Farm Tales Ep. 1 with Karrin Kose

We then cruised back into the city and to Karrin’s home to whip up a seasonal dish using the herbs and zucchinis that she harvested that day. Check out her recipe for Armenian zucchini dolma served with zesty herbed yoghurt and watch the full FARM TALES episode ‘here’.

Cocozelle and Zephyr Zucchini Dolma with Herbed Yogurt

INGREDIENTS

4-6 Cocozelle and Yellow Zephyr Zucchinis
1 brown onion (diced)
2 cloves garlic (minced)
1/2 bunch parsley (roughly chopped)
1 tomato (diced)
150g medium grain rice
100g minced beef
1 lemon (juiced)
1tsp cumin (ground)
1/4tsp allspice (ground)
1/4tsp chilli flakes (dried)
3tbs sweet red pepper paste ‘Biber Salça’
150ml olive oil
500g Greek yoghurt
1 bunch dill
1 bunch mint
1 bunch Greek oregano
1 clove garlic (minced)
Zest of 1 lemon
Salt & pepper

METHOD

Wash the rice through cold water, then wash again and allow to soak while you prepare the other ingredients.

Cut the zucchinis into 3 pieces. Using a teaspoon, hollow out each zucchini leaving about a 1/2cm of flesh to the skin of the zucchini. Make sure to not pierce the bottom, so you will be left with a little zucchini cup.

Reserve a quarter of the hollowed out insides and finely chop. Keep this aside to be added into your filling mixture.

Heat a large pot, add 50ml of olive oil and sauté the onion and garlic until beginning to caramelise. Add the minced meat, lightly season with salt and pepper, breaking up any large lumps it up as it browns. Once the beef is completely seared, add the reserved zucchini insides and half of the chopped tomato, cook down for 2-3 minutes.

Now add the ground spices and red pepper paste, stirring to combine evenly, cooking until the spices become fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes.

Strain the soaking rice and mix into the pot with the minced meat and spice mix, along with 1/4 cup of water. Cook the rice mixture for about 5 minutes. Take this mixture off the heat and stir through the chopped parsley and lemon juice. Season generously with salt and cracked black pepper.

Once cooled, take the rice mixture and lightly fill into the hollowed out zucchinis, making sure to not pack in too tightly or they overflow once cooked. Arrange them in a deep pot that allows for minimal space in between. Pour over the remaining olive oil, diced tomato and a 1/2 cup water, sprinkle with salt and cover to cook over a medium heat for about 30-40 minutes.

To make the herbed yoghurt, roughly chop dill, mint and greek oregano, fold through greek yoghurt with minced garlic, lemon juice and its zest. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Once the zucchini’s are knife tender, take off heat and serve them warm with some of the cooking liquid and a big dollop of herbed yoghurt.