← Nouns Cooking · Lebanese & Turkish

Ingredients

• 8 small green peppers (Turkish dolmalık or small bell peppers)
• 300 g beef or lamb mince
• 150 g short-grain or baldo rice, rinsed
• 1 Onion, grated
• 2 Tomato, 1 grated, 1 cut into 8 thick slices for lids
• 1 tbsp Tomato purée (paste)
• 1 tbsp Turkish pepper paste (optional)
• 1 handful Parsley, finely chopped
• 2 tsp Dried mint
• 1 tsp Pul biber (Aleppo-style pepper flakes) (optional)
• 2 tbsp Olive oil
• 1 tsp Salt
• ½ tsp Black pepper
• 1 tbsp Tomato purée (paste)
• 500 ml hot water
• 1 tbsp Olive oil
• 200 g garlic yogurt, to serve (optional)

Method

1. Slice the tops off the peppers in one piece and keep them. Pull out the seeds and membranes and rinse inside.
2. Mix the mince, rice, onion, grated tomato, tomato and pepper pastes, parsley, mint, pul biber, oil, salt and pepper with your hands until well combined.
3. Fill each pepper about three-quarters full, leaving room for the rice to swell. Close each with a tomato slice and then its pepper top.
4. Stand the peppers upright and snugly in a heavy pot. Whisk the tomato paste and oil into the hot water with a pinch of salt and pour it around them; it should come about halfway up.
5. Bring to the boil, then cover, turn the heat to low and simmer for 45–50 min until the peppers are soft and the rice is completely tender. Check halfway and add a splash of water if the pot looks dry.
6. Rest for 10 min off the heat, then serve with the pan juices spooned over and a bowl of garlic yogurt.

Tips

• Make the vegetarian zeytinyağlı version by swapping the meat for extra rice, pine nuts and currants, and serve it cold.
• The yogurt is optional; leave it out to keep the dish dairy-free.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Ozlem's Turkish Table Give Recipe