What's Cooking? Dolma (stuffed peppers)

You know life must be dull around here when all I have to blog about is my menu. Actually, I've had a few requests for some of my favorite Turkish recipes. So, since I just happen to be making dolma today for dinner, I thought I'd post the recipe and a picture.

DOLMA

My maid, Cennet, used to make this recipe a few times each month. It was always a favorite at our house. Plus, it is super easy!

1 lb. ground beef (beef with a high fat content works best. Today, I'm using gr. turkey so I had to add a little butter or else it would be too dry.)

1 cup rice (uncooked)

1 med. onion, chopped

1/2 bunch parsley, chopped

1 tsp. tomato paste

1 tsp. red pepper paste (you probably won't have this, unless you can find it in a specialty food store. You can leave it out if you don't have it)

7-9 Bell peppers (depending on size). You can also stuff potatoes, squash, eggplant . . . anything that you can hollow out.

Mix beef, rice, onion, parsley, tomato paste & red pepper paste. Mash it all up with your hands until it's good and combined.

Hollow out your vegies.

Bell peppers - just cut the top off and empty out the seeds.

Potatoes - slice a little off the bottom so it will lie flat. Peel and dig out the center. (Turks have a great tool for this, otherwise it can be kind of tricky).

Eggplant & zucchini - scoop stuff out lenghtwise, so it looks like a canoe.

Stuff the meat mixture in the hollowed-out vegies. Set them in a deep pot. You can wedge them in nice and tight. Pour in water so that it comes about halfway up the vegie. Put a lid on and bring water to a boil. Boil about 20-30 minutes - until the rice is soft.

I like to serve it with sauted spinach. Throw a bag of frozen chopped spinach in a fry pan with some butter and a little salt. Saute until it's not frozen anymore. My kids devour this. In fact, I usually have to use 2 bags, since spinach cooks down so much.

Afiyet olsun!