As I mentioned before, Turkish cuisine has a very large section recipes for (dolma) stuffed vegetables. Most of them can be cooked either with mincemeat or rice stuffing, but courgettes are going well only with mincemeat. It is highly presentable for dinner, especially served with a dollop of yoghurt aside. Usually we make the food even more colourful by mixing different vegetables in the pot, such as tomatoes I have stuffed together with courgettes. So be brave to try different colours together, such as peppers, onions and even potatoes. Just clean the insides of the vegetable and fill it! So simple!
- 5 courgettes, long and thick enough to fill
- 300 grs of mincemeat
- 1-2 large onions
- 2 large tomatoes
- 1/2 cup of short grain rice
- half a bunch of parsley and mint
- salt, red and black pepper
- 1/2 cup olive oil
Start by cleaning the vegetables. Rinse them and scrub the skin, then halve them and scoop out the flesh by using a mellonballer. This thing is a real lifesaver:-) Keep the flesh to use later. You can chop them and make fritters by adding chopped onions, shredded carrots and 1-2 eggs, goes very well with yoghurt again! Set aside the shallow skins and prepare the stuffing. Dice onions and tomatoes, chop the greens and add to mincemeat. Add the seasoning, remember to add a little more salt for the courgettes. Add rice as it is, adjust the amount of olive oil according to your meat. Lean meat would need a little more oil. The stuffing should not be thick as to make meatballs. Add enough water to have a soft consistency, otherwise you would end up having hard dolmas. Stuff the courgettes loosely, never fill tightly. Place them in a pot and keep them in upright position. You can place small caps on each one with tomato slices. In case your filling would be more than you need, you can scoop out and fill hard tomatoes or onions as I mentioned above. Or you can keep the stuffing in freezer and use another time.
Add 2 cups of boiling water to the pot and leave to cook on a low simmer. Around 45 minutes would be enough for courgettes to get soft. If the pot has too much water at the end, just open the lid and leave to boil on high heat a couple of minutes for the juices to evaporate. Serve hot or warm, whole or sliced on a serving plate. Do not forget yoghurt and a coupke of fresh mint leaves. Enjoy!
Yes yes .
My sweet Tulin. Very successfull. You know we like it both.This kind of stuffed food. I hope our kind visitors will enjoy too this very healthy Mediterranean food. So tasty so simple to make it. (Even I can make it :-)))
Under your surveilance of course.
(you know that I would prefer it better baked in oven with more olive oil ) Hmmm sounds a little heavier to digest but damn is soooo tasty .
Love you
You are incredible!!!!
I know my dear, that you are addicted to oven-baked food:-) I will prepare this dish that way just for you! Thank you a million times for your support and love! filakia!
May I also make my humble contribution to this wonderful correspondence of love ? How great to have you back on blogging, dear Tülin !!!! I only have to find out if this correspondence is still between Ankara and Athens, but writing in our personal style I will know soon... After finally writing a new post I will be back also on our usual (almost) daily writing...
Many many hugs to both of you, Tülin and Sakis (whom I have to support a little bit as for a little more oil... ;-) and take care both of you, you are both incredible, angelika
Hello dear Angelika, thank you very much for the support, this will turn back to you as extra virgin olive oil :-) Seriously now, the correspondence is in Athens face to face since yesterday. Hopefully I will find something quickly to blog about these days.Hugs...
Dear Paz, I ve missed you all,too. Thank you for the compliment. It is very nice to be back. There will be I think another recipe about courgettes...but this time about their blossoms:-)