Tripolitan potato mafrum

Method

1. If preparing both original and lighter portions, set aside the ingredients and quantities specified for the lighter portions; the remainder is for the original portions. Prepare the two versions separately whenever their cooking or seasoning differs. Quantities given for the whole preparation are divided between the separate containers, not repeated in each one. Chop 80 g onion, one-third of the garlic and the herbs. Mix with the beef, crumbled bread, beaten egg for the filling (50 g), half the ras el hanout, the cinnamon, pepper and 3 g salt. Work briefly with your hands until the mixture binds, then refrigerate.
2. Peel the potatoes and cut off their rounded ends; keep the trimmings for the sauce. Cut into 2 cm-thick slices, making as many as the allotted potatoes allow. Cut horizontally through the middle of each slice, leaving two sides about 1 cm thick and an uncut 1 cm hinge at the back. Ease the sides apart by only a few millimetres, just enough to slide in small amounts of filling, without opening them out like a book or straining the hinge. Season with 1 g salt and fill the pockets. If a slice breaks, set the pieces aside with the trimmings for the sauce and shape its share of filling into a meatball; coat, fry and simmer it with the stuffed potatoes. Press the sides so the meat adheres.
3. Thinly slice the remaining onion. Soften in 25 g olive oil in a wide sauté pan over a medium heat for 6 minutes. Add the reserved two-thirds of the garlic, 20 g tomato purée and the remaining half of the ras el hanout; stir for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes, 300 g water and 2 g salt, then arrange the potato trimmings on the bottom. Leave to simmer over a low heat.
4. In a shallow dish, beat the reserved coating egg (50 g) with 10 g tomato purée and 30 g water. Put the flour in another dish. Heat the frying oil to 170°C in a saucepan suited to the available volume of oil (reference diameter: 20 cm), filling it no more than halfway. Lightly flour the stuffed potatoes, then dip in the egg and let the excess drip off.
5. Fry the stuffed potatoes in small batches for 3 minutes on each side: the coating should be golden, and the centres will finish cooking in the sauce. Keep the oil between 165°C and 175°C. Drain each batch on a rack, then arrange in a single layer in the sauté pan.
6. The sauce should come halfway up the stuffed potatoes; top up with the reserved water if necessary. Cover and cook over a very low heat for 45–55 minutes. Gently shake the pan from time to time; do not stir with a spoon. Check that a knife passes through the potato and the filling reaches 75°C in the centre.
7. If the sauce is still very runny, uncover and reduce for 5–10 minutes. Leave to rest, covered, for 10 minutes before serving the stuffed potatoes with their sauce and the soft potato trimmings.

Variants and their steps remain below the recipe.