Zucchini grown in your garden, huge, like airships? They lie in the sun, and you think: what to do with the harvest - after all, young zucchini with a thin skin and small seeds are more loved by cooks. But also from large gifts of a kitchen garden it is possible to prepare tasty and healthy dishes! For example, zucchini caviar, or casserole. And the easiest option is stuffed zucchini.
Together with stuffed peppers and cabbage rolls, zucchini stuffed with a mixture of rice and minced meat is one of the most popular summer recipes. I often make a platter: in one pot, stuffed cabbage rolls, peppers, and zucchini, this company gets along well with each other, and the homemade ones choose who has more to taste.
Ingredients for making stuffed zucchini:
- 2 large zucchini or zucchini;
- 1 cup rice;
- 300 g minced meat;
- 1-2 carrots;
- 1-2 onions;
- Several ripe tomatoes (can be replaced with a glass of tomato juice or 50 g of tomato paste + half a glass of water);
- Salt, pepper to taste;
- Parsley, dill;
- Sunflower oil.
How to cook stuffed zucchini
First, prepare the filling, as for cabbage or pepper. Boil rice almost until tender. For 1 part of rice, take 2 parts or a little more water, pour the grits, set on medium heat and, stirring, bring to a boil. Then reduce the heat and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally and slightly moving the lid to the side so that the rice does not run off. Turn off and leave the rice under the lid for another 7-10 minutes. Even if the rice is slightly undercooked - it will reach readiness in zucchini. For now we will shift it in a wide bowl to cool. Peel the onions and carrots, wash them. Chop the onion and save for 2-3 minutes over medium heat in a frying pan with vegetable oil, and when it starts to become soft, add a carrot grated on a large grater.
While zazharka is preparing, let's do zucchini. Rinse, zucchini cut into pieces 4-5 cm wide. If the skin is thin, you can not clean.
With a teaspoon we carefully select the middle part with the seeds, so that we can make a “barrel” with the bottom, we don’t need to make a through hole so that the filling does not fall out from the bottom. If the seeds are small, then do not throw out the middle parts - they will be useful for a tasty gravy. Finely chop the pulp from the zucchini and add to the onions with carrots. By the way, you can mix onion-carrot-zucchini gravy with rice and cook a vegetarian version of the dish - without minced meat.
If you are cooking with minced meat, then add half of the zazharki onions + carrots to the rice, put the mince in the same place, pepper, salt and mix well. And in the second half of zazharki we add crushed zucchini and shredded tomatoes (first three on a large grater, then through a sieve); or tomato paste. Dilute the gravy with a small amount of water to the desired thickness, do not forget to salt. After 2-3 minutes after adding the tomato, turn off the gravy and leave for now.
Fill the squash barrels with the prepared filling and put them into the pan, pouring 2-3 cm of water on its bottom. Squash can be laid in 2-3 layers, while water can cover only the bottom layer, and not necessarily completely, and the top will be steamed.
Cover the pan with a lid, stew stuffed zucchini on the fire a little less than the average of 20-25 minutes, until soft (try the tip of the knife). When the zucchini is almost ready, salt it and place the gravy on top. It will be even tastier if you smash it with fresh or dried parsley and dill. Purple basil adds a delicious flavor to the dish.
Cooking stuffed zucchini a couple of minutes after adding gravy and turning it off.
We serve the dish warm, but in the cooled form it is also tasty. Zucchini stuffed with rice and minced meat does not need a side dish or any additional dish like meat or salad, since they contain cereal, meat, and vegetables. Enough to pour sour cream!
