Almost Turkish Recipes

Stuffed Peppers with Groundmeat (Etli Biber Dolması)































This is an almost Turkish recipe because of the purple peppers. Purple peppers are rare in Turkey, and it's impossible to find Turkish green peppers here. So, we have purple Indiana peppers stuffed a la Turkish style. Once cooked, the purple peppers turned green just like purple beans. Do not try to stuff regular huge bell peppers that you can find at every store; they are really hard to cook (their skin is too thick), are too big (you can almost spend half of the stuffing on one pepper), and are unfortunately not flavorsome. Try farmer's markets. The purple pepper in the picture is from farmer's market and the red one is from Luke's garden.

10 peppers
1/2 pound ground meat (beef)
1 cup rice
3 onions, chopped finely
1/2 bunch parsley, chopped
1/2 bunch dill, chopped
1 1/2 tsp dry or fresh mint
1 tsp oregano leaves
1 tsp crushed pepper
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tbsp butter
1/2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tomato

-With the help of a knife or your thumb, take out the tops of the peppers. Wash and take out the seeds. Make tiny holes at the bottom of peppers with a knife or a fork so that they can cook thoroughly
-Mix ground meat, onions, rice, herbs, black pepper, salt, crushed pepper, and olive oil in a bowl. Stuff the peppers with this mix. Leave 1/4 inch space at the top; we will put a slice of tomato there. Cover the tops with a slice of tomato
-Place the peppers in a broad pot facing up.
-Mix tomato paste with water and pour into the pot. Fill the pot half way up with water. Put butter in small pieces on top.
-Cook covered on medium heat for 30-40 minutes. Let it boil, but not vigorously; that might be harsh on your cute peppers and also unstuff them. To make sure taste the rice. If the rice is soft, that means the peppers are cooked.
Must be served with yogurt!

8 comments:

  1. I'm making this tomorrow! Thanks!

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  2. Hi, I am just making sure that you don't need to pre-cook the meat. Does it really get done enough this way? Thanks.

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  3. Yes, it does. you don't need to precook the meat.

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  4. Anonymous8:01 PM

    Thanks so much for the delicious recipe. My Turkish husband approved! :)
    -Lisa

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  5. Anonymous5:32 AM

    can we use the same filing for dolma, sarma or patlican dolma?

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  6. Anonymous11:10 AM

    Hi,
    I love your recipes!! I have been using them for a while, and appreciate how you explain everything. I had a couple of questions about this recipe. I was wondering if you cook the dolmas with the lid on, and also why there is no garlic in this recipe. Thanks!

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  7. It should be covered. I corrected the instructions; thank you! Regular dolma does not require garlic. Garlic is usually used in the dried eggplant or pepper dolma recipes aka Adana style dolma. Check out the dried eggplant dolma recipe.

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