Biber Dolmasi (Turkish Stuffed Peppers)
Sweet green peppers stuffed with a herby rice and minced beef filling, simmered until tender in a tomato broth — a true Turkish family dinner.
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Ingredients
10 small green dolma (cup) peppers, about 1kg
200g baldo rice, rinsed well (about 1 cup)
250g minced beef
2 medium onions, finely chopped
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp mild pepper paste
2 large tomatoes, 1 grated and 1 sliced for the tops
1 tbsp dried mint
1 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 bunch flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1.5 tsp salt
400ml hot water
Thick yogurt, to serve
Instructions
- 1
Slice the tops off the peppers, pull out the seeds and membranes, and rinse the insides. Keep the peppers whole.
- 2
Heat the olive oil in a pan and soften the chopped onions for 5-6 minutes. Add the minced beef and cook until it loses its pinkness.
- 3
Stir in the tomato paste and half the pepper paste, then the rinsed rice, grated tomato, dried mint, black pepper and salt. Cook for 2-3 minutes, add a splash of water, then take off the heat and fold in the parsley.
- 4
Fill each pepper with the rice mixture, stopping about 1cm from the top to leave room for the rice to swell. Cap each one with a slice of tomato.
- 5
Stand the peppers snugly upright in a wide pot so they support each other.
- 6
Whisk the remaining pepper paste into the hot water with a pinch of salt and pour it around the peppers — it should come about halfway up their sides.
- 7
Cover and simmer on low heat for 40-45 minutes, until the rice is cooked and the peppers are completely tender. Rest for 10 minutes off the heat.
- 8
Serve hot, spooning a little of the cooking juices over each dolma, with thick yogurt on top and warm bread alongside.
If there is one dish that says 'Sunday at a Turkish grandmother's table', it is a steaming pot of biber dolmasi. Squat green dolma peppers are hollowed out, packed with a filling of rice, minced beef, onion and herbs, capped with a slice of tomato and left to simmer until the peppers slump softly against each other. The smell alone gathers the whole household in the kitchen.
The filling is where the flavour lives. Turkish cooks add both tomato and pepper paste for depth, plenty of dried mint, and rinse the rice well so it cooks up loose rather than stodgy. Do not overfill the peppers — rice swells, so stop about a finger's width from the top and the dolma will cook evenly without bursting.
In the UK, the small pale-green Turkish dolma peppers from a good Turkish grocer make all the difference; they are thinner-walled and sweeter than large bell peppers. Turkish Online Market delivers fresh cup peppers along with baldo rice, Oncu pastes and everything else the pot needs. Serve the dolma hot with a big spoonful of yogurt on top and a cold glass of ayran on the side — leftovers taste even better the next day.
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