Mushroom Stuffed Potato Zrazy With Satsibeli
Adapted from and extracted with permission from In Praise of Veg by Alice Zaslavsky, published by Murdoch Books
Preparation time: 45 minutes (plus cooling time, overnight ideally)
Cooking time: 30 minutes
The potatoes and mushrooms are best made a day ahead
- 600g/21ozs. Dutch cream potatoes
- 150g/5ozs. vegetarian butter
- Salt for seasoning
- 100g/3.5ozs. plain flour
- 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
- Oil for frying
Mushroom filling
- 1-2 tablespoons oil
- 300g/10.6ozs. mushrooms, finely diced
- 2 white onions, peeled and diced
- 6 cloves garlic, peeled and diced
- Salt and pepper
Satsibeli
- 2 medium sized tomatoes, chopped
- 1/2 white onion, peeled
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled
- 1/4 cup finely chopped coriander leaves and stems
- 3 teaspoons sherry vinegar
- 1 tablespoon harissa paste or chilli sauce (or to taste)
- 1 teaspoon ground fenugreek
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Step 1 - This recipe is ideally started the night before so that you just shape and fry and make the satsibeli on the day of serving. First make the potato mash. Wash the potatoes and boil until tender. Remove the skin (I use gloves as they'll be hot) and mash with butter and season with salt. Taste for seasoning - these potatoes have got to be rich and delicious on their own. Cool completely and keep in the fridge overnight.
Step 2 - Then make the mushroom duxelles. Add the oil to a frypan and add the mushrooms, onions and garlic and saute for 30-40 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. The mushroom duxelle mixture should be dark in colour, dry and intensely delicious. Cool completely.
Step 3 - At this point you should make the satsibeli so that you can serve these zrazy when they have come just out of the pan which is when they're at their absolute best. Combine the tomatoes, onion, garlic, coriander, vinegar, harissa, fenugreek, sugar and salt in a food processor and blitz. Test for seasoning. You can also make this the day before and store it in the fridge where it will develop its flavour, it's totally up to you.
Step 4 - Take the cold mashed potato out of the fridge and mix with the flour and white pepper. Have a tray ready. Divide the floured mash into 9-10 balls. Have a bowl of water ready to lightly dampen hands and press out to a 8-10cm/3-4inch round in your palm. Fill with a heaped teaspoon of mushroom or as much as you can fit while being able to close it and then fold over the edges to encircle the filling and shape into a flattened oval. Repeat with the others. At this stage you can cover and refrigerate them and fry them when ready.
Step 5 - To fry, heat oil in frypan on medium heat and add the zrazy to the pan and cook for 4 minutes on each side. Serve with satsibeli. These are also good cold or you can refry these for a minute or two until warmed through.