Algerian Dolma

I recently spent 10 days visiting family in Algeria and spent a lot of time helping my mother-in-law and sisters-in-law in the kitchen learning lots of traditional recipes and ways of cooking – their food is amazing and so tasty, plus always cooked from scratch using fresh and seasonal vegetables purchased mostly directly from the producers and farmers daily which honestly, as a big vegetable fan, just blew my mind with the taste and freshness.

One of the dishes which is a firm favourite with the family is Dolma which is basically vegetables stuffed with a spiced mincemeat filling and then gently cooked in a spicy sauce. You can adapt the vegetables depending on your preference or what’s seasonal at the time

Ingredients (this made 4 portions)

Vegetables

Sauce

Filling

You can use any vegetables you like, but I definitely recommend potatoes, carrots and courgette (you need to be able to hollow out the middle in order to stuff them).

I brought some fresh artichokes home with me to prepare for the first time but when making in future, I probably won’t use them again as they are difficult to find in the UK (but they are absolutely delicious!)

finely chopped onion
1 tbsp of harissa
2 tsp of garlic
1 tsp of ground coriander
1 tsp of ground caraway
1/2 tsp of black pepper
2 tbsp of tomato puree
boiling water
a handful of fresh parsley

500gm of lean beef mince
1 egg
1 tsp of garlic
1 tsp of ground coriander
1 tsp of ground caraway
1/2 tsp of black pepper

Method

Step 1

Prepare your veg – chop long veg into sections about 8cm long and then use a spoon or a melon baller to hollow out your vegetables for the mince stuffing. Try not to go all the way through to the bottom of the veg.

Keep any ‘insides’ as you are going to add them to the sauce later.

Step 2

This is what your vegetables should look like and are ready for stuffing.

Step 3

Start your sauce by adding a splash of water to a large lidded sauce pan and place on a medium heat. Add the chopped onion, harissa, black pepper, garlic, coriander and caraway.

Step 4

Give it a good stir, cover and simmer for 10 mins – adding more water to stop it from sticking.

Step 5

Prepare your mince filling by adding the spices to the mince along with the egg

Step 6

Mix by hard to combine all together

Step 7

Stuff the mince into each of your vegetables firmly. If there is any mince leftover, make into small meatballs (golf ball size) to add into your sauce.

Step 8

Add any of the ‘middles’ of the veg to the bottom of your pan with the sauce in it and then carefully place your vegetables into the pan so that the mince end is on the top. Place any meatballs you may have in too.

Step 9

Add boiling water gently as to not disturb your vegetable formation!

The water needs to almost cover your vegetables.

Step 10

I should have added the tomato puree before stage 9 but it doesn’t really matter, just be careful to mix it in gently to not disturb the veg.

Turn the heat to low, cover and cook for about 20 mins.

Step 11

Add in the chopped parsley and gently stir through.

Step 12

Cover and continue to cook – test your vegetables with a knife and to see if they are tender. This took about another 20 minutes when I cooked it.

To Serve

Literally just dish and eat it! (I put it in a nice pot just for the photo to be honest!)

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