Turkish Biber Dolmasi

Turkish Biber Dolmasi 

Turkish cuisine is known as one the world's most versatile cuisine, and I simply love Turkish dishes. This one dish which I adore most is Biber Dolmasi. It is very easy to prepare and one can play around with the fillings and create an unique version every time. That what makes it so interesting. I have always loved to serve this dish as an antipasti, you can serve this as a part of the main course too. Just because it takes very little time to prepare, it can be teamed up with Harira or even a bowl of fresh salad or pita wraps and adorn your weeknight dinner table.

Preparation Time  :  20 minutes
Cooking Time       :  50 minutes
Difficulty               :  Easy
Serves                   :  4 - 6

Ingredients :

• 3 tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive oil
• 12 sweet Bell Peppers (green is most common, but different colours add to the fun)
• 100 grams minced Lamb or Beef (you can do more or less depending on how meaty you would like it)
• 200 grams Rice, well rinsed and drained of water
• 5/6 Onions (medium sized), finely chopped
• 2 cloves Garlic, crushed
• 4 tablespoon Raisins
• 4 tablespoon Pine Nuts
• 2 tablespoon Mint (fresh ones are the best)
• 3 teaspoon Salt
• ½ teaspoon Pepper
• 4 tablespoons Sugar
• 100 mils Water
• Round Slices of the Tomatoes (to use as covers) 

Method :

  1) Heat a pan over medium-high flame and add oil to it.

  2) One the oil is sufficiently hot, add onions and saute the onions in the oil until transparent.

  3) Add the rice and saute on low heat until the grains also look transparent.

  4) Add the mince, cook through, then add the garlic, raisins, pine nuts, mint, salt and pepper, and fry gently for another couple of minutes. You will know when it's done from the wonderful aromas.

  5) Pour in about 100ml of water and sugar, stir.

  6) Cover and simmer for about 10-15 minutes, until the water has evaporated.

  7) Set aside to cool.

  8) While the filling is cooling, slice off the tops of the peppers, just the tops. (I use tomatoes to use as tops, you can also use the pepper heads)

  9) Clean out the insides of the peppers, to remove all the seeds, doing your best to keep the bodies of the peppers intact.

10) Now using a dessert spoon to scoop the mixture into the peppers, ensuring you press down gently after each spoonful to fill all the corners.

 11) Once fully stuffed, pop the tomato tops on eash peppers as if they were lids, and arrange the peppers on the bottom of a large saucepan with about 350 mils of water.

 12) Bring to a gentle boil and cook until most of the water has evaporated, and the peppers are tender. This will take about 20-30 minutes. Alternatively, you can put in a medium oven for about the same time. But don't forget to put a small bowl of water in the oven, otherwise the peppers would get too dried and wrinkled.

 13) Once the peppers are done, set aside for 5 minutes.

 14) Serve with a salad, yogurt, and fresh bread as a meze. Or as a main meal, with some soup, salad and Pita wraps.