Stuffed Peppers (Töltött Paprika)
This hearty, saucy, and flavourful dish is worth the work.
A few days ago, I spent about an hour on the phone with my Mama talking about cooking and got onto the topic of stuffed peppers. I mentioned that I had bought some nice looking peppers at the market earlier that day, and that I was thinking of stuffing them to make Töltött Paprika. The funny thing was that she had the same idea a few days ago.
I went on to explain to her what the recipe I found said, and took down some notes which I used to make it taste a little closer to hers.
Ingredients
Stuffed Peppers (Töltött Paprika)
6-8 yellow & red Hungarian wax peppers
1 lbs (500 g) ground pork
½ cup (~95 g) rice, parboiled
1 onion, diced
1 tbs (6.8 g) sweet paprika
1 egg
parsley and chives, to taste
salt & pepper to taste
speck for frying onions (or sunflower oil)
3 tbs (25 g) flour
3 tbs (45 ml) sunflower oil (for roux)
3-5 cups (400—600 g) passata
1 tbs (16.5 g) tomato paste
2 bay leaves
1 tsp (4 g) sugar optional* (if tomatoes are sour)
Vegeta seasoning to taste
METHOD
01 PREPARATION
Preheat your oven 160°C (325°F).
Add your sunflower oil into a medium saucepan. Once the oil is hot add your onions, and cook until they are lightly caramelized. Remove from heat and place aside.
Now, parboil the rice in a smaller saucepan, drain, and rinse with cold water.
02 COMBINE THE INGREDIENTS & MARINATE
In a large mixing bowl, add your ground pork, egg, salt, paprika, and black pepper. Mix the ingredients together until evenly distributed (use your hands or the back of a spoon). Now do the same with onions, rice, parsley and chives. Let this marinate for about an hour.
03 STUFF THE PEPPERS
Once the pork has marinated, wash and cut peppers to remove the seeds. Then gently stuff the peppers with the pork. You can use the end of a knife to help push the it down, but start with smaller scoops until you reach the middle of the pepper to make it easier.
Depending on how long you’ve cooked your rice for, and how thick the skins of the peppers are, if packed too tightly they’ll split. To prevent this, use any leftover pork to roll into large meatballs to cook in the sauce.
04 MAKE YOUR SAUCE
Heat the oil on the same sauce pan you used for the onions. When the oil is hot, make a roux by whisking in the flour. Once the roux is evenly mixed, add 1 tablespoon of tomato paste and fry it for ~ 1 minute.
Now slowly whisk the passata into the roux to prevent any clumps. Then fill the passata jar about halfway with water, shake, and pour it into the saucepan to thin the sauce.
Add your bay leaves, vegeta seasoning, sugar, salt and pepper to taste. Cook for a few minutes and then pour the sauce over the stuffed paprika peppers.
05 BAKE THEM!
Bake for about 60 minutes covered with tinfoil. Then another 30 minutes uncovered.
06 SERVE THEM :)
Serve the peppers with sauce, sour cream, and parsley.
Recipe adapted with my mama’s tips from Here.
