Imam-bayaldy: cooking eggplants like in Armenia
Imam-bayaldy: cooking eggplants like in Armenia
One of the most popular methods of cooking eggplants in Armenia is imam-bayaldy. Eggplants are prepared here with other vegetables, and later supplemented with garlic-dill dressing. It turns out so delicious that almost everyone later forgets the rest of the eggplant dishes and demands to create it “like in Armenia.”
The ingredients for the recipe are quite ordinary. For a kilogram of eggplant we take half a kilo of bell peppers and the same amount of tomatoes, two medium onions, 3 cloves of garlic, a bunch of parsley, 200 grams of vegetable oil. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Peel the eggplants and cut them into medium slices. Add salt and leave for 20 minutes, let the accumulated water be released.
Fry all the ingredients, eggplants, bell peppers and onions separately. Eggplants can be fried without a lid; be sure to dry them with cardboard towels before heating. Cook the bell pepper covered, sauté the onion until golden brown.
Scald the tomatoes with boiling water, remove the skin and finely chop them, and then add them to the frying pan with the onions. Stir and simmer until the mixture is homogeneous.
Now finely chop the greens and mix them with the garlic squeezed through a garlic press. It's time to put the dish together. Spread the tomato and onion sauce from the frying pan in the first layer into a frying pan with the highest sides.
Place eggplants in the next layer, bell peppers on top, garlic and herbs on top. We repeat the process until the pan is filled, put it on low heat and simmer for another 10 minutes until cooked.
Video recipe:
Imam-bayaldy remains tasty even when cooled. Serve it as an appetizer or side dish.
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Armenian eggplants for the winter - recipes for preparations. How to deliciously cook eggplants in Armenian style
If you are curious about where you can taste the most delicious, unusual and memorable eggplant dishes, you should look into Armenian cuisine. Stuffed, fried, stewed, with nuts, fruits, herbs - here the little blue ones love and can cook. How to preserve eggplants according to the traditions of neighboring countries and what is unique about this cuisine for us?
What vegetables are added to Armenian salad for the winter?
The traditional recipe for Transcaucasian cuisine involves the introduction of fragrant, hot, warming spices, among which there are certainly:
- khmeli-suneli;
- tarragon;
- cilantro;
- thyme;
- garlic.
Among vegetables, in most recipes you can find tomatoes or tomato paste, which is mostly prepared independently. Armenian cuisine includes a huge number of meat dishes, and vegetable salads are certainly distinguished by the highest nutritional value. You cannot ignore the high proportion of salt in any recipe, excluding baking. For eggplant salad it is better to use:
- reddish peppers;
- tomatoes;
- onion;
- carrot.
Eggplant recipes for the winter
The ideas for Armenian dishes collected in this block belong to different categories: you will find here light snacks, hearty side dishes, and salads, and some of them can even be an option for a not very heavy dinner or snack. The Armenian eggplant preparation for the winter has several subtleties that are not always indicated in recipes:
- If you want to maintain the shape of the little blue ones, you need to throw the skin on them, otherwise the flesh will quickly spread.
- For long-term storage dishes, it is imperative to remove the stalk of the eggplant.
- Armenian cuisine is fascinating with its unusual combinations: you can add nuts and apples to eggplants.
Traditional recipe for eggplant appetizers for the winter in Armenian
This dish has a huge number of fans. Quick to make, a common set of ingredients, with an indescribable taste that adapts to any product - it will successfully complement any table. Among the main components are only eggplants, which are stuffed with herbs. Using this recipe, you can not only prepare a snack for the winter, but also create a dish for instant consumption.
- eggplants (small - if for winter) - 1.2 kg;
- bell peppers – 3 pcs.;
- a bunch of parsley;
- head of young garlic;
- vegetable oil – 4 cups;
- vinegar - 2 tbsp. l.;
- hops-suneli, salt, pepper - 1 tsp each.
Any housewife can prepare such eggplants in Armenian style for the winter:
- Wash the blue ones and remove the stems. Treat the surface with a cloth soaked in oil and place on a baking sheet. Bake for half an hour. Oven temperature – 170 degrees.
- Grind the washed peppers, expel the garlic cloves through a press. Tear the greens by hand.
- Combine the listed ingredients in a deep bowl, add vinegar, season with suneli hops. Marinate for a quarter of an hour.
- Create eggplant boats by slicing any fruit lengthwise. Remove some of the pulp to form a cavity.
- Place the filling inside so that it does not peek out. Add salt and pepper.
- Each eggplant boat must be tied with thread and placed in a deep bowl. Pour in vegetable oil and find the lid on top. The dish must be infused in the cold for 5 days.
- Afterwards, the eggplants are placed vertically in jars that were previously sterilized. Close and put away for winter storage.
Recipe for winter eggplant appetizers with cilantro and citron
The dish is very ordinary, frisky, without unnecessary ingredients. A successful choice for those who found a simple side dish that did not interrupt the taste of the main dish. The set of spices can be changed, but it is better to leave it as is, as it is perfectly balanced. The composition of the Armenian snack is as follows:
- eggplants – 1 kg;
- a bunch of cilantro;
- head of garlic – 1/2 pcs.;
- vinegar - 1.5 tbsp. l.;
- salt;
- vegetable oil - glass;
- ground hot pepper;
- citron (savory) – 1 tsp.
The principle of making winter snacks:
- Wash and cut the eggplants into strips.
- Fry, setting the burner to the highest power. Place on a cardboard towel to remove excess oil.
- Grind the cilantro, press the garlic through a press, and combine with the eggplants.
- Salt, sprinkle with citron and pepper. Add vinegar.
- Create a pressure from a lid and a heavy object, let it sit overnight (that is, in the dark) .
- During the day, distribute into jars and close.
Armenian eggplant caviar
A perfect appetizer that deserves to be prepared in larger quantities. Armenian cuisine has practically not changed the usual recipe: the taste has become brighter and sharper, and the manufacturing technology has remained the same. For a delicious homemade snack in Armenian you will need:
- eggplants – 2.5 kg;
- sweet peppers – 0.4 kg;
- tomatoes – 0.3 kg;
- head of garlic;
- tarragon;
- a bunch of dill;
- salt – 120 g + for eggplants;
- sugar – 250 g;
- vegetable oil - glass;
- chili pepper pod.
It’s easy to prepare eggplant caviar in Armenian style for the winter:
- Peel and cut the blue ones coarsely. Add salt and leave for half an hour.
- Wash them again and place them in a frying pan. Add oil. Fry until the color changes; do not use the lid.
- Chop the peppers into strips, blanch and grate the tomatoes.
- Add to the eggplants, simmer with the lid on for 6-7 minutes.
- Grind the roasted vegetables through a meat grinder or food processor.
- Add sugar, tarragon, chopped garlic, pieces of hot pepper, and salt. Mix quickly and fill jars with caviar in Armenian style.
- Sterilize them with a dish, close them, and take them to the cellar.
Armenian appetizer of eggplant with apples
The highlight of this conservation for us is not the development, but the taste. Behind the initial spiciness lies a sweet and sour note, and celery is very interestingly mixed with blueberries. For the dish you need:
- eggplants – 2 kg;
- celery root – 100 g;
- greenish apples – 4 pcs.;
- parsley;
- coriander;
- salt;
- garlic cloves – 5 pcs.;
- tomatoes – 3 pcs.;
- vinegar - 1 tbsp. l.;
- sugar;
- vegetable oil.
It’s easy to prepare delicious eggplants in Armenian style for the winter, guided by this recipe:
- Chop the celery root and fry until golden brown.
- Chop the apples coarsely and add them. Simmer for a couple of minutes until soft.
- Wash the eggplants and cut into cubes (skin saved). Add salt.
- After half an hour, rinse the blue ones and add them to the celery and apples. Add more oil and half a glass of water. Simmer for a quarter of an hour.
- Remove the skins from the tomatoes and mash them with a fork. Add to the rest of the winter snack ingredients.
- Add salt, coriander and chopped parsley. Turn off the stove.
- Add sugar at the end, mix well until the granules disperse.
- Distribute the entire mixture among the jars and add a drop of vinegar into each jar. Roll up the lids.
Video: how to deliciously cook eggplants for the winter in Armenian style
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How to prepare baked pickled eggplants for the winter in Armenian style
There are a lot of recipes for making dishes and winter preparations from eggplant. Among them, the category of state-owned ones, tested by many years of experience, attracting attention with the special taste of preserves, stands out. After harvesting the blue ones, experienced housewives advise paying attention to making Armenian-style eggplants for the winter.
- 1 Select and prepare blue ones for canning
- 2 Options for making eggplants for the winter
- 2.1 Traditional recipe
- 2.2 Fermented tomatoes in Armenian style
- 2.3 Stuffed with onions
- 2.4 With paprika
- 2.5 With carrots
- 2.6 With bell pepper
- 2.7 In a special marinade
- 2.8 Fermented in Armenian
- 3 How to properly store preparations in winter
Selecting and preparing blue ones for canning
For production, they take young vegetables that have not yet become wilted. There should be no signs of rottenness, the surface of the skin should be shiny, and there should be no sign of stickiness on it. Eggplants can taste bitter; to eliminate this problem, vegetables are soaked for 20 minutes in a saline solution. The cutting begins just before production so that they do not have time to darken.
Options for making eggplants for the winter
The best recipes may differ in the composition of the products used and their ratio, but they all help to obtain a dish that can be eaten as an independent snack and as an addition to various types of side dishes. A distinctive feature of Armenian cuisine is the special spicy taste of the snack and the frequent use of seasonings and herbs.
Traditional recipe
The recipe for traditional eggplant production is simple, so even novice housewives can use it. You will need:
- blue ones - 2.4 kg;
- peppers - 3 pcs.;
- butter - 4 cups;
- essence - 2 tbsp. l.;
- salt, ground pepper - 1 tsp each;
- parsley, head of garlic.
Soaked blue peppers, cleared of bases, are placed in the oven for 30 minutes at a temperature of +170 C. Peppers are chopped into bars, garlic cloves are passed through a press, hops-suneli seasoning and spices are added and left for 15 minutes. Any eggplant is cut lengthwise and stuffed with a garlic-pepper mixture. The vegetables are tied up and filled with oil, put in a cool place for 5 days, after which they are rolled into jars.
Armenian pickled tomatoes
Pickled tomatoes differ in their special taste and production technology. For the recipe, they take a lot of garlic and herbs, most often parsley and cilantro, onion arrows and carrot leaves. As a seasoning, use 1/2 tsp of ground reddish and dark pepper. for 1 kg of tomatoes. For brine, sugar and salt are taken in equal proportions, 50 g each. Tomatoes and herbs are poured with hot brine, after which they are sent for fermentation for 30 days.
Stuffed with onions
Stuffed eggplants are a nutritious and satisfying dish. In the first step, the washed and peeled blue ones are placed in the oven, kept for 30 minutes at a temperature of +170 C. For the inside you will need:
- blue ones - 1 kg;
- turnip onion - 3 pcs.;
- garlic - 2 heads;
- salt, spices to taste.
The onion is cut into half rings and fried until golden brown, combined with garlic and herbs. The cooled eggplants are cut and the filling is sent into the resulting pocket. Vegetables are tied up and sent to jars for preservation.
With paprika
The appetizer with paprika has a spicy taste, but due to the presence of paprika it is not hot. You will need:
- blue ones - 2.5 kg;
- onions, peppers - 1 kg;
- garlic - 100 g;
- cilantro - a small bunch;
- fenugreek - 2.5 tsp;
- paprika - 2.5 tsp;
- salt - to taste.
The blue ones are cut into 1 cm circles, salted and left for 2 hours. Onions cut into rings and garlic slices are flavored with spices, salt, and herbs. Fry the eggplants until half cooked and remove excess oil using a cardboard towel. Combine vegetable ingredients and simmer for 7 minutes.
With carrots
Due to the carrot content, the preparation acquires a rich color and the most tender taste. The number of ingredients in the recipe is small, so it is quite simple and straightforward to prepare. You will need:
- blue ones - 2 pcs.;
- carrots - 2 pcs.;
- onion - 1 pc.;
- garlic - 2 cloves;
- salt - to taste
Grate the carrots and chop the onion finely. Thin slices of eggplant are fried in a frying pan, after 15 minutes add onions and carrots one by one, after a couple of minutes add chopped garlic and salt. To get more marinade, you can add 2 pcs. tomatoes.
With bell pepper
Reddish pepper highlights the taste of eggplants and gives the preparation an appetizing appearance. You will need:
- blue ones - 3 pcs.;
- reddish bell peppers - 3 pcs.;
- onion - 1 pc.;
- tomatoes - 4 pcs.;
- salt - 1 tsp;
- vegetable oil - 75 ml;
- greens - to taste;
- lemon juice - 1 tsp.
Sliced eggplants are fried. Peppers chopped into strips and onions in rings are combined with blue ones and simmered until tender. At the end, the remaining ingredients are added, and after thorough mixing, they are sent for sterilization for 10 minutes.
In a special marinade
Marinated eggplants prepared according to this recipe have a special taste due to seasonings and greenish apples. You will need:
- eggplants - 2 kg;
- celery root - 100 g;
- greenish apples - 4 pcs.;
- tomatoes - 3 pcs.;
- essence - 1 tbsp. l.;
- salt, parsley, coriander to taste.
Chopped celery is fried until golden brown. Add diced apples to it. The eggplants are cut into cubes, salted and washed after 30 minutes, after which they are sent to be fried for further stewing for 10 minutes. The tomatoes are peeled, cut into pieces and combined with a vegetable mixture. Herbs, spices and vinegar are introduced, and after a few minutes of painstaking mixing, the workpiece begins to be placed in jars.
Fermented in Armenian
This simple appetizer is prepared quickly and easily. You will need:
- blue ones - 2 kg;
- garlic head - ½ pc.;
- essence - 1.5 tbsp. l.;
- oil - 200 ml;
- savory - 1 tsp;
- ground pepper, salt to taste;
- a bunch of cilantro.
Eggplants are cut into strips, fried and placed on a paper towel to remove excess oil. The garlic is passed through a press, the cilantro is crushed. Vegetables and herbs are combined, spices and essence are added. Place the salted eggplants under a press and leave for a day, after which they are rolled into jars.
How to properly store preparations in winter
The preparations are stored in the refrigerator or in a room with a temperature of up to +6 C. Preservations containing vinegar can be stored at home, but the cellar option is considered desirable. Excess moisture should not be allowed, as this will lead to rust on the lids. When the temperature drops below 0 C, the taste of canned food and the property of vegetable consistency will be lost.
During storage, do not expose the jars to direct sunlight.
All preparations and preservation
We can it, dry it, freeze it, dry it, ferment it. Twists for any housewife
Savory eggplants prepared in Armenian style for the winter: baked, salted, pickled
- Production time: 1 hour
- Cuisine: Armenian
- Difficulty: Newbie
- Baked eggplants for the winter on the grill in Armenian style
- Cooking eggplants “on the fire” in Armenian style
- Marinated eggplants “Armenian”
- Salty frisky eggplants in Armenian style
Now I again want to share the latest cooking recipes with my beloved eggplants, so if you are also a fan of this beautiful vegetable, join us in our cooking!
I understand that people of Armenian nationality love to cook extraordinary dishes with indescribable taste. But now we will learn how to prepare unusual preparations for the winter - baked, marinated and salted eggplants in Armenian style - whatever you like.
Baked eggplants for the winter on the grill in Armenian style
The recipe with which I am now starting my own culinary story is Armenian-style eggplants baked on the grill. From the name it is clear that for production you need a grill; we will not cook in the oven.
List of everything you need:
- Eggplants 10-12 pieces;
- Skewers are double or single;
- Brazier.
The recipe doesn’t require many ingredients, just skill, desire and a good mood.
- Thread the eggplants onto skewers. We cut off the greenish leaves, leaving only the tail.
- Let's wait until the fire finishes burning very much, put the skewers with the vegetables prepared on them.
- Leave them in this position until the bottom part is completely baked. Only after this do we turn the skewers over.
- We wait until the dish is completely ready. How to realize this? The eggplant skin becomes dark, dry and burnt. The main thing here is not to let the dish burn!
- Next, remove the eggplant “kebabs” from the skewers and place them on a plate.
- Let it cool for about 10 minutes, then take a knife and start peeling the once blue vegetables. This requires a little patience, because the eggplants have become quite soft, and they also get your hands dirty, but you can definitely handle it!
- Then we put everything into sterilized or fried jars, pressing the eggplants tightly. If there is not a lot of juice, fill the jar with fried sunflower oil to the top (do not forget that we laid out the eggplants tightly and you won’t need a lot of oil).
- Cover with lids and sterilize the jars in a water bath for a long time - at least an hour! Later we roll it up and send it for storage.
Armenian-style baked eggplants on skewers are ready for the winter; in cold weather, this twist will serve unsurpassedly for making caviar.
Cooking eggplants “on the fire” in Armenian style
We continue our marathon of preparation for the winter period with the main guest of the program - eggplant. Now we will cook Armenian eggplants again over a fire, or practically. It turns out that you can create the taste of vegetables cooked over a fire at home. Amazing feeling and smell!
What will still be useful to us:
- Eggplants - 10-12 pieces;
- 5 pieces of onions;
- One and a half tablespoons of table salt;
- 5 pieces of onions;
- 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil;
- 6 tablespoons vinegar;
- A packet of your favorite barbecue seasoning (to taste).
Carefully wash the eggplants and remove the skin. We take out a cutting board and cut the already peeled vegetables in half, and then into several parts, for the best frying. The eggplants are joined by another vegetable “comrade” - onions, which we cut into rings earlier. Fry in a frying pan with vegetable oil for approximately 15 minutes.
Creating campfire flavor in a pan! First, boil water, add the required amount of salt and spices to taste. Stir the liquid until the bulk products dissolve, adding vinegar at the end.
It's time for the marinade and fried vegetables to meet and form a delicious dish. The soaked eggplants are placed in the refrigerator for a day.
This step involves preparing vegetables for a long period, so prepare jars and treat them with tea soda. Fill the jars with eggplants and place in a water bath to sterilize for 35 minutes. Afterwards we close the jars with lids and put them in the cellar.
I hope you, like me, will have the opportunity to immerse yourself in the warm summer and inhale the smell of a fire even while a blizzard is raging outside!
Marinated eggplants “Armenian”
In fact, I was quite interested in Armenian cuisine! It turns out that certain production methods are passed down from generation to generation, for example, the recipe for marinated eggplants in Armenian style - each family has its own unique taste! Now I will tell you how I prepare this dish myself, and later you can also experiment. So, let's begin!
For production we will use:
- Four large eggplants;
- 3-4 pieces of bell peppers;
- Greens to taste, I use parsley;
- Garlic and pepper - amount to taste;
- Tablespoons of vinegar;
- 30 grams of table salt;
- 20 grams of sugar;
- Spices to choose from, for example, coriander, ground pepper, etc.
As always, we begin cooking by carefully washing the ingredients. We cut the eggplants vertically along the fruit and put them in salted water to boil for a couple of minutes.
Take out the vegetables and let them cool. At this time, wash the parsley, garlic and pepper and chop finely. Mix finely chopped vegetables and add selected spices.
The eggplants have already cooled down, so it’s time to work on the insides. We put the resulting mixture inside the slits of the eggplant, then place it in a saucepan for marinating. To do this, you need to take sugar and vinegar, add to the eggplants, then pour in boiled water so that the vegetables do not appear from under it. Leave it under something languid for half a day.
Spicy pickled eggplants in Armenian style are ready and awaiting their finest hour on your festive table!
If you need to prepare them for the winter, then boil the brine, put the vegetables in jars, fill them with liquid and sterilize them in a water bath for at least 40 minutes.
If anyone is interested in the process of making a dish in person, I advise you to watch this educational video:
Salty frisky eggplants in Armenian style
The final recipe this time is salted marinated eggplants in Armenian style, the taste of which you will certainly appreciate!
List of the most necessary ingredients:
- 6-7 pieces of eggplant;
- 2 bunches of parsley;
- 3 pieces of sweet bell peppers;
- 1 piece of bitter pepper;
- 1 bunch of fresh dill;
- 1 head of garlic;
- Apple vinegar, optional;
- Table salt to taste.
Where do we start “Step No. 1”? That's right, with painstaking washing! Cleanliness is the key to health. We cut off the ends of the eggplant from the side of the tail and butt, and make a vertical cut.
Cook the eggplants in salted water for 10-15 minutes. Do not allow vegetables to be on the surface, they should be on the very bottom! After the eggplants are ready, place them under something heavy so that the moisture comes out evenly.
While the eggplants are being prepared, we are carried away by other components of the recipe: finely chop the garlic, parsley, pepper and dill, mix together and add salt to taste.
We fill the eggplants with the acquired consistency (garlic, parsley, pepper and dill), put them in a deep saucepan, pour vinegar to the top (don’t be afraid, you don’t need to add water) and add salt. The eggplants marinate in the refrigerator for a day.
So, after 24 hours, the dish is finally ready to eat! Design it beautifully so that not only the stomach, but also the eyes are happy.
Now we have looked at 4 more eggplant recipes. We remember that this vegetable is rich in vitamins, which means that dishes made from it are very healthy and are especially needed in winter. Choose for yourself which Armenian eggplants to cook for the winter: grilled, salted, pickled or baked on the grill. I am sure that in your heart and in the hearts of your loved ones there is space for each of them!