The versatility of the eggplant was fully exploited by the medielval cooks of Baghdad, that is, once they learnt how to get rid of its bitterness, which caused many people to be suspicious of it at first and avoid it. It was used in stews, stuffed, fried, pickled, and made into vegetarian bawarid (cold) side dishes. Pairing fried eggplant with yogurt proved to be so successful that it is still one of the favorite ways of serving eggplant. In the tenth century, small eggplants were soaked in salted water first, than drained and fried in oil, and sprinkled with a little pepper, murri (fermented sauce), and caraway (al-Warraq, 115-6). In the thirteenth -century cookbook, Buran was fried eggplant, mashed and mixed with garlic, coriander, salt and yogurt. There is another recipe in the same book, called badhinjan bil laban (eggplant and yogurt) which is basically parboiled eggplant and yogurt (Arberry, 191, 206).

Today, we take the best of each medieval recipe. Fried eggplant slices are kept intact, and are arranged on a plate, and drenched in yogurt flavored with garlic and some spices. It's a simple and beautiful dish, great for hot summer days.

Today, an identical dish, called Buran is still cooking in countries as far removed from Baghdad as Afghanistan.