Stuffed Pepper and Zucchini with Ground Meat (Etli Biber ve Kabak Dolması)

One of the things you will find in Turkish cuisine is that we have so many stuffed food; stuffed peppers, zucchinis, leaves, tomatoes and even eggplants. Stuffed peppers have two kinds. The one prepared with ground meat is served warm, and the one prepared without ground meat is an olive oil dish, thus served cold. My mom’s recipe is large enough to share with all the neighbors, so I have changed it to half of each ingredient when typing down. This is one of the recipes I love because I haven’t come across a better version of stuffed pepper and zucchini than the one my mom makes. 

Ingredients

½ pound bell pepper

½ pound zucchini

¾ cup of rice, washed

½  pound ground meat

1 big onion, finely chopped

1 tbsp tomato paste

¼  bunch parsley, chopped

¼  bunch dill, chopped

½ tsp cinnamon

1 tsp red pepper flakes

2 tbsp butter or ¼ cup oil

½ tbsp salt
 

Instructions

- Take out the tops off the peppers with the help of your thumb and remove all the seeds. Peel the zucchinis and cut off the tops. Cut them in halves next, and carve out the insides. Then wash the peppers and zucchinis, and sprinkle salt in each of them.
- Place the ground meat, rice, onion, tomato paste, parsley, dill, cinnamon, red pepper flakes and salt in a bowl and knead thoroughly. 
- Stuff the peppers and zucchinis with the rice mixture and place them in a large pan. Add the butter and 3 cups of water.
- Turn on the heat to high for water to boil. Once it starts boiling, turn the heat down to lowest and cook for 1 hour and 10 minutes, until the rice is tender.
- Serve warm with yogurt.