Karnıyarık

Karnıyarık is a whole fried aubergine split down the middle and packed with a minced-meat filling, baked until it browns. The name literally means "split belly," describing exactly what happens to the aubergine — and it's worth being clear this is genuinely a different dish from imam bayıldı, its meatless cousin that's served cold rather than hot.

What it actually is

A whole aubergine fries until soft and lightly browned on the outside, then a slit cuts along its length without going all the way through, opening it up like a pocket. Minced meat, cooked down with onion, tomato and green pepper into a thick filling, packs into that slit, mounded generously on top. The whole thing bakes until the filling browns at the edges and the aubergine finishes cooking through.

Meat filling and hot serving are what separate karnıyarık from imam bayıldı. Imam bayıldı uses the same split-aubergine format but fills it with only onion and tomato, no meat, and is served cold or at room temperature; karnıyarık is the meat-filled version, and it's served hot, straight from the oven.

How it's served

• Hot, straight from the oven, the meat filling still visibly mounded on top.
• With rice pilaf, as the standard side.
• As a main course, a substantial dish rather than a starter.

Writing it on a menu

• Say that it's served hot with a meat filling, since it's easily confused with the meatless, cold imam bayıldı on the same menu.
• Note which meat is used in the filling, since both lamb and beef versions are common.
• Mention that it's naturally free of major common allergens in the base recipe.
• Flag if a vegetarian version exists, since that would functionally be imam bayıldı rather than karnıyarık.