Biber dolmasi – Turkish stuffed peppers
Dolma refers to stuffed dishes, typically filled with vegetables or various other ingredients. The filling can be essentially any food, such as seeds, fish, meat, or cereals. Stuffed dishes are very common in the areas of the former Ottoman Empire, and these dishes have a very long historical background.
Here I will introduce one possible variant of stuffed peppers, where I did not use meat in the preparation of the dish, but mostly rice, which was mixed with tomatoes, herbs, onions, and garlic.
It is important that the dish can be stewed long enough so that the peppers and the filling are soft and the flavors are properly balanced.
Preparation time: 2 hours
Level: Rather easy
Quantity: Six stuffed peppers
Ingredients:
Six large green peppers, tops and seeds removed
2 tbsp basmati rice per pepper, 12 tbsp rice in total
A large handful of fresh parsley, chopped
A handful of fresh mint, chopped
2 medium onions, finely chopped
4-5 medium cloves of garlic, finely chopped
50 g pine nuts
3 medium tomatoes, finely chopped
1 tsp paprika powder
2-3 tbsp tomato paste
Sea salt and black pepper
Cherry tomatoes or small tomatoes to coat the stuffed peppers during baking
About 50 ml of olive oil
Sauce:
One 400 ml can of crushed tomatoes
3 medium cloves of garlic, crushed
Sea salt and black pepper to season
20 ml olive oil
Preparation:
- Cut off the tops of the peppers, and remove the seeds.
- Chop the parsley, mint, onions, tomatoes, and garlic.
- Add the spices, pine nuts, tomato paste, and rice, and mix until smooth.
- Mix the prepared sauce. To do this, chop the garlic cloves, mix with oil and canned crushed tomatoes, and season with sea salt and pepper. Pour the sauce in an even layer on the bottom of a heatproof casserole. Add about 100 ml of water.
- Place the peppers upright on the sauce and pour the filling into the peppers so that about 1/5 of the pepper is empty for the rice to expand.
- Drizzle with olive oil, cut the cherry tomatoes or regular small tomatoes in half, and place the cut side down on top of the filling.
- Sprinkle with sea salt and black pepper, cover the pot with a lid, and place in the oven at 200 degrees C for about 1.5 hours.
- After about 1 hour, check the food and make sure that the food does not burn. Add a little water if necessary to ensure that the bottom of the food has a uniform, thick sauce.
- When the food is ready, turn off the oven. It is best to leave the food to stand under the lid on an even, cooling heat and finish cooking.
- Serve the food with meat or eat it as is. Greek yogurt is a good accompaniment, and freshly fried eggs and toasted bread suit also well.
Ready!




























