Pepper Dolma Recipe
When we look at the Turkish cuisine literature, the stuffed pepper with olive oil and the stuffed pepper with ground beef are mentioned mostly. But in practice, many people make dolma without olive oil and ground beef. For this reason, one of the most asked questions about my dolma recipe for years is "how can I make it without ground beef?". So instead of answering one by one, I just wanted to share this recipe.
The peppers I used were quite big, so 6 of them were enough for the stuffing. Keep in mind that the amount can vary according to the size of the peppers.
What can you do with the left over stuffing?
Don't worry if your stuffing is too much for the peppers in your hand, you have many options. If there is space in your pan, you can fill the remaining stuffing in different vegetables such as zucchini, tomato or potato. If you don't have a place or proper vegetables, or if you don't want to deal with it, you can make soup with the stuffing. Chicken and rice soup is a good option for example.
If you don't want to make soup or you don't have time, you can keep it for up to 3 days in the refrigerator and 6 months in the freezer. While using you can make a new stuffing and add this to it or you can again use it for a soup. If you are going to use it as stuffing, you must thaw it in the refrigerator. If you are going to make soup you can cook directly without thawing.
Enjoy the recipe...
Ingredients
- 6 big bell peppers,
- 1 onion, chopped,
- 1/2 tbsp tomato paste,
- 1/2 tbsp pepper paste,
- 1 cups of rice,
- 3 tomatoes,
- 5 tablespoons olive oil,
- 1 teaspoon pepper flakes (optional),
- 1 teaspoon dried mint,
- 1 handful of chopped parsley,
- Salt,
- 1 tsp of tomato pasta for the sauce.
Preparation
- Heat 4 tbsps olive oil in a large pan,
- Add into the onion and sautee until tender,
- Add tomato paste and pepper paste and sauté until smells good,
- Chop the two tomatoes and add a few minutes,
- Add the rice and saute again for a few minutes,
- Add 1 cup of water and salt, mix, cover the lid and cook until all the water is absorbed,
- Add parsley, mint and pepper flakes and mix and remove from heat,
- Cut off the stalks of the peppers and remove the seeds,
- Stuff the filling inside the pepper and place a slice of tomato on top,
- Place the stuffed peppers into a deep pan,
- Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a separate pan,
- Add 1 teaspoon of tomato paste and stir fry until smells good,
- Add 2 cups of water and salt, mix and remove from heat,
- Pour the sauce into the pan,
- Cover the lid and cook in low heat until the rice and peppers are fully soft.
Bon Appetit...