This Sunday the whole family gathered at our place to celebrate two birthdays. It was just in time before the kids would go back to school or leave for college. I had to feed 10 people ages from 3 to us! The kids going to college asked for "mahshi", stuffed vegetables. I promised I would make it for them, depending of course of the vegetables I could find in the market. Why did I say that? Well, lately I couldn't find the right eggplants to stuff. I usually use the white ones, they sometimes come with some light color, but mainly white. They said I could do it with the dark ones. They seemed determined to have their mahshi.
STUFFED EGGPLANTS, PEPPERS and GRAPE LEAVES
I found these beautiful small black eggplants fresh in the local market. I had never seen them before. I am used to the long black ones, but these were new to me, so I decided to try them. It was a very good decision. Their size was just right, short and almost round, so they were easy to carve and stuff. I got 15 eggplants. I thought it would be enough with the small cute peppers I had and a whole jar of grape leaves. It is easy to make stuff vegetables, but it is very time consuming. I prepared everything the day before, so that I could be free and enjoy the company. So be prepared and don't say I didn't warn you. The black eggplants I got were about 2 inches, the perfect size. If you find the long white ones, they usually are much longer, so try to get them straight as much as possible and cut them in half. In this case, don't cut the stem, but peel it off and leave the solid tip, it will be the base of the stuffed eggplant. For the whole batch, you'll need:
15 small black eggplants, or white if you can find them
1 lb small peppers, different colors
1 (16 oz) jar grape leaves
2 large tomatoes, seeded and finely chopped
1 bunch each: flat leaf parsley and dill, finely chopped
4 cups rice
1 onion finely chopped
4 garlic cloves finely chopped, more sliced, optional for the grape leaves
1 to 1 1/2 lb ground beef
4 tbsp butter, ghee or clarified butter (this time I used ghee)
2 tbsp cumin
Salt and pepper to taste
Start by preparing the veggies:
Cut off the top of the peppers and remove the seeds and white membranes inside. Set aside.
Cut off the top of the eggplants. Fill a big bowl with tap water and add some salt and lemon juice to it.
On the surface of the counter roll each eggplant with the palm of you hand, and put some pressure with the heel of your hand on the eggplant while you roll. You will feel the flesh breaking inside under pressure. Do not push hard or you'll risk breaking it. With a small peeler, make small incisions around the cut top, then insert the peeler, turn it around and remove the first part of the flesh. Continue carving the inside with the peeler, removing all the seeds and flesh, but being careful not to pierce the skin. Transfer the cleaned eggplant to the bowl filled with water and salt. It will keep them fresh until you are ready to stuff them.
In the mean time, brown the ground beef in a large skillet with the onion, garlic salt and pepper. No need to add butter or oil. The fat in the meat is enough. Stir from time to time, making sure that you don't get big lumps of meat. Turn off the heat when all the liquid in the pan has been absorbed. Set aside to cool, until you are ready to prepare the stuffing.
To prepare the grape leaves, remove the leaves from the jar, dip them for a minute or two in boiling water, then rinse them thoroughly under cold running water. Transfer to a colander until you stuff them.
For the stuffing use a large pan, where you combine rice, browned beef, chopped parsley, dill and tomato. Add cumin, salt,pepper and ghee. Mix to combine.
To stuff the veggies, start with the easiest, the peppers, followed by the eggplants. Make sure you are using your regular rice. You will know how much liquid it will need and how big it will be when fully cooked. Don't fill the veggies to the rim, exactly because the rice will grow in size when cooked, and might break the skin of your vegetables. Use small pans or sauce pans to arrange the stuffed vegetables, and cook them separately. Each vegetable has its own taste. When you roll the grape leaves make sure that you don't roll them too tight, or else they will explode. Actually today I was tired towards the end and I did just that, so some rolls were torn. They were delicious nonetheless and were devoured without anyone even noticing the mistake. When you arrange the stuffed grape leaves in the pan, you may sprinkle some garlic slices
between rows, some people do that, I don't.
Add water, or stock, to the pans to fill them up to half the height of the vegetables. If the rice you are using needs 2 cups of liquid for each cup of rice, still add less liquid because the veggies will render their liquid too. Also you can always add liquid if need be. When the liquid comes to a boil, reduce the heat and let simmer covered until the rice is done and all the liquid absorbed. Of course you have to check from time to time in case you have to add some more liquid.
Arrange each vegetable on a separate serving dish. I prefer to serve them like that, it keeps each taste separate and if someone doesn't like one vegetable, he doesn't need to have it close to what he's eating. If you have a large round platter, put it over the pot with the grape leaves and turn it upside down. It will come out like a cake. I managed to take the picture after someone got to grab a couple of mahshis! But you get the idea.
For a detailed "how to stuff grape leaves" go to my previous blog dated 3/8/12.
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