Stuffed Aubergines

The name of this dish means the Imam fainted. Cookbooks will tell you he swooned at its delicious taste, or the cost of the olive oil. But I think it alludes to the yonic appearance of the split aubergine. Imam Bayildi is very good with an onion-based tomato sauce, but Yashim’s version instead uses the pomegranate molasses that tomatoes-with-sugar largely replaced in Mediterranean cooking.