Sultan’s Delight

Sultan’s always get the best stuff. The most wicked-awesome pets, the cushiest cushions and the most scrumptious chow. So what delights the Sultan more than his cuddly kitty or his favourite goose down cushion… it’s Imam Bayildi, also know as the Sultan’s Delight. A delightful dish of big chunks of eggplant, slowly anointed in emerald olive oil, brightened with ruby red tomatoes and sparkled with sweet garlic. This is traditionally a vegetarian dish, but we are topping it with lamb meatballs spiked with refreshingly fresh mint for an even more delightful main course.

Enjoy with a harem of your finest friends.

INGREDIENTS 

2 cups good olive oil

1 large eggplant, peeled and 1-inch cubed

(equivalent of 2 cups of cubed eggplant)

1 pint cherry or plum tomatoes, cut in half

1 white onion, large chunks

2 cloves of garlic, smooshed

water as needed

1 brimming cup chopped parsley

Meatballs

500 g ground lamb

1 egg

1 Tbsp yellow curry of choice

20-30 finely chopped mint leaves

½ tsp salt 

PROCEDURE

Peel and dice your eggplant into 1-inch cubes. Place a colander in a large bowl, then dump the eggplant into the colander. Sprinkle on a hefty tablespoon of salt and toss it all around. Set aside for 30 minutes while the salt works to draw out the excess bitter water from the eggplant.

Meanwhile prep your tomatoes, onions , parsley and meatball mixture.

For the meatballs, simply plop everything in a bowl and mix it up with a hand until a uniform meat mix is achieved.  Keep in the fridge until you’re ready to ball.

Get a nice oven safe pan (all-metal, no plastic) on the stove over medium low heat and just leave it to warm up for 5 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350˚ F.

The next bit takes some time, but is totally worth the extra loving.

Pour the emerald green olive oil into the pan and let it preheat for 1 minute.

Grab a handful of eggplant and squeeze out the excess liquid… you can squeeze it good and hard until it’s pretty dry, now lay that handful of eggplant into the pan in a single layer. Leave the eggplant to cook over medium low heat for 30 minutes to develop some colour and ensure the eggplant cooks through and soaks up some lovely olive oil. Nobody likes the wet-cotton eggplant, so cook it slowly. Transfer each the cooked eggplant using a slotted spoon to a bowl.

Pour out all but 2 Tbsp of the olive oil. You don’t have to pour it out, you can strain out the eggplant seeds and save it for other uses.

Now get the pan back on the stove and crank up the heat to medium. Toss in the onions and cook until they start to get soft and lovely. Then toss in the tomatoes, cooked eggplant and parsley. Mix it all about until it’s thoroughly incorporated. Leave it on the heat while you make golf-ball-sized meatballs and place them right on top of the mixture. When you are done, transfer the whole pan directly into the oven and bake for 20 minutes.

Remove the pan and let it rest for 10 minutes before serving on couscous or rice.