Mafroum is an irresistible dish of meat stuffed potato (like a sandwich,) fried and then cooked in tomato sauce. It comes from the Tunisian and Libyan cuisines, where it is called m’batten batata. I am not sure why the dish is called mafroum by the Tunisian-Jews and Libyan-Jews.
The dish with its sauce is served over couscous. Although it requires a lot of work, it is very popular in Israel among home cooks and Libyan restaurants (like Doctor Shakshuka in Jaffa.)
I can’t recommend enough to try this at home!
Tunisian meat stuffed potato (mafroum, m’battan batata)
Course: Main courseCuisine: Tunisian, Libyan, JewishDifficulty: Medium8
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hoursTunisian and Libyan mafroum, or m’battan batata, is an irresistible dish of meat stuffed in potato, like a sandwich, fried and then cooked in tomato sauce. It is traditionally served over couscous.
INGREDIENTS
- For the potatoes
Salted water
5 large potatoes (Russet or Yukon Gold)
1 cup flour or matzo meal
2 eggs, lightly beaten
½ cup water
½ teaspoon salt
Corn oil, olive oil or safflower oil for frying
- For the filling
1 very thick slice of day old bread or challah
1 lb. ground beef chuck
1 yellow onion, diced
¾ cup chopped flat parsley
1 large egg
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground coriander
¼ teaspoon crushed chili pepper
1½ teaspoon Kosher salt
- For the sauce
¼ cup olive oil
2 carrots, sliced to ¼ rounds
6 garlic cloves, sliced
4 tablespoons tomato paste
2 teaspoons paprika
3 cups boiling water
2 teaspoons salt
- To serve
Couscous, prepared by the instructions on the package (optional)
DIRECTIONS
- Put salted water in a large bowl. Peel the potatoes, then slice them lengthwise to about ½ inch slices. Now slice each slice in the middle lengthwise, as if you’re opening it for a sandwich, but leave the two slices intact, so you can get a V shape if you gently open them. (The filling will go inside the V). Keep any potato leftovers. Put all the potatoes in the salted water, this will make them more playable when stuffing them.
- To make the filling, soak bread in water, squeeze the water out after one minute. Then mix with the rest of the ingredients in a bowl.
- Remove potatoes from salted water and pat dry with paper towels.
- Divide the filling between the potatoes. Fill each potato slice with the filling to get a triangular shape. Arrange the stuffed potatoes on a baking sheet.
- Put the flour in a small bowl and the eggs with water and salt in another and mix. Put the tray with stuffed potatoes and the flour and egg bowls next to the burner. Line another baking sheet with a double layer of paper towel and have it next to the burner as well.
- Heat ¼ inch oil in a wide nonstick frying pan over medium heat. Dip each mafrum in flour, and shake any excess flour, then dip in the eggs. Add immediately to the how oil and fry for 2-3 minutes per side (total of 4-6 minutes) until golden brown. Fry 4-5 mafroums at a time. Transfer to the paper towel lined baking sheet and continue with the rest of the potatoes.
- Now make the sauce. In a large pan with a lid that can hold all the mafrum in one layer, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the carrots, garlic and potato leftovers and fry for a couple of minutes. Add tomato paste and paprika and fry for a minute longer (be careful not to overcook the paprika, as it gets bitter.) Now add 3 cups of boiling water and mix to get a smooth sauce. Add salt, and then arrange the mafrum in the sauce. The mafroums can overlap a little, like shingles on a roof. Spoon the sauce on the mafroum.
- Bring to boil, lower the heat but make sure the sauce simmers (little bubbles, and not completely flat.) Cover with lid, but leave a little opening for some of the steam to escape. Cook for an hour, basting occasionally.
- Remove pan from the heat and leave the mafroum to cool down and absorb the flavors for another hour (or at least for 30 minutes.) At this point you can reheat the mafroum again, either in the oven at 350 F degrees for about 30 minutes or on the stove top.
Serve the mafrum with its sauce over couscous (optional.)