Ingredients:
3 tablespoons olive oil
250g ground beef or pork or a mixture of both
80g long-grain white rice such as Basmati
120g chestnuts, boiled or roasted and chopped
65g (6-7) dried prunes, chopped
30g (3 tablespoons) pine nuts
3 tablespoons raisins
100ml sweet or semi-sweet red wine
100g leeks, chopped
½ medium-sized onion, finely chopped
1 teaspoon dried or fresh thyme, chopped
1 tablespoon dried or fresh sage, chopped
¼ teaspoon ground fennel seeds
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 dried or fresh bay leaf
Ground pepper
Optional:
Poultry innards (liver and stomach if available) chopped
Method:
Toast the pine nuts. Heat a non-stick frying pan over high heat. Add the pine nuts and cook for about a minute shaking and tossing every few seconds so they won’t burn. Remove from the pan and set aside.
Brown the meat. In the same frying pan, heat the olive oil over high heat. Add the ground meat and cook until browned all over breaking the meat as you go with a wooden spoon. Season with spices (fennel, cinnamon, allspice, ground pepper), salt, and herbs (thyme and sage).
If using the poultry innards add them now.
Drop the heat to medium.
Add the leeks and onion and sauté until softened stirring often. Add the rice and cook for a minute. Add the bay leaf. Pour in the wine and wait until it evaporates completely. Drop the heat to low and pour in 200ml of hot water. Add the chestnuts, pine nuts, dried prunes and raisins. Cook until it absorbs all the water.
To use as stuffing inside poultry: At this point remove from the heat and allow to cool completely. Then use it to stuff a turkey, chicken, or goose.
To finish off the stuffing on the hob: Add ¾ cup hot water and cook covered until the rice is cooked through.
To finish off the stuffing in the oven: Add the stuffing to a baking dish along with ¾ cup hot water, cover, and bake at 375°F /190°C until the rice absorbs all the water.
Store leftover stuffing for up to 3 days in the fridge.
Note: You will need about ½ to ⅓ of the stuffing to stuff a poultry (depending on its size). Leave a small space at the end of the cavity for the rice to expand as it cooks. Also, make sure you close the end of the cavity with toothpicks to secure the stuffing inside.
Covering the meat while it bakes is the best way to make sure the stuffing cooks properly.
