Salantourmasi, Greek onion layers rolled around a rice filling, gets a hearty beef version from Allrecipes star Chef John.
What is salantourmasi?
Salantourmasi is a dish of whole onions that cooks soften, separate into layers, fill and roll up. Greek City Times lists it among the dishes to try in its Kastellorizo travel guide.
According to cookbook author Diane Kochilas, rice-and-tomato stuffed onions appear in several parts of Greece, from Galaxidi to Lesvos. Her own Kastellorizo recipe, however, is meatless, with mint, parsley and cumin.
Neighbouring cuisines also know the idea. As Wikipedia notes, cooks in Turkey, Armenia and Bosnia wrap outer onion layers around minced meat and rice.
This beef version comes from John Mitzewich, known as Chef John, who has made more than 1,500 cooking videos for Allrecipes. So far, his recipe holds 4.8 out of 5 from five ratings.
He calls it his first real attempt at salantourmasi. Years earlier, he stuffed a scooped-out onion, but the meat-to-onion ratio was off. In contrast, rolling the separated layers works far better, he says.
Ingredients for six
The recipe makes 18 rolls for six people. Each serve has about 428 calories, 25 g of fat and 26 g of protein, according to Allrecipes. For the salantourmasi, you need:
- 4 large brown (yellow) onions, peeled
- 1 pound (about 450 g) beef mince, halved
- 1/4 US cup olive oil
- 1 US cup diced onion and 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 teaspoons coarse (kosher) salt, 1 teaspoon black pepper and a pinch of cayenne
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano and 2 US tablespoons tomato paste
- 3/4 US cup long-grain white rice for the salantourmasi filling
- 2 US tablespoons red wine vinegar and 1 1/2 US cups chicken stock
- 1/3 US cup crumbled feta
- 1/4 US cup each of chopped parsley, mint and fresh oregano
- Broth for the stuffed onions: 4 US cups onion cooking water, 2 US cups tomato passata, 2 US tablespoons chicken stock paste
Australian cooks should note that a US tablespoon holds 15 ml, while an Australian one holds 20 ml. Similarly, a US cup is about 240 ml, not 250 ml.
American “tomato sauce” is plain tomato purée, so use passata rather than Australian tomato sauce. Also, each serve carries 1,676 mg of sodium, so salt-reduced stock is worth trying.
How to make salantourmasi
Allrecipes lists 30 minutes of preparation and 4 hours in total, including cooling and resting. The salantourmasi method runs as follows.
- First, trim 2.5 cm from each end of the onions, then make one cut from top to bottom into the centre.
- Next, simmer them in salted water for 20 to 30 minutes, until the layers part easily. Keep the water for later.
- Then brown half the beef in the oil and add the diced onion, salt, pepper and cayenne.
- After that, stir in the garlic, oregano, tomato paste and rice. Add the vinegar and stock and cook for about 20 minutes, until absorbed.
- Once cool, mix the raw beef, feta and herbs into the salantourmasi filling.
- For the broth, simmer the onion water, passata and stock paste.
- Then heat the oven to 190°C (375°F).
- Roll about 2 rounded tablespoons of filling inside each of the best 18 layers.
- Pack the stuffed onions into a dish, ladle over the broth and cover with foil.
- Finally, bake for 1 hour, then uncover and bake for about 1 hour more. Rest for 10 minutes.
The beef goes in twice. Chef John browns half of it with the rice, while the rest goes in raw and cooks inside each roll. Put the foil back on when the dish looks dry.
Tips from home cooks
Four of the five ratings are five stars, and several home cooks have left reviews. Reviewer Kathey, who gave four stars, compared the job to making cabbage rolls and praised the onion flavour.
Another reviewer, Stacy, used about 600 g of beef and ran out of wrappers at 21 rolls. She baked the spare filling as a small casserole instead.
Her verdict on the stuffed onions was clear: “This is definitely a fair bit of work, but the result was excellent.” She also plans to try it with lamb for Easter.
A third reviewer, Garden Crone, enjoyed Chef John’s video and wants to create a vegetarian version. For that, the meat-free Kastellorizo style is a good starting point, since it skips the meat.
Serving stuffed onions at home
Because salantourmasi takes about four hours, it suits a weekend. Chef John says the technique begs for experimentation, so other fillings work too.
The dish belongs to the same family as summer gemista and winter lahanodolmades with avgolemono. Serve the rolls in their broth, with a crisp maroulosalata on the side.
For the full method, the original recipe on Allrecipes includes Chef John’s step-by-step video, which runs for just over nine minutes.
Source: Allrecipes
The post Salantourmasi: How to Make Greek Stuffed Onions With Beef and Rice appeared first on Greek City Times.