipe source: From Asha of Foodie'sHope

Internet Humor

Veg Pyramid

I am so bored today and I have nothing to write about, thought I will post this Veg Pyramid that I found somewhere on the net couple of months back. I was seriously looking out for one that would tell me what Vegetarians are supposed to eat to get the right amount and right kind of food everday. I found this very useful and infact felt happy that we cover all these types in a day.

I always heard from some of my friends that Indian food is not healthy, I don't know why I never agree with them. As I was talking to my friend Deepa (she is a great cook! and she is planning to start a food blog too) about this, she mentioned to me that we cover all types of food. We get carbs from Rice or Chapathi and iron from greens like Spinach, Amaranth, Gongura etc..and we get fiber from veggies plus proteins from various Dals. Then, how can we say that our Indian food is not healthy?. The only thing that we could avoid is putting more oil in the curries and instead of eating fried rice everyday, we can eat steamed rice. I feel that making little changes in food habits goes a long way.

Broccoli Fettuccini Alfredo

Since we were in no mood to cook all these days, I made foods that are easy to make and those that take less than 10-15 mins to cook. We survived mostly on sandwiches and all but I am back to cooking in the kitchen now. This is one of those dishes that I made but didn’t find that restaurant taste unless we put more Alfredo sauce which was too much fat and too many calories.

All you need to do this are fettuccini noodles- boiled in salt water, chopped broccoli (frozen) and ready-made Ragu’s Alfredo Sauce.

Heat oil in a skillet, add fresh/dry garlic, black pepper and cook for 30 sec. Add chopped broccoli and cook until broccoli is soft and tender. Add fettuccini and mix everything for 30 sec. Finally add Alfredo Sauce and keep mixing. Remove after 2 or 3mins and serve hot.

Thanks

My heartfelt thanks for all for checking on me while I was away mourning.
It is still difficult for me to come back but I am trying hard to come back to normal life.

To my Dad....

and to all the fathers who visit my blog....

I wish you a Happy Father's Day!






A sweet dish for Father on Father's day!

I made beetroot halwa (didn't plan it before) but made it instantly and I made both Gulab Jamun and Jalebi from Priya's instant mixes. They turned out to be quite good.

Layered Beetroot Halwa with Vanilla Icecream, Jalebi and Gulab Jamun! (too many calories for one day).

My Buddy Ravi Kiran (Sun Ray as he called himself)....

passed away on May 27th at around 5.30 pm. He got drowned in the Okracoke Island waters and the Doctors mentioned that he died on the spot. We found his body on the shore on Mon at around 5.30 pm. I don't know why he liked this Island so much out of all in the Outerbanks, I don't know if he liked the sea or the sea liked him....

I mentioned his name twice in the blogs-when I blogged two protein dishes for him. He was a person with optimistic view on life and enjoyed his life to the fullest. He was even planning his wedding in December. This was heart breaking news to me and to my all other friends. He is still on his way to India and hopefully reach in a couple of hours for the final ceremory.

He was the person behind my wedding (he made my husband's parents agree to the wedding) and I was getting ready to go to India for his wedding. He always lifted everyone when they were down, he is kind of a perfect friend anybody would like to have. He is a kind of a person who brings the best in you. And now he is gone......

I plan to take off for another week from blogging and I know he will not like it if I stop writing. There is no such friend like him in this world and I hope his soul rests in peace.

http://ravi-anumagalla.memory-of.com/