Punjene paprike
Peppers stuffed with minced meat and rice, baked slowly in a sweet tomato sauce — the Croatian Sunday classic.
- Prep
- 40 min
- Cook
- 1 hr 15 min
- Total
- 1 hr 55 min
- Serves
- 6
Ingredients
- 8 medium bell peppers (green, yellow or red), tops cut off and seeds removed
- 600 g minced meat (half beef, half pork)
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 100 g long-grain rice, rinsed
- 1 egg
- 2 tbsp finely chopped parsley
- 1 tsp sweet paprika
- 2 tbsp neutral oil
- 1 tbsp flour
- 500 ml passata or crushed tomatoes
- 250 ml water or light stock
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tsp sugar
- Salt and black pepper
Method
- Soften the onion in the oil over medium heat for 8–10 minutes. Stir in the garlic and paprika for 30 seconds, then take off the heat and let it cool slightly.
- Mix the onion with the minced meat, rice, egg, parsley, 1½ tsp salt and plenty of pepper. Do not knead too much or the filling turns dense.
- Fill each pepper about three-quarters full, leaving room for the rice to swell. Stand them upright, snugly packed, in a deep baking dish or heavy pot.
- Stir the flour into a little of the cold water until smooth, then combine it with the passata, remaining water, bay leaf, sugar and a pinch of salt. Pour around the peppers; it should come about halfway up.
- Cover with foil or a lid and bake at 180 °C for 50 minutes. Uncover and bake another 20–25 minutes until the peppers are soft and the sauce has thickened.
- Rest for 10 minutes. Taste the sauce and adjust the salt and sugar. Serve with mashed potatoes or fresh bread.
The flour in the sauce is the traditional trick — it gives a velvety sauce that clings to the pepper. The sauce should taste slightly sweet; the sugar balances the acidity of the tomatoes. Thin-walled pale green peppers (the long kind from the market) work best, but ordinary bell peppers are fine. Better the next day.