Hollowed courgettes packed with spiced lamb and rice, then simmered upright in tomato broth until they slump. Patient work that repays itself.
Prep
40 mins
Cook
55 mins
Servings
5
Per serving
£2.04
Difficulty
hard
Coring courgettes is the fiddly part and there is no way around it, though a proper corer turns twenty minutes into five. The filling goes in loose, never packed, because the rice swells as it cooks and a tightly stuffed courgette splits open in the pot. Cooking them standing up keeps them intact.
Cut the stalk ends off the courgettes and hollow each one out with an apple corer or a narrow vegetable peeler, leaving a shell about 5 mm thick and stopping short of the closed end.
Work slowly and rotate rather than pushing hard. Going too deep tears the base and the filling escapes.
Mix the lamb mince, rinsed rice, onion, half the garlic, the cinnamon, allspice, cumin, 1.5 tsp of the salt, the black pepper and half the parsley in a bowl. Combine with your fingers but do not knead it.
Overworking makes the filling dense. You want it loose and crumbly.
Fill each courgette using a teaspoon, tapping it on the worktop to settle the mixture, and stop about 2 cm from the top. Leave the last stretch empty.
That gap is essential. Rice roughly doubles and needs somewhere to expand into.
Heat the olive oil in a wide, deep pan. Fry the remaining garlic for 30 seconds, add the tomato puree for a minute, then the chopped tomatoes, dried mint, the remaining salt and 600 ml water. Bring to a simmer.
Stand the stuffed courgettes upright and close together in the pan, open ends up. The liquid should come about three quarters of the way up them, so add hot water if needed.
Packing them shoulder to shoulder is what keeps them standing. A pan that is too big lets them topple and spill.
Lay a small heatproof plate directly on top of the courgettes to weigh them down, cover the pan and simmer very gently for 45 to 50 minutes, until the rice is tender and the courgette flesh gives easily.
Keep it at a bare tremble. A hard boil bursts them open every time.
Lift the plate off, pour over the lemon juice and let the pan sit off the heat for 10 minutes to settle.
Serve two per person with plenty of the tomato broth spooned over and the remaining parsley scattered on top.
Any filling left over can be simmered separately in the broth and served alongside.