Stuffed Peppers - An Albanian Recipe
Stuffed Peppers cooked the Albanian way. Peppers are stuffed with rice, ground beef, parsley, onions and tomatoes.
Servings 6 servings
Calories 538kcal
Equipment
- 1 large skillet
- 1 Wooden spoon
Ingredients
- 12 small bell peppers
- 1 lb ground beef or minced beef
- 2 medium onions usually yellow onions, but white works too
- 3 garlic cloves
- 2 cups fresh parsley chopped, packed
- 1 tbsp sea salt
- 0.5 tbsp black pepper
- 0.5 tsp paprika
- 1 cup rice uncooked
- 2 medium baking potatoes optional
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 1 can crushed tomatoes 14-16 oz
- 3 cups water
Instructions
- Wash, pat dry and clean the peppers from the seeds. I usually leave the top part of the peppers untouched so it can stay on top of the stuffing as decoration.
- Chop the onions, saute them in medium to high heat in olive oil, then add the ground beef. You can also use minced meat if you prefer to pick the meat cut and then cut it in small pieces yourself. Once meat is browned, then add parsley and crushed tomatoes. This time i used a can of crushed tomatoes, but sometimes i like to use fresh tomatoes. I usually buy them few days before, let them get soft and chop them for this dish. Add 1 cup of water and mix well.
- As soon as the mixture is boiling, you can add the rice, salt & pepper and paprika. Turn the heat down to medium. Mix well and let it cook for 10 minutes. You want the stuffing not to be too thick so if a bit more water is needed, add an extra half a cup.
- Turn the heat off and let the stuffing cool, you don't want to burn yourself while stuffing the peppers. Which I will tell you right now, I've done more than once so I definitely know it burns:). Once the stuffing is still warm, start stuffing the peppers and placing them back on the baking dish. I usually use a spoon to do the stuffing. Once all the peppers are stuffed, i cut the potatoes and placed them around the peppers. They add a nice flavor to the final dish but also help in absorbing the water we will add in a bit. I haven't seen anyone else add potatoes around the peppers in this dish, so this must be my mom's idea because she always did this. There will usually be some stuffing left over once all the peppers are stuffed, however it's not for sure given that you can't control the size of the peppers so sometimes you might come up a bit short and that's ok, just fill them all up as much as you can. The rice will make the stuffing's volume grow anyway. If you have leftover stuffing, add it around the peppers and on top of the potato wedges. Sprinkle some salt on the potatoes too. Add 2 cups of water around the peppers and potatoes.
- I baked this dish at 375, bottom rack for about 35 minutes. Then once i noticed the top of the peppers were getting browned but the potatoes were not fully baked yet, i covered the dish with aluminum foil and let bake for another 15 minutes. Let the dish cool and serve about 2 peppers per person. Usually I like to serve a summer salad as a side dish.
Video
Notes
- I love serving stuffed peppers with tarator, salad and some bread all family style on the table so everyone can pick and choose what to add on their plate.
- If possible, I like to crush fresh tomatoes instead of using canned crushed tomatoes. Usually 4 soft tomatoes are the equivalent of 1 can of 14 ozs.
- Recipe can easily be made without meat by increasing rice, tomatoes, onions and parsley quantities.
- Add additional herbs to taste like oregano, dill etc. You can also add more spices like cayenne pepper or chili pepper.
- For non traditional recipes you can add some cheese over the peppers the last 5 minutes of baking so the cheese can melt off.
Nutrition
Calories: 538kcal | Carbohydrates: 59g | Protein: 21g | Fat: 26g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Monounsaturated Fat: 14g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 54mg | Sodium: 1335mg | Potassium: 1331mg | Fiber: 8g | Sugar: 11g | Vitamin A: 2730IU | Vitamin C: 232mg | Calcium: 124mg | Iron: 5mg