Name: Sogan-dolma
Prep time: 45 min
Cook time: 1 h
Total time: 1 h 45 min
Yield: 5 servings
Cuisine: Bosnia
Ingredients: 6 large onions, peeled; 400 g ground beef or lamb; 80 g short-grain rice; 2 tbsp parsley, chopped; salt and black pepper, to taste; 2 tbsp butter; 1 tbsp tomato paste; 500 ml water or stock; sour cream, to serve

Sogan-dolma takes whole onions, blanched until their layers separate easily, and stuffs each one with minced meat and rice before simmering the whole pot gently until tender.

It's a clear legacy of Ottoman-influenced Bosnian cooking, the same stuffing technique used on peppers and cabbage applied instead to onion itself.

Part of our 20 best Bosnian recipes list.

method

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, and blanch the whole onions for 10 to 15 minutes, until the outer layers become pliable.

Drain and let cool slightly, then carefully cut a slit from top to bottom through to the center, and peel off the layers one by one, keeping each layer intact as a cup shape.

Mix the ground meat with the rice, parsley, salt and pepper.

Fill each onion layer with a spoonful of the meat mixture, rolling or folding the edges over to enclose it.

Arrange the stuffed onion layers snugly in a wide pot, seam-side down.

Melt the butter, stir in the tomato paste, and pour in the water or stock, then pour this over the stuffed onions.

Cover and simmer gently for 45 to 60 minutes, until the onions are fully tender and the filling is cooked through.

Serve warm, with a generous spoonful of sour cream on top.

chef's tips

Blanching the onions first is what makes separating the layers possible without tearing them; skipping this step makes the dish much harder to assemble.
Keep the heat gentle throughout the simmer; a hard boil can break the onion layers apart before the filling finishes cooking.