Stuffed Zucchini – (Kabak Dolmasi)

The summer season has already begun and summer vegetables are fresh. I think it is time to try new recipe with fresh summer zucchini. In Turkish cuisine stuffing vegetables are common which is called as a “dolma”. This recipe requires a little effort but I don’t want to daunt you. Believe me you will love taste and it’s impressive!

Ingredients:

• 4 zucchini
• 1/4 lb ground beef
• 2 tbsp rice, washed and drained
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tbsp chopped dill
• 3 tbsp chopped parsley
• 1tbsp tomato paste
• 1/2 tsp salt
• black pepper

To bake stuffed zucchini:

• 1 cup hot water
• 1 tbsp tomato paste

Method:

Wash and lightly peal zucchini. Trim ends and cut zucchini crosswise in half depending on the length of the zucchini – 3″ pieces are good. With a melon-ball cutter, starting from the wider end, hollow out each zucchini half to form a cup, leaving about 1/2 inch intact at bottom. If you don’t have melon-ball cutter you can use small knife or small spoon.

To prepare the filling, mix all the ingredients in a bowl. And then fill zucchini with a spoon. If you have an extra filling you can fill tomato or bell pepper what you have in your fridge. 😉

Then stand all stuffed zucchini in a pot (see photo) and if you have extra tomato or bell pepper arrange them, too.

Lastly, in a small bowl mix 1 cup of boiled water and 1 tbsp tomato paste and then pour over and into tops of zucchini. If You think that amount of water is not enough, you can add hot water because there should be about 2″ of water in the pot.

Cover. Turn on high heat and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat and simmer for 20 minutes.

You should serve with plain yogurt, if you like you can add some crushed fresh garlic.