Acur Dolmasi | Southeastern Turkish Stuffed Snake Melons

Rinse the snake melons under running water, rubbing them to remove the fine hairs from the skin; there is no need to peel them. Cut off the stem ends about 1 cm thick and set them aside as lids. Use a vegetable corer to hollow out each melon, leaving the walls half a centimeter thick. Do not discard the flesh; place it in a bowl.

Finely chop the onion and peel and dice the tomato. Combine the ground meat, rinsed and drained rice, onion, tomato, tomato paste, olive oil, mint, Turkish red pepper flakes, black pepper, and salt in a bowl. Knead by hand until evenly mixed; the filling is ready when the rice grains are uniformly coated with tomato paste.

Fill each snake melon with the mixture, leaving a finger-width of space at the top; rice doubles in volume as it cooks, and overfilled melons may split. Fit the cut-off ends over the openings as lids. Do not discard any remaining filling; scatter it between the melons in the pot.

Place an inverted plate over the melons, cover the pot, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and cook for 40 minutes, until the liquid has reduced and the melon flesh is tender when pierced with the tip of a fork. Remove from the heat and let stand, covered, for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, whisk the yogurt with the crushed garlic and serve the stuffed melons hot.