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Imam bayildi with lamb chops and tzatziki

Lulu Grimes's imam bayildi: aubergines roasted and baked with onion, garlic, cinnamon, tomato and parsley, served with paprika-seasoned Halal lamb chops off the grill and a cucumber and mint tzatziki.

Turkish · Main · Easy · 6 portions · 105 min

Each method follows published technique for the dish, and every Halal substitution is checked against the ingredient pages we cite. Photographs come from our ingredient library rather than the finished dish.

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Why Halal checks matter here

The dish is served with 12 lamb chops or cutlets, which are Halal only from a Halal-slaughtered animal, and the tzatziki is made with Greek yogurt, which needs a gelatin check.

Halal-critical ingredients

• Lamb chops: Lamb is Halal only from a Halal-slaughtered animal, and lamb without a Halal mark doesn't say how the animal was slaughtered. Buy the chops from a Halal butcher or in a certified pack. See Lamb.
• Greek yogurt: Plain yogurt is milk fermented with cultures, but gelatin turns up in set, low-fat and dessert yogurts. Choose a yogurt with no gelatin on the label. See Yogurt.

Ingredients

Imam bayildi

• 3 aubergines
• 2 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for brushing
• 1 Spanish onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 8 ripe tomatoes, peeled
• small bunch flat-leaf parsley, chopped

Lamb

• 12 Halal lamb chops or cutlets
• pinch paprika
• 1 lemon, halved

Tzatziki

• 150 g tub Greek yogurt (no gelatine)
• ½ cucumber, seeds scooped out, grated
• 2 tbsp chopped mint

Method

1. Roast the aubergines. Heat the oven to 190°C (170°C fan, gas 5). Halve the aubergines lengthways, score the flesh deeply, brush with a good layer of olive oil and roast on a baking sheet for 20 minutes, until the flesh is soft enough to scoop out.
2. Make the filling. Fry the onion in a little oil until soft, then add the garlic and cinnamon for 1 minute. Scoop out the aubergine centres, chop the flesh roughly and add it to the onions. Halve the tomatoes, scoop the seeds and juice into a sieve over a bowl, chop the flesh and cook it with everything else for 10 minutes until soft. Stir in most of the parsley.
3. Bake. Lay the aubergine halves in a baking dish, divide the filling between them, pour over the tomato juice, drizzle with more oil and bake for 30 minutes until collapsed.
4. Make the tzatziki. Meanwhile, mix the yogurt, cucumber and mint in a small serving bowl.
5. Grill the lamb and serve. Season the lamb with salt, black pepper and a pinch of paprika. Griddle, grill or barbecue for 3 minutes a side, until the fat is nicely browned, then squeeze over the lemon halves. Scatter the aubergines with the rest of the parsley and serve with the lamb and tzatziki.

Allergens

milk (yogurt)

How this recipe was researched

Method adapted from BBC Good Food's 'Imam bayildi with BBQ lamb & tzatziki' by Lulu Grimes, which calls imam bayildi a Turkish aubergine dish with hundreds of versions, authentically quite oily (serves 6: oven at 190°C (170°C fan, gas 5); 3 aubergines halved lengthways, deeply scored, brushed with olive oil and roasted 20 minutes; a finely chopped Spanish onion fried soft in a little of 2 tbsp olive oil, 2 crushed garlic cloves and 1 tsp cinnamon 1 minute; the scooped aubergine flesh chopped and added; 8 peeled ripe tomatoes halved, seeds and juice sieved over a bowl, the flesh chopped and cooked with the rest 10 minutes; most of a small bunch of chopped parsley stirred in; the filling spooned into the aubergine shells in a baking dish, the tomato juice poured over, drizzled with oil and baked 30 minutes until collapsed; tzatziki of a 150 g tub of Greek yogurt, half a cucumber seeded and grated and 2 tbsp chopped mint; 12 lamb chops or cutlets seasoned with salt, pepper and a pinch of paprika and griddled, grilled or barbecued 3 minutes a side until the fat browns, with the juice of a halved lemon squeezed over; served with the aubergines scattered with parsley and the tzatziki). We specified Halal lamb chops and flagged the yogurt's label; nothing else needed changing. Timings follow the published technique rather than a kitchen test.

Photograph from our ingredient library: lamb chops on a grill, not the finished dish from this recipe.