If you’ve never had stuffed onions, stop everything you’re doing and get to peeling. They are an elegant way to dress up plain old ground beef and raw onions.
Soğan dolması translates to stuffed onion in Turkish. They belong to the Dolma family of stuffed dishes found in the Balkans, South Caucasus, Central Asia and the Middle East. Common vegetables for stuffing are tomato, pepper, onion, zucchini, eggplant and pointed gourd. However for this recipe, I used white onions.
The Shah’s of Sunset
I tried stuffed onions for the first time, many years ago, at a Jewish Persian friend’s home (yes, like Shah’s of Sunset). Stew over rice is by far the most popular Iranian dish. That night was no exception as they served stuffed onions over Persian rice called Tahdig. It was truly amazing because it blended tart, savory and sweet tastes all together in perfect harmony.
Many Layers to the Onion
Though it looks like a painstaking challenge to core the onion and then stuff it with meat and rice, it’s not difficult at all. In fact, the way it’s done is rather ingenious.
Start with 4-5 large onions for this recipe. I used white, but yellow onions will work as well. Peel them and trim the ends. The trick is to take a large knife and cut halfway through them, lengthwise. Then boil the onions for 15 minutes to soften and loosen the layers.
Once cooled, the layers peel off fairly easy. They are then stuffed with a meat mixture. The mixture consists of ground beef (lamb is the original meat), chopped parsley, mint, onion, garlic, salt, pepper, paprika and Baharat.
The Secret Sauce
Baharat is an aromatic, warm, and sweet spice blend typically made with a combination of black peppercorns, coriander, cumin, allspice, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, paprika, and nutmeg. I substituted it with my own similar Moroccan blend, Ras el Hanout. This gives the ground beef a uniquely sweet and savory profile.
Wrapping Things Up
The next step is to stuff each onion layer and wrap it. Do this for each layer of onion until you’re either out of onion or out of meat. You can never perfectly match it, so don’t sweat it.
Each stuffed onion is then arranged into a deep saucepan containing a bay leaf, cinnamon stick, date syrup (which you can substitute with sugar or honey) and beef stock. The whole pan is brought to a boil, covered and the heat is then reduced to low for one hour. That’s it!
I’m sure that once you try this recipe, it will become one of your favorite go-to dishes when you want to really impress.
Afiyet olsun! (Turkish for “may it be good for you”)
Stuffed Onions
DESCRIPTION
INGREDIENTS
- 5 onions
- 1 pound ground beef (or ground lamb)
- 1/2 cup rice (Basmati or Jasmine)
- 1/4 bunch fresh parsley (finely chopped)
- 1/4 bunch fresh mint (finely chopped)
- 2 cloves garlic (minced)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp ground pepper
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp Baharat spice blend ((or Ras el Hanout or Garam Masala) https://koshercowboy.com/2017/11/14/ras-el-hanout-moroccan-spice-blend/)
- 2 cups beef or chicken broth
- 2 cups water
- 2 tbsp date syrup (substitute with honey, sugar or pomegranate syrup)
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 stick cinnamon
INSTRUCTIONS
- Peel the onions. Trim the ends. Then make s cut down on one side, cutting into the center, from the top to bottom of the onion. The goal is to slice halfway through the onion, lengthwise.
- Boil the onions in a large for pot 15 minutes.
- Remove the onions and let them cool. Then, carefully separate the layers with your fingers making sure not to tear the layer. Finely chop the leftover onion hearts.
- In another bowl, add the ground beef and 1/2 cup of rice, chopped onion hearts, parsley, mint, salt, pepper, paprika, Baharat spice blend and mix well.
- Stuff 1-2 tablespoons of the meat mixture into an onion layer and wrap it. Repeat until you've used all the onion layer and/or meat.
- In a deep saucepan, add the beef stock, water, date syrup, bay leaf, cinnamon stick and stir.
- Arrange the stuffed onions in the pan with the cut side down and bring to a boil.
- Reduce the heat to low, cover the pan and simmer for 1 hour.
- Remove from heat. Serve warm and garnish with fresh chopped parsley.
