Istanbul Style Stuffed Peppers
Story of Istanbul style Stuffed Peppers
Istanbul style Stuffed Bell Pepper is an elegant dish that packs a wallop of flavour; One my most favourite summer dish!
The superlative onion, tomato, and rice combination is enriched by oriental spices, fresh Mediterranean herbs, and citrus taste...İt is just heavenly!
This pleasing dish is cooked in the summer, the top season for the ingredients. So, Istanbul style Stuffed Pepper is a gusto dish that livens up summer feasts of Istanbul!
You may find this taste at some of local restaurants if you visit Istanbul. However, I recommend cooking it at home to feel its heavenly aroma while enjoying its peerless health benefits.
Addictive Istanbul style Stuffed Bell Pepper / Zeytinyağlı Biber Dolması
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Ingredients
1 kg (~15-16) Sweet Romanian Green Peppers
200 g (~2-3) Sweet Romanian Red Peppers
For Stuffing:
700 g (~5 medium sized) Onions
2-3 Garlic cloves
400 g (~5 small) Roma Tomatoes
300 g (~1.5 cups) Calrose Rice
10-12 Stems Fresh Parsley
7-8 Stems Fresh Mint
½ tbsp Salt
2 tbsp Sugar
1 tbsp Allspice
40 g (~1/3 cup) Pine nuts
40 g (~1/3 cup Black Current
½ cup Olive Oil
1 cup Water
For Cooking:
1 Lemon
1 tsp Salt
¼ cup Olive Oil
½ cup Water
Notes from the Kitchen
The original recipe uses small peppers with fine and tender skin. You can use Romanian, Cubanella, or Baby Bell peppers. Please choose similar and smaller size peppers for even cooking.
Don’t cut off the peppers. Keep the curved shoulder of the pepper to confine the moist inside.
Use Calrose or Baldo rice for best result.
Use steamer or layer the discarded vegetable skins and herb stems to the bottom of the pot to keep all flavours and nutrition in the pepper.
Serve it cold or room temperature.
Directions
PREPARATION
Submerge the black currents in a bowl, set aside.
Wash and thoroughly drain the peppers, lemon, tomatoes, parsley, and mint. the wine leaves from the stems. Group 10-15 leaves together and place them into a wide pot.
THE PEPPERS
Discard the stems and seeds of the peppers by pushing gently at the edges of the calyx, rather than cutting off the stems. Keep the curved shoulder of the pepper.
Clean out the fleshy parts inside the peppers. We may later use the stems to cover the stuffed peppers. If your peppers have meaty skin, you can use a knife to remove the calyx.
We will cover the peppers after stuffing, so keep the hole small. I love using colourful covers for my stuffed peppers. Pieces of red pepper of tomatoes can be used for covering.
THE STUFFING
Peel, wash, and finely dice the onion and garlic.
Add ½ tbsp of salt and 2 tbsp of sugar; Then, knead for a minute, until the onions soften.
Wash and drain the rice and add into the onion bowl.
Add 1 tsp of Allspice, ½ cup of olive oil, 1/3 cup of pine nuts.
Drain the black currents and add into the bowl, mix the ingredients.
Add 1 cup of water, mix and set aside the bowl.
Finely chop the fresh mint and parsley, skin the tomatoes, dice and add into the stuffing bowl.
Thoroughly blend the ingredients until the stuffing become a homogenous mixture. Set aside.
THE POT
Choose a wide and shallow pot. At the bottom of the pot, layer the discarded vegetable skins and herb stems. This small trick prevents the peppers from sitting in the water while they cook and enriches the nutrition and flavour of the dish.
Skin and thinly slice the lemon and place the slices as a top layer.
ASSEMBLY
Gently place the stuffing inside the peppers. Make sure each pepper has an even distribution of the stuffing ingredients and 1 tbsp of its juice. Then, cover the top with a piece of red pepper or a pepper stem.
This way each pepper turns into a natural pressure cooker. Rice absorbs the vegetable juice, and all ingredients cook evenly and deliciously!
Neatly snuggle the peppers into the pot. Add ½ cup of water, ¼ cup of olive oil, and 1 tsp of salt over the stuffed peppers.
COOKING
Cover the pot with a lid and place over medium-high heat. 4-5 minutes later, once the juice starts boiling, reduce the heat to the minimum and cook for 35-40 minutes, until the pepper skins become very soft.
Turn off the stove and let the Stuffed Peppers cool down to room temperature. Then, place the pot into the fridge for a couple of hours or overnight to set before serving.
SERVING
Istanbul Style stuffed pepper is an elegant, delightful, and healthy summer dish. You can serve warm. However, this outstanding vegetarian dish is traditionally served cold.
A summer pleasure!
