A hundred years ago, there were thousands of Jews living in Libya. And they knew how to cook!
Now there are none, but mafrum is still common at Israeli restaurants.
Libyan Mafrum
Servings
8 Servings
Ingredients
- 5 potatoes
- 1 cup flour
- 2 eggs
- 1 pound ground beef
- ½ cup parsley chopped
- 2 eggs
- ½ large onion chopped
- ⅓ cup breadcrumbs
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon cumin
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- salt and pepper
- 2 tablespoons oil for frying
- 1 tablespoon cooking oil
- 2 cloves garlic chopped
- 2 tablespoon paprika
- ⅓ cup tomato paste
- 2 cups water
- 3 tomatoes chopped
- 1 small onion chopped
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Peel potatoes.
- Cut into 1/2 inch (1.25 cm) thick wedges.
- Cut into each wedge to make a V shaped potato (see video for detailed instructions).
- Place cut potatoes in water to keep fresh.
- In a mixing bowl add all the meat filling ingredients and mix well.
- Take a golf-ball sized ball of meat and stuff into the potatoes.
- Roll the stuffed potatoes in flour, then in egg.
- Add oil to pan and fry potatoes on all sides.
- For the sauce, add oil to pot (that has a lid) on medium heat.
- Add garlic and paprika then stir quickly to not burn the paprika.
- Add tomato paste and water. Stir.
- Add tomatoes, onions, salt and pepper.
- Stir, add potatoes, cover and cook on low heat for 45 mins.
- Serve on a bed of couscous and garnish with cilantro or parsley.
Hi. It sounds wonderful. What kind of potatoes did you use and how did you keep from breaking at the bottom. thanks very much. Norma
Any potatoes will work, we keep the bottom of the potato connected and then we coat it in the flour and egg and it keeps the filling inside
Thanks, I knew it could be done with eggplant, but not cauliflower sounds great.
We spent 5 years in Libya (1989-1994) and have witnessed the making of this dish by Libyan women so who acquired the recipe from whom? Also the same can be done with cauliflower florets. Both are delicious!
Wow that is awesome, a true sign of how good it was.
Sure, that should work.
Hi Tamar, made this for Shabbos last week. But, because we had a surprise lockdown on the drive visit from our youngest who’s at medical school about 45 miles away, I had to rush and forgot the parsley! Tasted good though so this week, by special demand of my husband, we’re having it again!
Hi, can you use medium ground matzo meal in the recipe in place of the fresh breadcrumbs? Thanks.