I know I know it’s been months since I last posted a recipe on my blog, I had to be away from blogging for some reasons related to my job. Please accept my apologies for this.

I finally have some time for sharing a recipe with you today. You know I have posted several stuffed vegetables aka dolmas or dolmades before and told you that they have a great role in Turkish cuisine. You will read still another stuffed vegetable in this post: Stuffed Onion, Soğan Dolması. This is not a very common dish when compared to other stuffed veggies. This is generally an additional way of stuffing. Let me explain how.

Why do we stuff onions?

You plan to make stuffed grape leaves or bell peppers or zucchinis, you know these are the main veggies we stuff. You stuff what you want and there aren’t any more grape leaves or peppers or zucchinis, but if there is still some filling left, don’t worry. You always have onions in your pantry, right? You can stuff onions then!

This is how we decide to stuff onions, but it doesn’t mean that stuffed onion is not as tasty as the other stuffed veggies. It is definitely so yummy! Maybe the reason why we don’t think of stuffing onions first is that onion is generally used chopped in almost all dishes. Interestingly enough, whenever we eat stuffed onions(added to another stuffed vegetable), we promise to make the whole dish with onions as we love it. I can’t always keep my word though.

Stuffed Onion

Onions stuffed with a spicy bulgur and minced meat/ground beef mixture.

• Author: Zerrin
• Prep Time: 30 minutes
• Cook Time: 40 minutes
• Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
• Yield: 6 1x
• Category: Dinner
• Method: Cooking
• Cuisine: Turkish

Scale 1x2x3x

Ingredients

• 6 onions
• 1 tomato, sliced (for topping the stuffed onions)

Filling:

• 150g minced meat/ground beef
• 100g bulgur
• 2 onions, finely chopped
• 2 tomatoes, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• ¼ cup parsley, chopped
• ¼ cup fresh dill, chopped
• a few fresh mint sprigs, chopped
• ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
• ¼ teaspoon cumin
• ½ teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon pepper paste or tomato paste
• 3 tablespoons olive oil for the filling

Bottom sauce:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• ½ teaspoon dried mint
• 1 clove garlic, mashed
• ½ cup water

Instructions

1. Peel the onions and cut their tops.
2. Remove two or three layers from the center of the onions. There should be enough room to stuff them with the filling. You can use the removed onion layers for the filling or put them in a plastic bag and keep it in the freezer to use in another dish.
3. Prepare the filling in a large bowl by mixing all the filling ingredients.
4. For the sauce, heat olive oil in a shallow pan. Add in tomato paste, dried mint and garlic. Stir well and cook for a minute. Put the pan aside.
5. Stuff all onions with the filling and place them in the prepared pan.
6. Top each of the stuffed onions with a slice of tomato.
7. Pour ½ cup water inside the pan and cook it covered for about 40 minutes over medium low heat. Serve it with homemade yogurt.

Keywords: stuffed onions, stuffed vegetable, onion dolma