Punjena Paprika

the Balkan Sunday dish: sweet peppers packed with rice and minced meat and baked slowly in a rich tomato sauce until the flesh is soft and sweet

Origin: Serbia

From the journey of Bell Pepper.

Punjena paprika, stuffed peppers, is the Sunday and family dish of the whole of the former Yugoslavia and much of the wider Balkans, and it descends directly from the Ottoman dolma tradition that arrived with the Turkish centuries and was then thoroughly domesticated. Where the Turkish zeytinyağlı dolma is meatless and eaten cold in olive oil, the Balkan version is unashamedly hearty: peppers packed with minced pork and beef, rice, onion, and paprika, then baked slowly, submerged in a tomato sauce that is often thickened with a light roux, and served hot with a spoonful of the sauce, a dollop of sour cream, and bread or mashed potato. The peppers used are the pale, thin-skinned, slightly squat sweet peppers grown for the purpose across the region, which soften to silkiness in the oven while holding their shape. It is a dish of the late-summer glut and of the household oven, made in a large dish for the whole family, and it is one of those preparations that is invariably better on the second day, when the peppers have soaked up the sauce and the sauce has taken on the sweetness of the peppers.

Ingredients

Peppers

  • 10 whole sweet peppers for stuffing, tops cut off and seeds removed

Filling

  • 500 g minced pork and beef, mixed
  • 120 g short-grain rice, rinsed
  • 2 whole onions, finely chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 2 tbsp sweet paprika
  • 1 whole egg
  • 1 handful flat-leaf parsley, chopped
  • 3 tbsp oil or lard
  • 1.5 tsp salt, and black pepper to taste

Sauce

  • 700 g passata or chopped tomatoes
  • 1 tbsp plain flour
  • 2 tbsp oil
  • 1 tsp sweet paprika
  • 400 ml hot water or stock
  • 1 tsp sugar

To Serve

  • 200 ml sour cream, to serve

Method

  1. Soften the onions in the oil or lard over a low heat for 10 minutes, add the garlic for a minute more, then take off the heat and stir in the paprika. Cool.
  2. Mix the cooled onions with the minced meat, the rinsed raw rice, the egg, parsley, salt, and pepper, working it together thoroughly with your hands until well combined.
  3. Fill each pepper about three-quarters full, pressing the filling in lightly, and stand them upright and snug in a deep baking dish or heavy pot.
  4. Make the sauce: heat the oil, stir in the flour and cook for a minute to a pale roux, take off the heat and stir in the paprika, then whisk in the passata, water or stock, sugar, and salt. Pour around and over the peppers so they are two-thirds submerged.
  5. Cover and bake at 180°C (160°C fan) for 45 minutes, then uncover and bake for a further 25 to 30 minutes, until the peppers are completely soft and lightly coloured on top and the rice is tender. Rest for 15 minutes before serving with sour cream.

Notes

Every country and family in the region has its version: some add smoked bacon or sausage to the filling, some use only pork, and a meatless Lenten version, posna punjena paprika, fills the peppers with rice, mushrooms, carrot, and onion. The peppers should be the pale, thin-skinned sweet sort if you can find them, though ordinary bell peppers work and need a little longer in the oven. Serve with mashed potato or simply with plenty of bread to mop the sauce.

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