Eggplant

This version of the famous dip—an unusual one with added yogurt—is particularly delicious and creamy. Serve with pita or Lebanese bread.

These eggplants stuffed with ground meat—their name, karniyarik, means “slashed belly”—are served as a hot main dish with rice pilaf (page 193). Use a good-quality tomato juice.

One legend surrounding the name of the sauce, hünkâr beğendi, which means “Her Majesty’s delight,” places it in 1869 when the Sultan Abdul Aziz entertained Empress Eugénie (my Istanbul grandmother was named after her), wife of Napoleon III, in his white rococo palace of Beylerbey on the Asian side of the Bosphorus. The empress was so enchanted by the pale, creamy, eggplant purée that she asked for the recipe to be given to her cooks. The sultan’s cook explained that he could not pass on the recipe because he “cooked with his eyes and his nose.” In Turkey, they use mature kasar, a hard yellow cheese, or Gruyère in the sauce, but mature Cheddar can be used too. Serve it with rice pilaf (page 193).

This is a cold pilaf to serve as a first course. It has an exciting combination of ingredients and flavors, while a mix of cinnamon and all spice lend a beautiful light brown color.

Imam Bayildi is one of the most famous Turkish dishes. Conflicting stories are told about the origin of its name, which means “the Imam fainted.” Some say it came about when an Imam (Muslim priest) fainted with pleasure when it was served to him by his wife. Others believe that the Imam fainted when he heard how much of his expensive olive oil had gone into its making. It is best cooked in a saucepan, but you may find it easier in the oven. Serve it cold. Small, elongated eggplants—at most 5 1/2 inches long, each weighing about 4 to 4 1/2 ounces—are best for this dish. You will find them in Asian and Middle Eastern stores.

A very traditional meze is fried eggplants served with yogurt and tomato sauce. I like to do the same with a mix of roasted vegetables, and I serve them either hot or cold. It is the kind of thing you can do easily in large quantities for a party. It can be done a day in advance, cooking the vegetables in batches, if necessary, and reheating them, if you wish, on the day. The yogurt should be at room temperature. The tomato sauce has a sweet-and-sour flavor and is served cold.

This is one of my favorites. It makes a good first course as well as a vegetarian main dish. The vegetables can be served hot or cold and the yogurt should be at room temperature. I mix the two kinds of yogurt—plain whole-milk and strained Greek-style yogurt—to get a thick creamy texture that still pours well.

This strongly flavored version of a very common meze originates in Georgia, where walnut trees abound. There is plenty of garlic, but it is not overpowering because it is fried. The eggplant slices can be deep-fried, but I prefer them roasted in the oven. They should be served cold, and they can be made in advance.

Yogurt softens the flavors and adds to the creamy texture of this refreshing purée.

The Turkish people claim to have a hundred ways of preparing eggplants. For them, it is the king and queen of vegetables. This is the classic purée that is also found in all the countries around the Mediterranean with a variety of different flavorings and trimmings. Serve it as a dip with bread or with crudités such as carrot, cucumber, and celery sticks.

I love this popular Moroccan salad. It is best made several hours in advance so that the flavors have time to penetrate.

Smoky roasted eggplant is tempered by yogurt in this Middle-Eastern-inspired dip. This is good for spreading on fresh bread as well as scooping up on pita.

Like the previous recipe, this classic dip is delicious scooped up on wedges of pita bread.

An intensely flavored (but not overpowering) accompaniment for Asian-style dishes, this adds an enticing visual accent to the dinner plate as well.

Both spinach and eggplant are compatible with curry seasoning, so teaming the two vegetables makes this stew-like side dish twice as nice. This is delicious on its own or over couscous.

Use this preparation in stews, for topping pizza, on French bread sandwiches topped with mozzarella cheese, spread with goat cheese, or in wraps. See Curried Spinach and Eggplant (page 213) or Eggplant Parmigiana Wraps (page 177).

This makes an excellent side dish for pasta. See the menu accompanying Farfalle with Mushrooms (page 76).

Here’s an enjoyable way to serve a modified version of eggplant Parmigiana that’s lighter than the more customary eggplant hero sandwich.

This eggplant-lover’s delight is delicious with fresh or canned tomatoes. For a tasty summer meal, serve with a bountiful tossed salad and corn on the cob.

The eggplant is also great grilled. The yogurt sauce is my version of tahini.