Turkish stuffed zucchini with rice (kabak dolması)
Zucchini boats filled with herby tomato rice and gently braised until silky, served with cool garlic yogurt and lemon.
- 80 min total
- 30 min hands-on
- A little more hands-on
- Serves 4
- About $2.47 a serving
- 330 calories
- Good the next day
- Vegetarian
- Gluten-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 4 zucchini, medium
- ¾ cup long-grain white rice
- 1 yellow onion, finely diced
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 can diced tomatoes, divided
- ¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped
- 2 tbsp fresh mint, chopped
- ¾ cup plain Greek yogurt
- 1 clove garlic, grated
- 1 lemon, cut into wedges
From your pantry
- 3 tbsp olive oil, divided
- 1 tsp paprika
- ½ tsp ground cumin
- 1¾ tsp salt, divided
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 1 cup water
Each serving has about 330 calories, 11 g protein, 47 g carbs and 12 g fat, and costs about $2.47 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No zucchini? Yellow squash works.
- No long-grain white rice? Jasmine rice or basmati rice works.
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No diced tomatoes? Crushed tomatoes work.
- No fresh parsley? Cilantro works.
- No plain Greek yogurt? Plain yogurt or sour cream works.
- No lemons? Limes work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the zucchini and scoop out the middles with a spoon, leaving a ¼-inch shell.
Halve. Halving means cutting something into two equal pieces. Even halves cook at the same speed, so one doesn’t dry out while the other finishes.
How you’ll know: The two pieces look like mirror images of each other.
Lengthwise. Lengthwise means cutting along the long side, from stem to tip, which gives long pieces. Crosswise is the other way, straight across the middle, which gives short, round ones.
How you’ll know: Lengthwise halves of a zucchini look like two little canoes; crosswise pieces look like coins.
the scooped flesh.
Chop. Chopping means cutting food into bite-size pieces that don’t need to be neat. Keep them roughly the same size so everything cooks evenly.
How you’ll know: Your pieces are about half an inch and roughly alike, even if none of them are pretty.
the rice in a strainer and let it .
Rinse. Rinsing means running cold water over rice or canned beans in a strainer while you swish them around. It washes off loose starch and can liquid, so rice cooks up fluffy and beans taste clean.
How you’ll know: The water running out goes from cloudy to mostly clear; it doesn’t have to be perfect.
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large with a lid over medium heat.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Medium heat
Cook the onion until soft, about 5 minutes.
Medium heatTimer: 5 min
Stir in the tomato paste, paprika, cumin and zucchini for 2 minutes.
Chop. Chopping means cutting food into bite-size pieces that don’t need to be neat. Keep them roughly the same size so everything cooks evenly.
How you’ll know: Your pieces are about half an inch and roughly alike, even if none of them are pretty.
Medium heatTimer: 2 min
Scrape it into a bowl and stir in the rice, half the tomatoes, the parsley, mint, 1 teaspoon salt and the pepper.
Spoon the filling into the zucchini boats, filling them only to the rim and not packing it down.
Dolly’s tip: The rice swells as it cooks. Pack it tight and it spills out or stays hard in the middle.Set the boats in the . Pour the rest of the tomatoes, the water and ½ teaspoon salt around them and the last tablespoon of oil over the tops.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Drizzle. Drizzling means pouring a thin, slow stream over the top of something. A thin stream spreads a little flavor a long way.
How you’ll know: You see thin lines across the food, not a puddle collecting underneath.
over medium heat, then cover, turn the heat to low and cook until the rice is tender and the zucchini is soft, 35 to 40 minutes.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Low heatTimer: 38 min
Dolly’s tip: Taste a few grains from the middle of one boat. If they’re still firm, add a splash of water and give it 5 more minutes.Meanwhile, stir the yogurt with the garlic and ¼ teaspoon salt.
Serve the zucchini warm with the pan juices spooned over, a big spoonful of garlic yogurt and lemon to squeeze.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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