Tomatoes Stuffed with Meat and Rice

👨‍🍳 Method

For the Meatball mix

1. 1
   Rinse the rice, soak it in cold water for 20 minutes and drain.

   BowlColander
2. 2
   Heat the olive oil in a wide pan over medium heat.

   ⚙ Pan-fryingStoveFrying pan
3. 3
   Add the onion and fry 5–8 minutes, stirring now and then, until the onion is soft and translucent and starts to turn golden at the edges. If it browns too fast, lower the heat.

   ⚙ Adding to the hot fat and fryingStove

   💡Add by cooking time: what needs long (onion, carrot, meat) goes in first, and what burns fast (garlic, dry spices) goes in last, only until fragrant.
4. 4
   Add the garlic and fry about 30 seconds to 1 minute, just until fragrant. Don't let the garlic brown.

   ⚙ Adding to the hot fat and fryingStove

   💡Garlic burns quickly and turns bitter. Add it only after the onion has softened, over medium heat, and add the next ingredient as soon as it smells fragrant.
5. 5
   Raise the heat to medium-high and add the meat. Press it flat over the bottom and leave it for 2–3 minutes without stirring, until a brown crust forms.

   Stove

   💡Brown ground beef in the pot without pressing it: leave it as one 'cake' for a few minutes until a brown crust forms, then break it into chunks. Deep browning = deep flavor.
6. 6
   Break it up with a wooden spoon and fry for 5 more minutes, stirring, until no pink is left and the meat browns.

   StoveWooden spoon
7. 7
   Add the rice, cumin, paprika, cinnamon, salt and black pepper to the meat and stir.

   Stove
8. 8
   Add the parsley and remove from the heat.

   Stove

To assemble

1. 9
   Cut the cap off the tomatoes and scoop out the insides with a teaspoon.

   KnifeCutting board
2. 10
   Finely chop the insides and set them aside for the sauce.

   KnifeCutting board
3. 11
   Fill the tomatoes with the mixture up to ¾ full: the rice swells as it cooks.

   💡Fill only three-quarters full: the uncooked rice swells inside the vegetable, and a full filling gets pushed out.
4. 12
   Arrange the tomatoes, now stuffed, in a wide pot.

   Wide, shallow pot
5. 13
   Add the chopped insides and the stock to the pot.
6. 14
   Heat in a wide pot and sauté the chopped caps 0 minutes. Add the stock and stir until the paste dissolves.

   ⚙ SimmeringStoveLid

   💡A gentle simmer, not a boil: a hard boil dries the food out and clouds it, a slow simmer cooks it evenly.