Biber Dolmasi-Turkish Stuffed Peppers

Tonight I thought I'd throw out one of my own fave recipes from the motherland...Biber Dolmasi!  Biber means pepper and Dolma means to be stuffed.  Almost every country in the world has their own version of stuffed peppers but I think Turkish food is the best, it is what I grew up on after all :) It's basically a ground beef, rice and seasoning mixture stuffed in your choice of peppers.  Stuffing grape leaves in Turkey is also very popular and tasty.  I'll save that for another day since I need to work on my grape leaf wrapping skills. I recommend buying a delicious loaf of crusty bread or naan to go along with this dish.  Enjoy my friends :)

Biber Dolmasi-Turkish Stuffed Peppers (prep time-30 min, cook time-55 min)

Filling

• 1/2 lb ground beef
• 1/4 cup uncooked rice (I love using basmati)
• 1/4 cup Italian parsley
• 1 large Roma tomato, chopped fine
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 3 tbsp water
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 4 small-medium peppers of your choice

Sauce

• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 cups water
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• couple dashes of salt
• 1 large tomato, pureed

Step #1-Making the filling

Step#4-Place peppers standing in sauce

1. In a large bowl mix together filling ingredients-beef, rice, parsley, tomato, olive oil, water, salt and pepper. (See picture #1 above)
2. Cut tops off of peppers and clean out inside of seeds
3. Stuff peppers with filling mixture.  Do not jam filling in with spoon instead tap peppers lightly on counter to push filling down to put more in. Set peppers aside.
4. Next in a medium pot melt butter and then add water, tomato paste, salt, and pureed tomato. Mix well.
5. Once sauce is mixed stand peppers in mixture and bring pot to a boil.  Once sauce boils bring to a medium heat and simmer for 55 minutes with lid closed. Peppers are ready when they are soft on the outside and the meat has browned. (See picture #2 above)
6. Enjoy!