Mafroum - fried stuffed veggies in a spicy tomato sauce

Mafroum is a sephardic dish that originated in Tunisia, it is comforting and filling and goes great with couscous. It is traditionally made with potatoes but I did a combination of potatoes, eggplant, zucchini and a few onions. You can use whatever vegetables you like.

Patties:
1-2 pound ground beef
2 eggs
1 bundle of parsley chopped
Large onion, peeled chopped
salt and pepper
Oil for frying
Matzo meal or breadcrumbs or panko

Coating the patties:
Flour
4 eggs (at least)
1 small tomato paste
Salt and pepper

the rest:
5-6 potatoes
1 large eggplant
1 onion
a few zucchinis

Sauce:
can of tomato paste
celery
salt pepper
oil (from fry pan)
jalapeño

Wash and dry the veggies and the slice them into a V...you can slice about 3 cm thick then slice them in down the middle leaving the end attached to form little pockets.

Mix everything under the meat ingredients together and stuff into the vegetables as in the picture above, coat them with flour then dip in the egg tomato paste mixture and fry until golden.

In a large pot make the sauce by mixing all of the ingredients together and let boil. Once that is ready, put the fried vegetables in the pot or in a baking dish with the sauce (covered) and place in the oven for about an hour on 350. Uncover it for the last 20 minutes so it can get golden and then garnish with celery leaves or parsley.

Roasted Veggie Dip

I love this dip/sauce/spread! It goes with just about anything and you can make it as spicy or mild as you want.

4-6 whole tomatoes

2 jalapeños

1 large onion quartered

2 tbsp smoked Tabasco

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp honey

3 garlic cloves

olive oil

juice of 1/2 lime

salt

Place the whole tomatoes,  jalapeños, and onion on a baking tray and broil on high for about 20 minutes or until blackened, flip over and broil and additional 10 minutes or so. remove from tray and place in food processor with all the other ingredients and pulse until it's pureed. If its too thick add a little more olive oil and lemon juice. Taste for salt since the tomatoes and honey are sweet.

30 Minute Matbucha

I use canned tomato sauce and diced tomato for a chunkier matbucha. But if you prefer it smoother you can use only the sauce.

2 medium cans of tomato sauce

1 can if diced tomatoes

½ cup oil

8 garlic cloves crushed

4-8 jalapeños halved then sliced (depends how spicy you like it)

½ tsp black pepper

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp hot paprika (optional)

Heat the oil in a high pot and add the crushed garlic and sliced jalapeños. Let that sauté for about 8 minutes or until garlic is golden brown.

Add the diced tomatoes and tomato sauce and stir. Next add the sugar, pepper, and paprika and stir again.

Cover the pot and put the heat on medium high and bring to a boil.  Let it boil for about 10 minutes and stir then lower heat to medium and stir every 5-10 minutes so that it doesnt burn or stick to the bottom. Once it starts to thicken lower heat to low, cover and let simmer.

Once it reaches a thick consistency turn off heat and stir. Let it cool and either serve or refrigerate. You can also freeze the matbucha for a few weeks.