Croatian Recipes: Punjena paprika ( stuffed peppers)

Punjena paprika

Punjena paprika is a dish made of peppers, stuffed with a mix of meat and rice in tomato sauce, the ingredients consisting of green or red Capasicums, eggs, spices, salt, tomato, minced meat and rice.

The dish is popular in Hungary, Slovakia, Serbia,Bulgaria, Bosnia, Croatia, Slovenia and Montenegro. There are also many variations of the dish across the Balkans.

These peppers are a delicious treat to eat on their own as a vegetarian dish, make sure you leave out the mince or serve alongside some meat of your choice.



Serves: 10 people

Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 lb ground pork
- 3/4 cup rice (2 espresso cups)
- 2 onions (chopped)
- 2 celery stalks (chopped)
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 eggs
- 10 to 12 medium sized peppers
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 1 teaspoon of pepper
- 2 tomatoes 
- 1 jar of bolognaise sauce (any brand)
- 1 cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoon flour
- 2 cloves garlic

Step 1:

Add some oil to a frying pan and sautee onion, garlic and celery. Add the meat and fry until just not pink (don't overcook it). 

Step 2:

Add the rice and stir everything well so mixed together nice. Now remove from the heat and add, salt, pepper and 2 eggs now mix well. 


Step 3:

Cut the top of your peppers and clean out any seeds. Stuff with the meat and rice mixture and top with a wedge of tomato.


Step 4:

Mix olive oil, flour and 2 cloves of garlic together in a frying pan and heat until  the garlic begins to smells. Add 3/4 jar of Bolognaise sauce and stir well. Add 1 1/2 cups of water, stir and let boil.  You could add some basil or bay leaves if you like to deepen the flavour of this dish. 



Step 5:


Arrange your stuffed peppers in a roasting pan, pour the sauce over the peppers until they are covered, but you don't want the peppers to be swimming in the sauce. Some sauce will be left over.
Place your roasting tin in the oven and cook at 200C for around 50 minutes until the rice is cooked well but not over cooked.


Step 6:


Take your tin out the oven and leave it to cool a little, Then serve it on it's own or alongside some other roasted vegetable, roasted meat or potatoes.

If you are a vegetarian the leave out the meat and carry on as mentioned above.

Now in Croatia they would say " prijatno "

Which means " Enjoy your Meal"



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