By Nathan Lloyd
You’ll need:
5-6 medium/large red bell peppers, charred
For the filling:
80g of cooked rice (per person)
1/2 fried courgette, chopped finely (I used some from an antipasti jar to save time)
2 Lombardi peppers, chopped finely
1 tbs fresh lemon juice
1 tsp lemon zest
Handful of fresh parsley, chopped
For the mince:
100g green lentils
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced
1tbs tomato purée
1tbs sun dried tomato paste
1tbs dried parsley
½ tsp mixed spice
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1-2 cups of water
1tsp bouillon
1 cup red wine
For the sauce:
1 carton/ jar of passata
1 clove of garlic, minced
A glug of olive oil
1 (Heaped) tbs of pepper paste
Soy garlic yogurt mix
2-3 tbs of soy yogurt
1 tsp lemon zest
1 tbs lemon juice
1 tsp garlic infused oil
A sprinkle of smoked paprika
Method
Start by making the mince.
I’d recommend doing this in advance so you have a batch ready for you to use. We usually have big batches of lentil mince in the freezer that my boyfriend cooks up while I’m in work on a Sunday. It’s so versatile (if you remove the cayenne and mixed spice) and can be made into all manner of creations from pies, ragù, Chilli- you name it!
This batch I’ve included the extra spices as I knew this batch was only for making dolma.
In a small cast iron pot fry the chopped onion and garlic until soft. Add the paste and the purée and heat through. Pour in the lentils and stir until thoroughly coated with the sauce. Add the herbs, spice and bouillon with lots of freshly cracked black pepper. Cover with the water and put the lid on. Simmer for at least forty minutes, an hour won’t hurt – this will allow the lentils to truly swell and soak up all the liquid.
After an hour the mixture should be rich and just about ready. Stir in the wine until the mixture reconstitutes itself – allow to cook through for another twenty minutes until the wine has cooked out. Leave aside to cool slightly, or store overnight/ freeze*.
*If using thawed/chilled mince, I’d recommend heating it through before stuffing.
Once your mince is ready the rest is simple and fairly quick to make!
When you’d like to make the dolma, simply put each pepper over an open flame ( I used my gas hob) until it begins to bubble and blacken. Once burnished and black, take off and leave to cool down.
PS: Be careful around open flames! The amount of times the pepper (now a ball of fire) fell off the ring- and I was wearing oven gloves!
As they are cooling I’d recommend cooking the other components.
Cook the rice as you would normally, remembering to cook slightly less than usual as you are stuffing it with a rice mixture rather than serving it with rice. While it’s cooking start the sauce.
Heat up a saucepan and fry off the garlic with the olive oil until translucent. Next, add in the pepper paste and cook for another minute. Then add in the passata and let it simmer until the flavours start developing.
The rice should be done by this point. Set aside and leave to cool.
Return to the peppers, de-core and deseed them, making sure that you cut them close to the top so that you have a vessel to fill. Remember to keep the tops, though.
Grab the mince, empty it into a mixing bowl and combine it with the rice. Then, add in the lemon juice & zest, chopped peppers, courgette and parsley. Season well.
Then pour the sauce into a baking dish and sit the peppers in the tomatoey-peppery bath. Fill the peppers up to the brim with this aromatic mixture and re-hat them with their tops. Place into a preheated oven at 180°C for 10-15 minutes.
Once they are in the oven, you can make the topping. Combine all ingredients together, (except the paprika) until it becomes thick and glossy.
Take the peppers out of the oven and de-hat them once again ( no fear they’ll have their hats back on soon enough!) and smother with the lemony-garlic yogurt. Top with the smoky, fiery paprika and return the tops on (see, I told you). Serve with a side salad or on their own. and enjoy!
