Piyaziye

The onion is the container, boiled whole until its layers come apart as unbroken cups.

Lamb. Not vegetarian — contains lamb.

Ingredients

• 6 very large onions
• 400 g minced lamb
• 150 g short-grain rice
• 2 tomatoes, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon tomato purée
• 1 tablespoon hot red pepper paste
• a handful of parsley, chopped
• a handful of mint, chopped
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 400 ml hot water
• 2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses
• salt and black pepper

Method

1. THE ONION IS THE CONTAINER, BOILED WHOLE UNTIL ITS LAYERS COME APART AS UNBROKEN CUPS. Six large onions, peeled, cut once from top to bottom through one side only -- not in half -- and simmered fifteen minutes. The layers loosen and can then be separated one by one, each a curved sheet that rolls into a tube around a spoonful of filling. This is the step the dish lives or dies by: undercooked, the layers tear as they are prised apart and there is nothing to stuff; overcooked, they are limp and split when rolled. Fifteen minutes and then straight into cold water.
2. THE CUT IS THROUGH ONE SIDE ONLY, FROM TOP TO BOTTOM. A single slit to the centre, so that when the layers loosen each one is a complete open sheet rather than two half-moons. Halved onions give pieces too small to roll.
3. THE OUTER TWO AND THE INNERMOST CORE ARE NOT USED FOR ROLLING. The outer layers are coarse and the core is too tight to open. They are chopped and go into the filling or under the pan as a bed, so nothing is wasted -- but trying to roll them produces splits.
4. THE RICE GOES IN RAW AND ONLY HALF-COOKS IN THE FILLING. Rinsed, raw, mixed with the lamb. It finishes in the forty-five minutes the rolls spend in the pan, taking up the lamb fat and the water around them. Pre-cooked rice turns to paste over that time.
5. THEY ARE PACKED TIGHTLY WITH A PLATE ON TOP. The rolls go in seam-down, close enough to hold each other shut, and an inverted plate is laid over them before the water goes in. Without it they unroll as the rice swells and the pan becomes a stew.
6. THE POMEGRANATE MOLASSES GOES IN THE COOKING LIQUID. Two tablespoons, into the water. It is the sourness the dish is built around, and added at the end it sits on top instead of having been taken up by the rice.
7. The onions peeled and cut ONCE from top to bottom through ONE SIDE ONLY.
8. Simmered in salted water 15 MINUTES, then plunged into COLD water.
9. The layers carefully SEPARATED into unbroken cups. The outer two and the tight core set aside and CHOPPED.
10. The lamb, RINSED RAW rice, tomatoes, purée, pepper paste, herbs, cumin, half the oil and seasoning mixed for the filling.
11. The chopped offcuts spread in the base of a wide heavy pan.
12. A spoonful of filling laid on each onion sheet and ROLLED into a tube.
13. Packed TIGHTLY seam-down in the pan, in one or two close layers.
14. AN INVERTED PLATE laid on top of them.
15. The hot water, pomegranate molasses and remaining oil poured in around the plate.
16. Brought to a simmer, lid on, and cooked over a LOW heat 45 MINUTES.
17. TESTED: the rolls should still be rolled and the rice cooked through. Unrolled rolls mean the plate was left off.
18. Rested 10 MINUTES and served warm.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Turkey · All recipes