Stuffed peppers
Encyclopedia
Stuffed peppers is a dish which exists in different names and forms around the world.
) and onions (Pyaz), seasoned with chili, turmeric, coriander, cilantro, salt and lemon juice. The peppers are then either browned in a Tawa
(frying pan) or baked in an oven until the peppers are soft.
Punjena paprika (Croatian
and Serbian
for "stuffed peppers"), Filovana paprika (Bosnian
) Polnjena paprika (Slovenian
), Polneti Piperki (Macedonian
) Töltött paprika (Hungarian
), or Pulnena piperka/Pulnena chuska (Bulgarian
) is an Eastern Europe
an dish consisting of peppers filled with minced meat and rice
. Most popular in the Zagorje
and Vojvodina
regions, it is influenced by Hungarian
cuisine. The meat, usually ground beef, is mixed with herbs, spices and rice. In Bulgaria, stuffed peppers are usually eaten with yogurt.
There are many variations of the dish across the Balkans.
Ardei umpluţi (arˈdej umˈplut͡sʲ) is Romanian
for "stuffed peppers". This dish is usually prepared with bell peppers, stuffed with ground meat (usually pork), rice, onion and other vegetables and spices, and then boiled in a sauce made from cream, tomatoes and spices.
Stuffed peppers in American cuisine
is a dish
where bell pepper
s (often the green variety) are typically filled with a stuffing such as ground beef
mixed with breadcrumb
s or cooked rice
, egg
, herb
s and spice
s (especially paprika
and parsley
) and cheese
. Recipe
s vary, but often include the following steps: removal of the seed
s of the pepper, boiling
them, stuffing them, covering with cheese, and baking
the combined foodstuff until the peppers are soft. A sauce may be served with them, often a tomato sauce
, but this, too, varies greatly. In some parts of the United States, this dish is sometimes referred to as "stuffed mangoes".
India
Stuffed Peppers (Bharvan Mirch or Bharva Hari Mirch) is one of several stuffed vegetable (Bharvan subji) dishes in Indian cuisine. It consists of bell peppers (Shimla mirch) stuffed with cooked mashed potatoes (AaluAloo
Aloo is an Indian term for potatoes.It can be found in the name of a number of dishes:* Aloo gobi, potatoes and cauliflower* Dum aloo, fried potatoes with gravy* Saag aloo, fried potatoes with spinach curry...
) and onions (Pyaz), seasoned with chili, turmeric, coriander, cilantro, salt and lemon juice. The peppers are then either browned in a Tawa
Tava
A tava, tawa, saj, or sac is a large, flat or convex disc-shaped griddle made from metal, usually sheet iron, cast iron, sheet steel or aluminium. It is used in south, central, and west Asia for cooking a variety of flatbreads and as a griddle for meat...
(frying pan) or baked in an oven until the peppers are soft.
Mediterranean
- Dolma is a family of stuffed vegetable dishes that consists of stuffed peppers or grape leavesGrape leavesGrape leaves are used in the cuisines of a number of cultures, including Turkish cuisine, Greek cuisine, Bulgarian cuisine, Arab cuisine, Romanian cuisine, and Vietnamese cuisine. They are most often picked fresh from the vine and stuffed with a mixture of rice, meat, and spices, and then cooked by...
. Dolma are part of the Balkan cuisineBalkan cuisineThe Balkan cuisine is heterogeneous and is therefore known as the cuisine of states and regions, since every region has its own distinct culinary traditions...
s and surrounding regions, such as Middle Eastern countries like IranIranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
, TurkeyTurkish cuisineTurkish cuisine is largely the heritage of Ottoman cuisine, which can be described as a fusion and refinement of Central Asian, Middle Eastern and Balkan cuisines. Turkish cuisine has in turn influenced those and other neighbouring cuisines, including that of western Europe...
, AzerbaijanAzerbaijanAzerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...
, ArmeniaArmenian cuisineArmenian cuisine includes the foods and cooking techniques of the Armenian people, the Armenian diaspora and traditional Armenian foods and dishes. The cuisine reflects the history and geography where Armenians have lived as well as incorporating outside influences...
and also Central AsiaCentral Asian cuisineThe Central Asian cuisines include:* Afghan cuisine* Iranian cuisine* Mongolian cuisine* Cuisine of Kashmir* Kazakh cuisine* Kashmiri cuisine* Kyrgyz cuisine* Pakistani cuisine * Tajik cuisine* Tibetan cuisine* Turkmen cuisine...
. - Yemista is part of the Greek cuisine and consists of baked stuffed vegetables. Usually tomatoes, peppers, or other vegetables hollowed out and baked with a rice and herb filling.
Mexico
Mexican cuisine has more than one stuffed pepper dish:- The Chile relleno, literally "stuffed pepper", consists of a roasted green Pasilla or poblanoPoblanoThe poblano is a mild chili pepper originating in the State of Puebla, Mexico. Dried, it is called a chile ancho . The ripened red poblano is significantly hotter and more flavorful than the less ripe, green poblano. While poblanos tend to have a mild flavor, occasionally and unpredictably, they...
chile pepper stuffed with cheeseCheeseCheese is a generic term for a diverse group of milk-based food products. Cheese is produced throughout the world in wide-ranging flavors, textures, and forms....
(traditionally queso fresco), and/or (occasionally) minced meatMeatMeat is animal flesh that is used as food. Most often, this means the skeletal muscle and associated fat and other tissues, but it may also describe other edible tissues such as organs and offal...
, covered in an egg batterBatter (cooking)Batter is a semi-liquid mixture of one or more flours combined with liquids such as water, milk or eggs used to prepare various foods. Often a leavening agent such as baking powder is included to aerate and fluff up the batter as it cooks, or the mixture may be naturally fermented for this purpose...
, and friedFryingFrying is the cooking of food in oil or another fat, a technique that originated in ancient Egypt around 2500 BC. Chemically, oils and fats are the same, differing only in melting point, but the distinction is only made when needed. In commerce, many fats are called oils by custom, e.g...
. It is often served covered with a sauce, although the type of sauce varies widely. It is sometimes also served in a tacoTacoA taco is a traditional Mexican dish composed of a corn or wheat tortilla folded or rolled around a filling. A taco can be made with a variety of fillings, including beef, chicken, seafood, vegetables and cheese, allowing for great versatility and variety...
with riceRiceRice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...
, salsaSalsa (sauce)Salsa may refer to any type of sauce. In American English, it usually refers to the spicy, often tomato based, hot sauces typical of Mexican and Central American cuisine, particularly those used as dips. In British English, the word typically refers to salsa cruda, which is common in Mexican ,...
and other toppings. - Jalapeño poppers are jalapeñoJalapeñoThe jalapeño is a medium-sized chili pepper that has a warm, burning sensation when eaten. A mature jalapeño fruit is 2–3½ inches long and is commonly picked and consumed while still green, but occasionally it is allowed to fully ripen and turn crimson red...
peppers that have been hollowed out, stuffed with a mixture of cheeseCheeseCheese is a generic term for a diverse group of milk-based food products. Cheese is produced throughout the world in wide-ranging flavors, textures, and forms....
, spiceSpiceA spice is a dried seed, fruit, root, bark, or vegetative substance used in nutritionally insignificant quantities as a food additive for flavor, color, or as a preservative that kills harmful bacteria or prevents their growth. It may be used to flavour a dish or to hide other flavours...
s, and sometimes ground meat, and then deep fried.
Middle East
- Dolmeh Felfel a variant of DolmehDolmaDolma is a family of stuffed vegetable dishes in the cuisines of the former Ottoman Empire and surrounding regions such as Russia, Middle East and the Caucasus and Central and South Asia. Perhaps the best-known is the grape-leaf dolma. Common vegetables to stuff include onion, zucchini, eggplant,...
. Dolmeh is stuffed vegetables such as grape leaves, cabbages, eggplants, tomato, etc. served in middle east and central asian countries. - Filfil Mahshi an Arab cuisineArab cuisineArab cuisine is defined as the various regional cuisines spanning the Arab World, from Morocco and Tunisia to Saudi Arabia, and incorporating Levantine, Egyptian .-History:...
dish that consists of stuffed green peppers. Filfil Mahshi belongs to a family of stuffed vegetable dishes that consists of stuffed peppers or stuffed zucchini or stuffed eggplant. - Mahshi is an EgyptianEgyptian cuisineEgyptian cuisine consists of the local culinary traditions of Egypt. Egyptian cuisine makes heavy use of legumes and vegetables, as Egypt's rich Nile Valley and Delta produce large quantities of high-quality crops.- History and characteristics :...
and SudaneseSudanese cuisineSudanese cuisine is varied by region, and greatly affected by the cross-cultural influences upon Sudan throughout history. In addition to the influences of the indigenous African peoples, the cuisine was influenced by Arab traders and settlers during the Ottoman Empire, who introduced spices such...
dish that is spiced meat stuffed in green, yellow, or red peppers, or in tomatoes.
Scandinavian and Baltic Countries
- Scandinavian Countries: Fyldte peberfrugter (Danish Danish languageDanish is a North Germanic language spoken by around six million people, principally in the country of Denmark. It is also spoken by 50,000 Germans of Danish ethnicity in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where it holds the status of minority language...
), Täytetyt paprikat (FinnishFinnish languageFinnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...
), Fylltar paprikur (IcelandicIcelandic languageIcelandic is a North Germanic language, the main language of Iceland. Its closest relative is Faroese.Icelandic is an Indo-European language belonging to the North Germanic or Nordic branch of the Germanic languages. Historically, it was the westernmost of the Indo-European languages prior to the...
), Fylt paprika (NorwegianNorwegian languageNorwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...
), Fyllda paprikor (SwedishSwedish languageSwedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...
). - Baltic Countries (Baltic StatesBaltic statesThe term Baltic states refers to the Baltic territories which gained independence from the Russian Empire in the wake of World War I: primarily the contiguous trio of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania ; Finland also fell within the scope of the term after initially gaining independence in the 1920s.The...
): Kimšti pipirai (LithuanianLithuanian languageLithuanian is the official state language of Lithuania and is recognized as one of the official languages of the European Union. There are about 2.96 million native Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania and about 170,000 abroad. Lithuanian is a Baltic language, closely related to Latvian, although they...
) usually made with ground beef (or pork), rice, various vegetables and spices; Pildīti pipari (LatvianLatvian languageLatvian is the official state language of Latvia. It is also sometimes referred to as Lettish. There are about 1.4 million native Latvian speakers in Latvia and about 150,000 abroad. The Latvian language has a relatively large number of non-native speakers, atypical for a small language...
) and Täidisega paprika (EstonianEstonian languageEstonian is the official language of Estonia, spoken by about 1.1 million people in Estonia and tens of thousands in various émigré communities...
) is word phrase for "stuffed peppers".
Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Hungary, Macedonia, Serbia, Slovenia
Croatian language
Croatian is the collective name for the standard language and dialects spoken by Croats, principally in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbian province of Vojvodina and other neighbouring countries...
and Serbian
Serbian language
Serbian is a form of Serbo-Croatian, a South Slavic language, spoken by Serbs in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and neighbouring countries....
for "stuffed peppers"), Filovana paprika (Bosnian
Bosnian language
Bosnian is a South Slavic language, spoken by Bosniaks. As a standardized form of the Shtokavian dialect, it is one of the three official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina....
) Polnjena paprika (Slovenian
Slovenian language
Slovene or Slovenian is a South Slavic language spoken by approximately 2.5 million speakers worldwide, the majority of whom live in Slovenia. It is the first language of about 1.85 million people and is one of the 23 official and working languages of the European Union...
), Polneti Piperki (Macedonian
Macedonian language
Macedonian is a South Slavic language spoken as a first language by approximately 2–3 million people principally in the region of Macedonia but also in the Macedonian diaspora...
) Töltött paprika (Hungarian
Hungarian language
Hungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe....
), or Pulnena piperka/Pulnena chuska (Bulgarian
Bulgarian language
Bulgarian is an Indo-European language, a member of the Slavic linguistic group.Bulgarian, along with the closely related Macedonian language, demonstrates several linguistic characteristics that set it apart from all other Slavic languages such as the elimination of case declension, the...
) is an Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
an dish consisting of peppers filled with minced meat and rice
Rice
Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...
. Most popular in the Zagorje
Zagorje
Hrvatsko Zagorje is a region in northern Croatia.Zagorje may also refer to:*Zagorje ob Savi, a town and a municipality in Slovenia*NK Zagorje, a Slovenian football club-See also:...
and Vojvodina
Vojvodina
Vojvodina, officially called Autonomous Province of Vojvodina is an autonomous province of Serbia. Its capital and largest city is Novi Sad...
regions, it is influenced by Hungarian
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
cuisine. The meat, usually ground beef, is mixed with herbs, spices and rice. In Bulgaria, stuffed peppers are usually eaten with yogurt.
There are many variations of the dish across the Balkans.
Romania
Romanian language
Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...
for "stuffed peppers". This dish is usually prepared with bell peppers, stuffed with ground meat (usually pork), rice, onion and other vegetables and spices, and then boiled in a sauce made from cream, tomatoes and spices.
United States
Cuisine of the United States
American cuisine is a style of food preparation originating from the United States of America. European colonization of the Americas yielded the introduction of a number of ingredients and cooking styles to the latter...
is a dish
Dish (food)
A dish in gastronomy is a specific food preparation, a "distinct article or variety of food", with cooking finished, and ready to eat, or be served.A "dish" may be served on dishware, or may be eaten out of hand; but breads are generally not called "dishes"....
where bell pepper
Bell pepper
Bell pepper, also known as sweet pepper or a pepper and capsicum , is a cultivar group of the species Capsicum annuum . Cultivars of the plant produce fruits in different colors, including red, yellow, orange and green. Bell peppers are sometimes grouped with less pungent pepper varieties as...
s (often the green variety) are typically filled with a stuffing such as ground beef
Ground beef
Beef mince, ground beef, hamburger meat , hamburg or minced meat is a minced meat food, made of beef finely chopped by a mincer. It is used in many recipes including hamburgers and cottage pie...
mixed with breadcrumb
Breadcrumb
Breadcrumbs or bread crumbs are small particles of dry bread, which are used for breading or crumbing foods, topping casseroles, stuffing poultry, thickening stews, and adding inexpensive bulk to meatloaves and similar foods. They are documented in cookbooks as early as 1716...
s or cooked rice
Rice
Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...
, egg
Egg (food)
Eggs are laid by females of many different species, including birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish, and have probably been eaten by mankind for millennia. Bird and reptile eggs consist of a protective eggshell, albumen , and vitellus , contained within various thin membranes...
, herb
Herb
Except in botanical usage, an herb is "any plant with leaves, seeds, or flowers used for flavoring, food, medicine, or perfume" or "a part of such a plant as used in cooking"...
s and spice
Spice
A spice is a dried seed, fruit, root, bark, or vegetative substance used in nutritionally insignificant quantities as a food additive for flavor, color, or as a preservative that kills harmful bacteria or prevents their growth. It may be used to flavour a dish or to hide other flavours...
s (especially paprika
Paprika
Paprika is a spice made from the grinding of dried fruits of Capsicum annuum . In many European languages, the word paprika refers to bell peppers themselves. The seasoning is used in many cuisines to add color and flavor to dishes. Paprika can range from mild to hot...
and parsley
Parsley
Parsley is a species of Petroselinum in the family Apiaceae, native to the central Mediterranean region , naturalized elsewhere in Europe, and widely cultivated as an herb, a spice and a vegetable.- Description :Garden parsley is a bright green hairless biennial herbaceous plant in temperate...
) and cheese
Cheese
Cheese is a generic term for a diverse group of milk-based food products. Cheese is produced throughout the world in wide-ranging flavors, textures, and forms....
. Recipe
Recipe
A recipe is a set of instructions that describe how to prepare or make something, especially a culinary dish.-Components:Modern culinary recipes normally consist of several components*The name of the dish...
s vary, but often include the following steps: removal of the seed
Seed
A seed is a small embryonic plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some stored food. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant...
s of the pepper, boiling
Boiling
Boiling is the rapid vaporization of a liquid, which occurs when a liquid is heated to its boiling point, the temperature at which the vapor pressure of the liquid is equal to the pressure exerted on the liquid by the surrounding environmental pressure. While below the boiling point a liquid...
them, stuffing them, covering with cheese, and baking
Baking
Baking is the technique of prolonged cooking of food by dry heat acting by convection, and not by radiation, normally in an oven, but also in hot ashes, or on hot stones. It is primarily used for the preparation of bread, cakes, pastries and pies, tarts, quiches, cookies and crackers. Such items...
the combined foodstuff until the peppers are soft. A sauce may be served with them, often a tomato sauce
Tomato sauce
A tomato sauce is any of a very large number of sauces made primarily from tomatoes, usually to be served as part of a dish...
, but this, too, varies greatly. In some parts of the United States, this dish is sometimes referred to as "stuffed mangoes".
External links
- Balkan recipe for Stuffed peppers at balkan-cuisine.com
- Stuffed Bell Peppers American Style at Cooks.com
- Stuffed Bell Peppers Recipes at stuffedbellpeppers.net