Do you have any idea on how people in my country enter their houses? If you don’t have even a clue, you might ask “What kind of a question is this?” But you know we always have interesting traditions. So what we do different when entering our homes is that we take off our shoes. If you are living in an apartment building, you have to take them inside and put them in the shoe cupboard, which is at the entrance whereas you can leave them outside if you are living at a house with a garden or in a village. Then you wear your house shoes or slippers which are waiting for you just at the entrance. So why do we do this? I’m not sure if it has a history behind, but I know that noone wants to see dust or street dirt in their house. Unfortunately, our streets are not that clean! So it would be awful to walk in the house with the shoes you wear outside. You don’t want to see something disgusting on your carpet, do you?
Yes, I love my beautiful country, but I wish there were stricter laws and punishment about environment. I’m not sure though whether we can easily get used to wearing outside shoes inside even if our streets are as clean as a whistle. So it’s not just a matter of avoiding street dirt I guess. We don’t feel clean with our shoes inside. Culturally, we think that we should leave outside things out. And it must have something to do with respect. Respect to your home and household.
So do you have different traditions of entering a house?
As for the dish you see above, I find them more tasty than the fresh ones. We can keep stuffing things in Winter if we dry vegetables in Summer.I made these last weekend and stored some of them in freezer. I made some of them with rice, some with bulgur, so it’s up to you to use either of these. Also, I didn’t use mince, but it gives a nice flavor when combined with rice or bulgur, so you can add it too.
Dried eggplants and red bell peppers will become larger and flexible when waited in boiling water for a few minutes. Ready to be stuffed!
Dried eggplants and red bell peppers stuffed with a mixture of bulgur, herbs and spices.
Ingredients
- 10 dried red bell peppers
- 10 dried eggplants
- 1 liter water to boil dried vegetables
- 20 tbsp rice or bulgur (1 for each pepper and eggplant)
- 2 tomatoes, diced
- 2 large onions, thinly chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, diced
- 1 tbsp pepper (or tomato) paste
- ½ bunch of parsley, minced
- 2 tbsp dried mint
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
- ½ lemon, squeezed
- salt
- ½ cup olive oil
- ½ cup hot water
Instructions
- Boil 1 liter water in a pot and put dried eggplants and dried peppers into it. Boil them about 3 or 5 minutes until they soften. Take them into cold water and drain.
- Mix all stuffing ingredients and stuff eggplants and peppers with this mixture. Use your hands at this step. Do not ovefill them as rice and bulgur will rise. Just leave about half inch space on the top.
- Place them in a pot and if there is any juice left from the filling mixture, pour it in this pot.
- Cover the pot and cook it over high heat for about 5 minutes, then add ½ cup hot water and bring it to the lowest heat. It will be done after about 30 minutes. You can understand it by checking the softness of rice and bulgur.
- This can be served both warm and cold.
- And it’s the icing on the cake if you drizzle some yogurt on these stuffed dried eggplants and peppers.
Here we take off our shoes just inside the door, the entryway (space just inside the door, with a closet on one side for one’s coats and shoes) is usually tiled and the space just in front of the door has a rug. This is so that it is easy to clean up any dirt. The streets here are usually quite clean, but in the winter they put sand or a sort of brown salt on the snowy, icy roads to make them less slippery…this gets on your shoes and boots, making a mess in the house if you go beyond the rug. We usually transfer our boots to a hard rubber or plastic mat with grooves a bit like a tire, so that the water can drip from the boots and then dry, rather than get the rug soggy. I have a little shelf-thing for other shoes too, so we don’t have to rummage through the closet.
I grew up in a house where we didn’t wear shoes indoors at all, only slippers sometimes if our feet are cold. I usually just go about in my sock feet or even barefoot; if I need to go somewhere else in our building (to get the mail or do laundry), I’ll put slippers on or some sort of slip-on shoe.
My fiance likes the support of a hard-soled slipper, and is never ever barefoot; I prefer to let my feet be free and as comfortable as possible!
Thnak you Stamatia for sharing these here. Actually, there is a similar rug in some houses here, too. The rule is mainly ‘Do not walk in the house with your shoes!’ Some people do just like you do. And there are people who would rather be barefoot inside, especially in Summer as it’s very hot here. Glad to learn that we are not the only people taking off shoes
Did you dry the vegetables yourself?
Mom dried for me and gave me a big bag of these.
This looks so delicious…I have never dried eggplants before, but I imagine that the flavor is wonderful…very concentrated. We also take off our shoes when we enter our house. My dad often forgets though, which drives me crazy. Thank you for sharing your recipe with me! I’m hungry now…it must be time for lunch. Have a great Monday!
I can’t say I’ve ever seen a dried eggplant. I can imagine they would be fabulous given what drying does for mushrooms. I’ll have to ask next time I’m at the Middle Eastern grocery I shop at occasionally. Thanks for posting this Zerrin.
I have never had dried eggplant. Do you know if they sell them commercially? These look wonderful!
These are sold in some markets here, so maybe you can find them at Middle Eastern grocery stores.
Wow I bet that is really good, I have never thought to try this with dried vegetables. I will have to do that and see how it comes out. I bet the flavor is fantastic!
I would make that yogurt garlicky and maybe some melted butter on it. Drooling!
Yogurt with garlic sounds like a great topping!
Zerrin this is wonderful recipe, and I do love your photos! Just stunning!
Thanks for sharing!
Where I come from, it’s quite the opposite, especially if you are coming into the house as a guest. We see it rude for you to take off your shoes because we don’t want to smell your feet. hahaha
It’s funny, but true! 
I love stuffed peppers, but I’ve never stuffed a dried pepper – thank you for sharing!
Hey Zerrin, might try taking my shoes off everytime I enter my apartment after reading this, completely makes sense! Love the recipe as well, something that can be made all year round.
I’ve never seen dried eggplants before…ooh if only I lived in the Meditteranean! Your dish looks delicious. Theresa
The recipe sounds delicious. In Cyprus we do the same but we use fresh eggplants and peppers. Give it a try. I am sure you will love it. Vegetable stock or chicken stock will make it even more delicious.
Thank you for sharing!
Looks nice.:-)
Stina
OH my gosh! I never thought about drying sweet peppers before. What a great idea and drying intensifies the taste so much, can’t wait to try it out!
The peppers look delicious especially with the yogurt sauce! In Seattle and NYC most people I know taked their shoes off when they enter a home. For parties it is usually okay to leave shoes on. Some party outfits wouldn’t look so fabulous without shoes and I’m on the shorter side so this works for me.
lovely recipe. i actually like to marinate or soak blackened peppers in extra virgin olive oil. the same goes for sun dried tomatoes.just serve with some nice fresh feta or some ripe Roquefort, and maybe sprinke with toasted pitta bread. regarding shoes in the house i am with you all the way. we leave our slippers in the entrance hall and when we get home its shoes off and slippers on.
We do not wear shoes in the house in my family, but I am not sure where the tradition comes from!!!
Another winner!
This looks fantastic! I’ve never had dried eggplant before. Must try!
We take our shoes off inside the house and place them inside a small closet next to entry door. But this is here in US. In Mexico that custom doesn’t exist that I know of.
I would try to cook this with fresh eggplant since dried ones are not sold here. I hope it works.
Mely
PS. it is hard to comment with the captcha code.
Mely, you can of course use this recipe for fresh eggplants too. As for the captcha code, I’ve newly discovered it and I’m happy to find it. I had to deal with millions of spams a day before this code, not it helps me filter spams and I just see real comments.
This recipe sounds amazing, I’ve been making stuffed peppers lately, but I think I need to turn my attention to eggplant.
We take off our shoes before entering a house, not necessarily a custom, but just know that what we’ve walked on in the street is not that good. As to a custom, when I visit someone I like to bring a gift, a jar of homemade jam or other goodie as a sign of friendship.
This might actually be the way to get me to eat dolma. I’ve never been a fan because the eggplant, green pepper and tomato get so slimy when cooked. I think your dried version is gorgeous. Thank you for sharing it.
Another lovely recipe Zerrin!
I put ground beef or very finely cut chicken in too as well as half rice, half bulgar and then serve with garlic yoghurt.
Thank you Helen. Half rice, half bulgur and ground beef make a great filling to stuff these beauties.
Thank you for you delicious recipe with dried aubergines. I came across your site, searching for a way how to make these dry aubergines. Our plants made so many that we can’t eat them all now, and I remember years ago I had seen dry, emptied aubergines on a string in a Turkish shop. I suppose emptying them and sprinkling with salt, but do they first to be dried in an oven or straight to be hanged in the sun. And how much time it would take to be dried well? Please tell me everything you know about it.
Thank you very much.
Hi Jacky, if you have excessive amount of aubergines, the best way to keep them for long is to dry them. One way to do this is to carve aubergines. Sprinkle a little salt inside them and line them on a string with the help of a thick needle. Make sure they are not very close to one another, they should have enough room in between. Then hang them somewhere dry and exposed to wind. They don’t have to be right under sunlight, wind is more important for them to dry. You can store their insides in plastic bags in your freezer to use in some dishes. The second way is to cut them in finger shapes, sprinkle salt on them, line them on string and dry in the same way. Duration of this drying process depends on the climate of your area. If humidity is low there, 2 weeks might be enough. But it might last almost about a month if the area is not that dry. Hope this information is helpful for you!
thank for sending me here..these look exquisite….if i want to use mince meat in the filling ,would i change anything about the recipe( spices etc) ..and would i add it raw to filling?
Miriam, Mince meat would make it even tastier. Just add it as it is, no need to cook it. And no need to change anything else in the filling.
Hi, I never tried to dry any and never heard of that, but looks a good idea. I’m a middle eastern and love the stuffed eggplant especially, it’s available year long in our home, but once I came to live in US I bairly find it during the summer months only, I mean the small, one the one for stuffing. I tried to freeze some and it turned good after cooking. I am sure now will try to dry it. Thanks so much for sharing. Your post is so helpful.
Hi Samah, I’m sure you will love it more when you stuff it dried. Dried eggplants and peppers have a wonderful flavor, reminding summer!