Mafrum - Meat-Stuffed Eggplant with homemade tomato paste

👨‍🍳 Method

For the homemade tomato paste ✓ Homemade · or skip – back to store-bought

1. 1
   Wash the tomatoes, remove the cores and quarter each tomato.

   KnifeCutting board
2. 2
   Put the tomatoes, the salt and half of the olive oil in a wide pot, cover and cook over medium heat about 20 minutes, until the tomatoes soften and release their liquid.

   StoveWide, shallow pot
3. 3
   Pass the tomatoes and their liquid through a food mill or sieve and return the purée to the pot: the skins and seeds stay behind.

   Food millorFine sieve
4. 4
   Cook uncovered about an hour at a lively simmer, stirring now and then, until the purée reduces by half.

   StoveWooden spoon

   💡The paste burns easily as it dries: stir and scrape the bottom and edges, and once it is thick, don't walk away.
5. 5
   Preheat the oven to 110°C (230°F).

   Oven

   💡Put things in the oven only once it's reached temperature, after the heating light has gone off: an oven that hasn't reached temperature changes baking times, and the bake burns outside or stays underbaked.
6. 6
   Grease a wide baking dish with the rest of the olive oil and pour in the purée in a thin layer. Dry in the oven about 3 hours, stirring and scraping the edges every 30 minutes, until the paste is thick, sticky and brick red.

   OvenBaking sheetSilicone spatula
7. 7
   Let the paste cool.

   Jar

For the Meatball mix

1. 8
   Mix the ground meat with the onion, garlic, parsley, cumin, paprika, salt and black pepper until evenly combined.

To assemble

1. 9
   Cut the potatoes into thick slices of 2 cm.

   KnifeCutting board
2. 10
   Salt the slices, leave them 20 minutes to drain and pat dry.

   ColanderKitchen towel
3. 11
   Heat the oil in a pan and fry the slices on both sides until golden.

   StoveFrying pan
4. 12
   Put a spoonful of the mixture on a slice, cover with another slice and press lightly.
5. 13
   Mix the tomato paste, the water, the lemon juice and salt and pour into the bottom of a wide pot.

   Wide, shallow pot
6. 14
   Arrange the mafrum in the pot.

   Wide, shallow pot
7. 15
   Cover and cook over low heat 40 minutes.

   StoveWide, shallow pot
8. 16
   Serve hot with white rice.