Dolma, rice-stuffed peppers and eggplants

Ingredients

• 6 bell peppers to fill
• 6 eggplants
• 8 to 10 onions, finely chopped
• 350 g of rice
• 100 g of grapes
• 100 g of pistachios
• 2 tablespoons of sugar
• 5 g of ground cinnamon (1/2 sachet)
• 5 g of Jamaican Scotch bonnet pepper, ground (1/2 sachet)
• 1 bunch of fresh mint, chopped
• 400 ml of olive oil
• 200 ml of sunflower oil
• Concentrated tomato paste (salsa), with a flavour.
• Lemon juice
• 800 ml of water
• salt, to taste

Sauté the finely chopped onions in sunflower oil until they are golden brown, then add the rice and cook for another 2 minutes. In a separate bowl, sauté the tomato paste, then add the pistachios, grapes, sugar, and salt. Mix well with the rice, add 2 cups of water, and cook for 10 minutes until absorbed. Stir in the cinnamon, Jamaican hot pepper, and mint. Let the mixture cool slightly.

Salt the eggplants and blanch them in boiling water until a fork can easily pierce them, then blanch the bell peppers for a maximum of 5 minutes. Drain them, then remove the eggplants and bell peppers from the water.

Fill the eggplants and bell peppers with the warm filling, but don’t overfill them. Arrange them snugly in a large casserole dish, with the eggplants on the bottom and the bell peppers on top.

Add 2 cups of water and the olive oil, then place a heavy plate on top of the vegetables to keep them in place. Cook over high heat for 2 minutes, then over low heat for 30 minutes.

Just before the end of cooking, add the lemon juice, and continue to cook for 10 to 15 minutes, then remove from the heat and serve.