Imam Bayildi and Long Beans - The Sequel

Yesterday, I blogged about my experiment with Imam Bayilidi. I decided to add a novel ingredient - asian long beans - and promised to report.

Well, it was good last night and really good today, especially when I cooked an egg in it in the microwave. The long beans are a lovely addition - they're chewy enough to hold onto their texture through the braising, taking on the flavors of the dish nicely, and develop a deep green color that really complements the eggplant and tomatoes. Couple of things I would do differently the next time:
~ use smaller eggplant, or cut a big one up into smaller pieces. The parts of the huge one I used that didn't get direct contact with the sauce were a bit bland.
~ more salt (though salting the finished product also works well)

Many more variations are possible (some herbs, some pepper), but here's a basic recipe based on what I did:

1 - 2 lbs of eggplant
4 roma tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 - 2 yellow onions, chopped
bunch of olive oil (just have the bottle handy)
4-5 cloves of garlic, coarsely chopped.
kosher or coarse sea salt
1 bunch of long beans (regular green beans would probably work, too), tipped, tailed and cut into 2-3 inch lengths
black pepper

1. peel strips longways off the eggplant to create a nice striped pattern.
2. If you're working with medium or small eggplants, cut them in half, lengthwise and then cut a slit down the middle to make a pocket. Sprinkle the whole thing, including the pocket, with salt and set on a paper towel for 30 mins. If you have one big eggplant, you could either cut it in quarters, or slice it. Either way, sprinkle with salt and let rest, as above.
3. While the eggplant are exuding bitterness and water, make the sauce. Start by sautéing the onions in some olive oil. When they have softened just a bit, add the garlic and then the tomatoes. Salt and pepper this to taste and let it cook for about 10 mins or so, just to get the whole thing blended. Set aside.
4. When yer eggplants are done, rinse them well to get rid of the extra salt. Dry them off and then brown them cut side down in olive oil, in a big, deep sauté pan. When they're nice and brown, flip them over.
5. Now, tuck the beans around the eggplant, and add the sauce. If you have pockets in the eggplant, stuff some sauce in there, and pour what's left over the whole shebang. Add about a quarter cup of water.
6. Cover the pan, and let the stuff cook over medium heat for 30-50 minutes, until the eggplant are very soft. Check occasionally to make sure there's enough liquid in the pan.
7. You can serve this right away (code for "you can eat this right out of the pot with a spoon"), but it's yummier if you let it cool and eat the next day - it's good room temp or heated up.

One note - don't be stingy with the olive oil. If you're worried about too much fat, make a different dish. Part of Imam Bayildi's unique deliciousness comes from luxurious amounts of olive oil, and it just won't taste really good without it.