Stuffed courgettes and peppers

Name: Stuffed courgettes and peppers (Mashi dolma)
Yield: Serves 6
Cuisine: Libyan
Ingredients: 1 tsp chilli powder; pinch of salt; 500 g (1 lb 2 oz) beef or lamb, minced; 2–3 large cabbage leaves; 750 ml-1 litre (1⅓-1¾ pints) water; 2 tbsp tomato purée; 500 g (1 lb 2 oz) green peppers; 2 tbsp dried mint; 500 g (1 lb 2 oz) small courgettes, trimmed; 3 onions, peeled and finely chopped; leaves from a bunch of flat leaf parsley; 1 tsp ground black pepper; 150 g (5½ oz) cooked rice

Mashi dolma

Preparation info

Serves
6

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

The North African Kitchen

By Fiona Dunlop

Published 2008

About

This classic Turkish dish was brought by the Ottomans but has undergone a Libyan makeover. The steamed version is deliciously moist and the mint makes it refreshing on a hot summer’s day. It is quite labour-intensive, so allow plenty of time for preparation.

Ingredients

500 g (1 lb 2 oz) green peppers
500

Africa
Asia
Turkey
Libya
Tripoli
Main course
Mediterranean
Summer
Gluten-free
North Africa

Method

Prepare the peppers by cutting off the stalk and upper quarter, or ‘lid’, of each. Remove all the inner pulp and seeds, then rinse. Cut the courgettes across the middle (not lengthways) to obtain two round halves from each one and scoop out the cores.
Blend the onion and parsley in a food processor, then mix with the minced meat, mint, cooked rice, black pepper