MIDYE DOLMASI ( Stuffed mussels with aromatic rice )

This is a  very popular Turkish traditional meze dish. it is sold by street vendors in cities and sea side resorts all over Turkey. It is a common site to see people stopping to buy the mussels, squeezing with lemon  and enjoying them  as a snack. Normally It is made with fresh mussels strength from the sea, cleaned and cooked, but I had some greenshell New Zealand mussels ( my favorite ) in the freezer to use and result was very good and it worked very well with this dish.  Serves 2.

INGREDIENTS

• 10  large frozen mussels, defrosted
• 1 small onion, chopped finely
• 2 tsp of olive oil
• 2 tsp pine nuts
• 2 tsp currants
• 1 level tsp cinnamon,
• 1 tsp mix dried herbs
• pinch of mix spice
• 1/2 cup rice ( about 60 g )
  
• 2 tsp tomato paste
• 1 cup hot water
• fresh chopped herbs ( parsley, dill )
• Salt and ground black pepper.

1) Clean the shells with a brush, pull out the though beards. Wash the mussels, drain and set aside. 

2) Make the  rice filling. Brown the chopped onion in a pan with oil. Add pine nuts, currants, spices and dried herbs, stir.

3) Add rice and mix until well coated. Add tomato paste, hot water, salt and bring  the rice to boil. Once boiled, turn the heat to low and cook the rice with the lid on for 10- 12 minutes.

4) Transfer the rice on a plate and let it cool. Add the fresh herbs and mix.

5) Stuff each shell of the mussels with a  tsp of the rice filling then close the shells and place them into a steamer. Place the lid tightly and bring the water to boil. Then steam the filled mussels for  15 minutes on low heat.

6) Leave the mussels in the pan for a few minutes then transfer them onto a serving plate. Serve with lemon wedges.

MEAT AND RICE FILLED PEPPERS ( kiymali dolma )

YOU NEED

• 1/2 kg peppers
• 250 g lean steak mince
• 1 -2 tbsp oil
• 1 cup  of rice
• 2 onion
• bunch of fresh parsley
• salt, black pepper
• 2-3 tomatoes
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• some water
• little oil 
• extra tomatoes, sliced,  to use them as lids  for  the peppers.

First wash the peppers and take the stalks out by cutting around them and pushing them inwards with your thumb. Then prepare the filling. Place the mince into a dip dish, add the washed rice, oil. Chop the onions finely and dice the tomatoes, adding the  chopped parsley in to the mince and rice mixture.  Some salt and black pepper to taste and then mix it all together to bind it. 

Stuff each pepper loosely with the mixture( about 1 -2 table spoonful each pepper) making sure to leave room for  rice to expand. if we stuff the peppers too much the rice wont cook through. Cut the tomatoes into small round shapes to cover the peppers like a lid. Then transfer the peppers to a dip pan and add some water to cover up to half way of the peppers. Mix the tomato puree in some water and pour it over the peppers making sure the water covers the peppers at this stage.  Drizzle some oil over the peppers then, put the pan on a high heat and bring it to boil. Then turn the heat to low and let it cook slowly for 25-30 minutes until it is cooked. When cooked, transfer it to a serving plate  and use the juices as sauce for the peppers. Afiyet olsun...

COOK'S NOTE

In Turkey we prefer the small, thin skinned  peppers  for  this dish. The measurements above are for small peppers. If you are using larger, firm flesh capsicums you need to use more stuffing per pepper.

Please see my post for ETLI DOLMA, on 18- Nov- 08. made with CAPSICUM PEPPERS.