Name: Stuffed potatoes
Yield: Serves 4–6 10–12 stuffed potatoes
Cuisine: Libyan
Ingredients: 5 garlic cloves, crushed; 1½ sticks of celery, finely chopped (80 g in total); 1 small carrot, peeled and finely chopped (70 g in total); 1 red chilli, finely chopped; 1½ tsp ground cumin; 1 tsp ground allspice; 1.5 kg medium Charlotte or Nicola potatoes, about 9 cm × 6 cm, peeled and halved lengthways; 2 tbsp chopped coriander; 2 tbsp thyme leaves, chopped; 1½ tsp ground cinnamon; 2 medium free-range eggs, beaten; 1 medium onion, finely chopped (120 g in total); 200 g white breadcrumbs; 20 g flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped; 2 garlic cloves, crushed; 500 g minced beef; a pinch of smoked paprika; salt and black pepper; 1½ tsp sweet paprika; 2 tbsp olive oil; 1 tbsp tamarind paste; 800 g tinned chopped tomatoes; 1 tsp caraway seeds, crushed with a mortar and pestle or spice grinder; 1½ tsp caster sugar

Preparation info

Serves
4–6
10–12 stuffed potatoes

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Jerusalem

By Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi

Published 2012

About

The cuisine of Libyan Jews, Tripolitans as they are known, is luxurious and complex and has made a clear mark on the local food culture. It is very much a North African cuisine with its love of sweet things, the use of semolina, long cooking and general vibrancy, but it is also influenced by Italian and Arab cuisines.

If you think stuffing vegetables is a time consuming and intricate activity at the best of times, Tripolitan cooks have managed to take it into completely new spheres.