Stuffed Red Peppers: an Olive Oil-based Dish - Zeytinyağlı Kırmızı Biber Dolması |

I expect you all know that life is too short to stuff a mushroom.

Well, in all my time here in Turkey, I have stuffed more vegetables than I care to count but somehow never red peppers! What does that say about my life?

Mounds of red peppers at Ayvacık market

Rather, I have always cooked/grilled them in the oven, peeled them and then served them as a meze with balsamic/pomegranate molassses or nar ekşisi and garlic: absolutely scrumptious!

But here in the village,it’s the height of summer and the red peppers are in such great profusion, huge, fleshy, and fragrant not to mention dirt cheap, that I thought let me do something different this time.

Look at the price: 75 US cents per kilo!

I’ll be frank with you: that huge size was a mistake. I thought they would be succulent – well, actually they were, very – but despite the delicious flavour, a single one was way too big for one person. I mean, after all, they’re not supposed to be the main course. So next time, I will pick my moment in the season and choose smaller, thinner-skinned red peppers to stuff. There are some cute little round ones in the markets now, they would be perfect.

The next thing was that I found several recipes where basically all the ingredients, all very similar – fresh, inviting, definitely my kind of tastes – were mixed together, cooked and then used to stuff the peppers.

A rich kaleidoscope

Anyway,it all sounded very do-able. It was only at the eleventh hour when I wanted to check something that I referred to my ultimate Turkish cooking backup Alev Kaman’s Modern Türk Mutfaği that I realised that I should probably have gone to her first.

I think her experience shines through. The method is the same but the little details make all the difference (and that the other recipes didn’t specify):

eg:

Soak your pirinç/rice in warm water for 30 minutes and then rinse well and drain.
Soak your kuş üzümü/little black currants after removing any stalks in warm water for 10 minutes to soften.
Toast your çam fıstığı/pinenuts.

As always, zeytinyağlı meaning ‘done in olive oil’, means that these are to be served cold. (It’s only the dolma with meat that are ever served hot).

Stuffed Red(or Green)Peppers: an Olive Oil- based Dish/Zeytinyağlı Kırmızı Biber Dolması

Serves 8

Ingredients

30 small red or green peppers

2 cups rice

4 cups hot water

6 onions

2 tbsp çam fıstığı/pine nuts

3 tbsp kuş üzümü/little black currants (or regular currants if you can’t find these)

2 tbsp yenibahar/allspice

½ cup olive oil + 2 tbsp

juice of 1 lemon

2 tbsp chopped dereotu/dill ( I used chopped flat-leaf parsley)

2 tomatoes ( I chopped them small and added to the stuffing mix)

6 sugar lumps

1 tsp black pepper

2 tsp salt

Method for preparing the stuffing

Follow the directions for the 3 ingredients mentioned above and then continue:

Prepare the peppers by removing the stalk end of each – don’t throw those little caps away – and the membrane and seeds inside. Slice the tomatoes thinly. Chop the onions into very small pieces – a food processor is fine.
Heat the olive oil in a large pan and gently cook the chopped onion till softened. Add the rice and stir for 10-12 minutes on a gentle heat.
Add the pine nuts, currants, allspice, salt, pepper and sugar.
Add the 2 cups of hot water and the dill, and stir.
Cover the pan with a lid and cook gently until the water has evaporated. Add the lemon juice when you remove the pan from the heat and stir.
Replace the lid for 20 minutes ‘to rest’ (to ensure that the rice is well-cooked).

Stuffing the prepared peppers:

Using a spoon or your fingers, fill each pepper with the prepared stuffing, leaving a finger’s space at the end of each. Close the ends with a slice of tomato and one of the previously saved stalk ends. (this looks very attractive if you’re using green peppers but is not necessary for red ones).

Arrange the stuffed peppers upright in a saucepan or pan, they should be quite firmly packed together. Add the remaining 2 cups of hot water around and over the peppers. Cover with a plate so that they keep their shape while cooking and place the lid on top.

Cook for 20 minutes over gentle heat. When they are cool enough to handle, place them in an ovenproof dish and drizzle the 2 tbsp olive oil over them. Place in the pre-heated oven (200C/375F) and bake for 15-20 minutes.
Serve at room temperature.

stuffed red peppers waiting to be served

Afiyet olsun!

Tips

The idea of baking the stuffed peppers in the hot oven at the end is a very good one. I didn’t do that but next time I will: the slightly browned edges add to the irresistible appeal of these peppers.
Make sure that the rice is cooked through and through. How many times have I had dolma like this ‘outside’ and the rice is uncooked. The mark of a careless cook!
With all dolma, I always lightly salt the inside of the vegetable waiting to be stuffed.
This recipe makes a huge amount! You can easily halve it.

stuffed red peppers prepared in olive oil

Notes: I have recently added a blog to my favourites: Levantine Musings.

It’s a serious blog written by an American friend with huge experience in Turkey and the Middle East. If you want to know more about what’s happening here, I highly recommend that you check it out.

I would also like to add that I am always thrilled to hear from my followers! Recently I have had such lovely communications from friends whom I don’t know but who are nice enough to email! In the end, they feel like and ultimately become, friends.

THANK YOU SO MUCH!

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