Stuffed Peppers are a dish that we often prepare at the end of summer and in autumn when there is an abundance of sweet and salad peppers in the market, and their prices drop to quite reasonable levels. This dish is quite popular in many cuisines around the world, but it is most well-known in Mediterranean, Balkan, and Eastern European cuisines, including Ukrainian cuisine.
In Greece, stuffed peppers are called gemista, in Turkey – dolma, and they are stuffed with rice and vegetables, less often with meat (beef or lamb). In the Balkan countries – Serbia, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Croatia, peppers are filled with pork or beef mince mixed with rice (the mince predominates), and then baked in the oven. In Ukraine, peppers are most often stuffed with meat mince and rice in a one-to-one ratio, then stewed in tomato sauce and served with sour cream. Our own, native and “classic” version is what we have prepared. We share a step-by-step recipe ;)
Time required: 1.5-2 hours
Difficulty: 2 out of 5
Cost: average
We will need:
10 medium bell peppers
600 g of minced meat (pork, beef, or mixed; we used pork)
300 g of rice
300 ml of water (for boiling rice)
3 medium onions
2 medium carrots
Salt, black pepper, dried dill – to taste
For the sauce:
200 g of sour cream
100 g of tomato paste
1 l of water
базовий продуктовий набір
Preparation
We start with preparing the peppers. We wash them thoroughly, carefully cut off the top part, and remove the seeds. The peppers should be whole and undamaged so that they can be easily stuffed.
процес чистки перця
Thoroughly rinse 300 g of rice under cold water to remove excess starch. Add 300 ml of water, a pinch of salt, and place on low heat until the water is completely evaporated (7-10 minutes). As a result, we get rice cooked to al dente. Let it cool, and in the meantime, we will take care of other processes.
Finely chop the onion and grate the carrot on a medium grater.
порізка та натирання done
Heat a pan, add half of the chopped onion, and fry until it changes color to a light golden. Add the carrot, mix, and sauté for 7-8 minutes, stirring often and thoroughly to prevent the vegetables from burning.
робимо піджарку
In a large bowl, mix the minced meat, warm rice, onion-carrot sauté, raw onion, and spices (salt, pepper, dried dill) until homogeneous.
готові до змішування інгредієнти
Taste for salt, and add more if necessary.
готова начинка
Carefully fill the prepared peppers with the rice-meat mixture. Do not fill the peppers too tightly so that the filling can cook evenly during stewing.
ось так і фаршируємо перець
It’s time to prepare the sauce. In a separate container (we chose a measuring cup from the blender), mix 200 g of sour cream, 100 g of tomato paste, and 1 liter of water. Add a little salt and pepper to the sauce to balance the taste.
складові соуса
Place the stuffed peppers vertically in a deep pot, pour the prepared sour cream-tomato sauce over them. Cover the pot with a lid and stew on low heat for 1 hour.
викладаємо у каструлю
заливаємо соусом
у процесі тушкування
Ready stuffed peppers are a unique and hearty dish. Serve them with sour cream and herbs, drizzled with the remaining sauce for added juiciness.
