Kabak Dolma (stuffed courgettes)

It wasn't too much of a difficult decision to leave my job and my home in exchange for a life in Istanbul. I had no idea whether the relationship between Amir and I would work but I was ready to make that sacrifice. I loved to travel and immerse myself in culture and adventure. I knew, that if  it was a wrong decision I had made, then like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz I could  just tap my heels together and go back home. Back then, I took life as it came, travelling down many roads, soaking up life's experiences.
The decision to return back to England after a year and a half in Istanbul however, was far more difficult. Night after night Amir and I would discuss the pros and cons of life in Istanbul compared to life in London. After months of deliberation, we reached our decision. The most difficult part of all was to then tell Amir's Mum that we had decided to make our future life in England. She didn't take the news well at all, streams of tears were shed. She then gave me an ultimatum, "If you are going to take Amir to England with you then you have to learn how to cook Turkish food".
Every Tuesday thereafter, Amir's Mum came to visit me for a cooking lesson whilst Amir was at work. I still have my notebook full of recipes but I will never forget the first Turkish dinner I made for Amir and he will never forget it either, still today he tells the story of my kabak dolma.
I felt very confident to cook this dish for Amir one day whilst he was at work. We had kabak (courgettes) at home and I searched the kitchen for the rest of the ingredients needed. I couldn't find kiyma (minced beef) anywhere. I was still determined to make this dish as a surprise for him for when he returned home from work, so I used my imagination for an alternative. There were sausages in the freezer, I boiled and chopped them up in to tiny little pieces which I thought resembled minced beef rather well. I stuffed the kabak with the sausages and cooked them feeling very pleased with my creation. Amir came home, smelt the cooking and went to the kitchen to look at my kabak dolma. He lifted the lid, looked closer at it and then looked at me and said "Lisa, what is that floating around in the saucepan?" I explained how I used sausages as an alternative to minced beef but I didn't know that the chopped sausage would just disperse out of the courgettes and float around on the surface. So, we sat down for our meal eating hollow courgettes with lumps of chopped sausage on the side!

1 large slice of dried bread

4-6 courgettes

200g minced beef

1 Turkish coffee cup (75g) of rice

2 tablespoons of oil

1 tablespoon tomato puree

sugar

salt

black pepper
Natural yogurt for serving (optional)

Soak bread in a bowl of  cold water whilst you prepare the courgettes.

Wash courgettes, cut off the ends and peel. 

Cut courgettes in half and scoop out most of the middle so there is a hole all the way through (don't throw the middle)

Squeeze out all the excess water from the bread and place in a bowl. 

Add minced beef.

Wash rice and add to the minced beef.

Knead together well, add salt and black pepper.

Grate a few pieces of the scooped out courgette and knead in to the meat mixture.

Stuff the meat mixture in to the hollow courgettes leaving a small gap at each end as the rice will swell.

Place courgettes in to a large shallow pan either upright or laying down depending on how much space you have.

Roll any left over meat in to small balls and place in to the pan.

Place all the left over courgette pieces in to the pan.

Add tomato puree, oil, salt and sugar.
Fill with water so that courgettes are peeking above water level.
Cover pan with lid and cook until soft.
Serve with a dollop of natural yogurt.

In this photo I used only 4 courgettes so there was a lot of meat left over to make meatballs.

Turkish courgettes are different to English ones. They are fatter, sweeter and lighter in colour. They can be bought from any Mediterranean food store if preferred.

TIPS

• When slices of bread become dry and a little old, don't throw away. Keep out to dry, then store them. They can be used in many dishes with minced meat.

• If you peel the courgettes lengths ways like ribbons and keep all the peel separately,it can then be cooked together with some plums in the sauce as above. This side dish is called kaskarikas a Turkish Jewish dish.

• When peeling the courgettes you can make them have a stripey effect by peeling length ways and leaving gaps or using a jagged scrapper.

• Another way of cooking courgette dolma is if you cut the courgettes length ways, scoop out the middle to make a boat like shape, place the meat in the groove, dip in to flour (meat side down) then in to egg. Fry meat side down, then place them in to the pan to add sauce as above.

• You can use other vegetables to stuff, not just courgettes. Try peppers or tomatoes.

• Do not stuff with sausages!