Summer Tolma
Description
Recipe for preparing summer tolma. A very tasty, beautiful, colorful, and popular dish in the Caucasus. The main ingredients of this Armenian dish are fresh summer vegetables, meat, and herbs.
Instructions
- 1
Step 1
1. First of all, we'll prepare the minced meat. Pass the meat through a meat grinder. It's best to use fatty beef for the mince, adding pork or lamb to it. We use 70% beef and 30% lamb with fat.
- 2
Step 2
2. Now parboil the round rice, drain the water, and rinse the rice under cold water. Finely chop an onion and a small amount of cilantro (you can use a blender). Add everything to the meat.
- 3
Step 3
3. Grind cumin in a mortar and mix it with the other spices, black pepper, and salt. Add to the meat and knead the meat mixture thoroughly by hand.
- 4
Step 4
4. Now let's prepare the vegetables. Cut off the tops of the peppers and remove the insides. Similarly, clean out the eggplants. Cut off the tops of the tomatoes and carefully scoop out the centers with a teaspoon (do not discard the pulp—place it in a small bowl). Stuff the vegetables tightly and neatly.
- 5
Step 5
5. Pour vegetable oil into the cauldron to a level of about one finger's width from the bottom. Layer the tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers. They should be packed fairly tightly.
- 6
Step 6
6. For the broth, chop the tomato flesh, add pressed garlic, half a cup of water, and a little salt. Pour this mixture over the vegetables, sprinkle with chopped basil, and cook over medium heat. Once it comes to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for one and a half to two hours with the lid on.