Wherever one goes in the Sephardic world, there is a version of this dish, Rulikos de Berendjena, or rolled-up eggplant with a meat stuffing.

    In Turkey, this is a common Passover dish for it does not contain wheat or dairy. The eggplants are usually fried which, in my mind, it make it very heavy. In order to bring it to more contemporary food preferences, I did three things: 1) I grilled the eggplant,  2) I also added grilled zucchini to the mix, and 3) I stuffed it with vegetarian fillings.

The grilled eggplant or zucchini can easily be done indoors or outdoors. These were done on a stovetop pan with grill ridges. I used a mandolin allowed me to make thin but even slices that were perfect for grilling.

Here I stuffed them with a fresh mozzarella that was cubed first. I then inserted a toothpick and stored them in the fridge until I was ready to use them.

 

After stuffing, I took the rolls out of the fridge and grilled them again on a griddle until the cheese melted. As I was serving it, the mozzarella spun itself around the vegetables in the most delightful way.

In the meantime, I prepared a bulgur wheat dish that consisted of tomato paste rubbed into the bulgur, and then cooking the bulgur like rice for about 35 minutes. This became the bed onto which the rolls (the rulikos) sat. With a green salad, they made a lovely meal.

If you eat meat and want to serve these for Passover, you should make your favorite meatball and roll that into the eggplant or zucchini, also securing it with a toothpick.

I have experimented with various non-meat fillings, finding that a combination of walnuts, or walnuts with lentils, into a modern-day köfte is a delightful and toothsome way to enjoy these treats.