A Stuffed Pepper Extravaganza

By popular request, I am adding my recipe for stuffed peppers (punjene or filovane paprike). I had two friends over for dinner last night, Abu Banda and another dear anthropologist who is visiting Bosnia (though she lived here previously during a research-stay). She had mentioned that she really wanted to have stuffed peppers while she was here, and yesterday, I went to Markale, bought the necessary ingredients and surprised her with this dish. Be forewarned: this is not a 'traditional' recipe (who said this blog was about 'traditional' food choices?) for stuffed peppers, but my personal variation on 2 recipes in particular. Stuffed peppers are common across the whole south-east European area, and come in hundreds or thousands of variation. This recipe combines the best of a more 'coastal' style of preparation (from my mother Dunja - this style uses plenty of tomatoes and garlic and cooks the peppers in a rich tomato sauce) and a 'continental' style (from my husband's grandmother Hafiza - I take the meat filling combination and filling preparation from this style, though here the peppers are usually, once stuffed, baked in an oven to evoke the sweetness of the pepper flesh). So let's get down to it. This recipe also features step-by-step photos to aid you in the pepper preparation. Note: for this recipe, you should try and find peppers that are not that large (approximately the size of a tennis ball) and whose skin is not too thick. For this recipe you will need:

10-11 green peppers

For the filling:
2-3 small onions
2 medium carrots
1 tablespoon of oil
3/4 teaspoon of sweet paprika
1 teaspoon of garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon of basil/oregano combination
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 kg of lean ground veal
2-3 handfuls of uncooked rice

For the sauce:
1 medium tomato
500-600 g of pureed strained tomatoes (not tomato paste)
1 tablespoon of garlic powder
1-2 teaspoons of basil/oregano
1 heaping tablespoon of sugar
salt and pepper to taste

Grate 2-3 small onions and 2 medium sized carrots into a pot. Add one tablespoon of oil and lightly saute the onions and carrots. As the onions and carrots are saute-ing, add the salt and pepper, sweet paprika, garlic powder and basil/oregano. As soon as the onions are slightly clear, add the veal and mix so that all of the ingredients are well integrated. Saute not only until the veal is done, but until the whole mixture is quite dry (all the water released by the meat has evaporated). Remove the pot from the flame and put aside. Add about 2-3 handfuls of the uncooked rice into the meat and mix thoroughly. Cover the pot with a lid and leave to the side. You should have something that approximately looks like this:


It is important to stir the rice in raw and leave it in the warm meat while you prepare the rest of the steps. The rice, just through the steam inside the pot will begin to soften up, and by the time you are ready to cook the peppers, will be about halfway done.
Once you have placed the meat mixture aside, take your peppers, wash them well and hollow the inside, removing the core and seeds.


Stuff the hollow peppers with the meat mixture. You should take care not to fill the peppers all the way up to the top with the meat because the rice will expand as it will cook, and you don't want your peppers to overflow.


Take the tomato and cut it into the same number of pieces as you have number of peppers. Place a piece of the tomato into each pepper, on top of the meat mixture.


Place the pureed tomato into a pot big enough to hold all of your peppers. You can puree and strain your own tomatoes, however that is too much work. So I usually purchase the canned tomatoes (with no seasonings) at the store - it is perfectly fine, and just as delicious. The puree is quite thick, so I usually add about 2-3 cups of water to thin it out. With just the tomato sauce, place the pot on a medium-high flame and bring to a boil after you have added 1 tablespoon of garlic powder, 1-2 teaspoons of basil and oregano, 1 heaping tablespoon of sugar, salt and pepper to taste. Cook for about 10 minutes, until the flavours come together. Feel free to experiment with the spices-it really is a guessing and testing process to get the flavour you want, especially with the sugar. Depending on how sour the tomatoes you have are, you may want to add more or less sugar, but the sugar is quite necessary to make the sauce less bitter, and more smooth. Once the sauce is done, turn the stove down to a low-medium flame and arrange the peppers in the pot. (Here I used two pots, because I didn't have just one large pot, but you can do it just in one.)


Cook until the rice is fully done, and the pepper skin is nice and soft, almost to the point of breaking, about 15-20 minutes. Serve with mashed potatoes, or with just bread (somun as we did below, or another nice flatbread).


If you like, top with a dollop of delicious sour cream. See the picture way at the top of the blog for the sour cream version. After this very delicious dinner, I prepared a small summertime dessert (this was a special occasion!) - a little dollop of ice-cold rice pudding or sutlija and fresh nectarine slices. But more on rice pudding at another time.