From Ankara's Kitchens
to Your Table.

Legend has it that an Ottoman imam swooned with pure delight — or perhaps dismay at the lavish quantity of olive oil used — when he first tasted this legendary Aegean dish, and the name has been whispered in Turkish kitchens ever since.

Whole aubergines are slowly braised until they collapse into silken tenderness, their cavities filled with a fragrant mixture of caramelized onions, ripe tomatoes, garlic, flat-leaf parsley, and the finest cold-pressed olive oil the Aegean coast can offer.

My grandmother Sevgi would prepare this every late summer when the aubergines swelled heavy and glossy in the garden — a recipe passed down without measurements, guided only by instinct, scent, and love.