Kuru Patlican ve Biber Dolmasi (Stuffed Dried Eggplant and Peppers)

I made a lot of impulse purchases at the halal grocery store a few months back. There were lots of interesting and tasty-looking things and I just kind of grabbed a bit of each without being entirely sure what I was going to do with it all. I think we've managed to use up almost all of the jams and preserves now. And all of the sweets. But I still had a bag each of dried eggplants and dried peppers that had yet to be used. As well as a jar of Turkish pepper flakes. (And a bunch of dried citrus as well, but that doesn't come into play in this recipe, so we'll just ignore it for now.)

Dolma Kuru Patlican Dolmasi

Slightly adapted from Ozlem's Turkish Table

Ingredients

• 12 dried eggplant shells
• 15 dried bell pepper shells
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 c. chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 1 Tbsp. biber salcasi (Turkish hot pepper paste) or 1 tsp. Turkish pepper flakes
• 1 Tbsp. tomato paste
• 3 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds, ground
• 2 tsp. dried mint
• 3/4 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/4 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1 c. long-grain brown rice
• 450g ground beef
• 2 Tbsp. pomegranate molasses¹

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add the dried shells. Boil for 3 minutes, then drain, reserving the water.
2. Shock the blanched shells in some very cold water, then drain again and set aside.
3. Combine onion, garlic, parsley, pepper paste (or flakes), tomato paste, 1 Tbsp. of the oil, cumin, mint, salt, and pepper in a large bowl.
4. Massage and squeeze the mixture with your hands for a minute or two.
5. Add the rice, beef, and pomegranate molasses and mix well.
6. Pour the remaining 2 Tbsp. of oil into the bottom of a large pot or Dutch oven.
7. Stuff the shells with the filling. Pack it down a little bit, but don't fill them right up to the top. The filling will expand as the rice cooks.
8. As each shell is filled, place it in the pan. Try to fit them all into just one layer if possible.
9. Pour ~2 1/2 c. of the reserved cooking water into the pot with the dolma.
10. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat, cover, and cook for another 35 minutes.
11. Remove from heat and let stand, covered, for 5-10 minutes before serving.
12. Serve with Turkish pepper flakes, plain yogurt, and/or tzatziki.

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¹ I only just realized that I forgot the pomegranate molasses! The ingredients were listed in a weird order and I had to keep jumping around the recipe. The dolma came out delicious anyway, but I did feel like they needed more tomato and/or more acid. The pomegranate molasses probably would've balanced everything out beautifully! Oh well, I guess I can drizzle some over the leftovers tomorrow. ^Back