Stuffed Red Peppers Ramadan 4
Zerrin on 09 6, 2009
Iftar is as important as suhoor during Ramadan. And there is a great tradition during this month. You can see iftar tents at certain streets of cities. Iftar tents are the places where homeless people or poor people are served various dishes for free. They either eat there or bring their pots and have them filled with dishes, then take them to home.
During Ramadan people invite guests for dinner more often than in other months. Muslims call this dinner iftar (just in this month), which starts with breaking fast (with water, dates and olives), and then goes on with other dishes. Inviting friends for iftar is like a tradition as people want to end their fast with people they love. In Islam, doing anything like eating, praying, working together is always advised. They pray together to thank God aither before meal or after it. And to go on enjoying iftar together, if you are invited for iftar, you may take something you cook or buy a kind of dessert as a gift. If someone invites you for dinner, you should invite them back after some time.
Stuffed vegetables are always popular at iftar tables as it shows the importance you give to your guests. They are served either as the main dish or as side dish. As we are in Summer, in the season of red bell peppers, I want to share stuffed red bell peppers with you. As I love them more than the green ones, I make these more often. When they are cooked well, their skin can easily be removed and it becomes more appealing.
Kırmızı Biber Dolması
Ingredients (servings 6)
-Â Â Â 6 red bell peppers
-   ¾ cup rice
-Â Â Â 2 medium sized onions, minced
-Â Â Â A handful of minced parsley
-Â Â Â A handful of minced scallions
-Â Â Â 3 cloves garlic, minced
-Â Â Â 1 tomato, diced
-Â Â Â 1 tbsp dried mint
-Â Â Â 1 tbsp black pepper
-Â Â Â 2 tbsp salt
-Â Â Â 4 tbsp olive oil
-Â Â Â 1 lemon
-   ½ tbsp pepper paste
-Â Â Â 1 cup water
Wash the rice well and drain. Add onion, parsley, scallion, garlic, spices, olive oil, lemon juice and pepper paste. Mix them well.
Cut the heads of red bell peppers and remove their seeds. Then stuff them with the rice mixture you prepared. Do not overstuff the peppers as the rice will get bigger when cooked. Put the stuffed peppers vertically in a big pot.
Pour water in the pot and cover it. Cook it over the lowest heat for about 40 minutes. Then check if the rice is cooked. If it is, then you can take it from fire. I love to eat this when it’s still hot, but some people let it get cold and then serve. And we generally serve it with some yogurt near it.
Updated (9/3/2010):
Note: I’m going to send this dish to Festive Rice Event at Torview.
Comments (20)
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- rihem: it looks so perfect
- dokuzuncubulut: Zerrincim merhaba,
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i love stuffed peppers, I find your recipe to be very unique from stuffed pepper recipes I usually come across yum!
Stuffed peppers is one of my favorites – a great dish to share with friends.
Beautiful photos! It sounds like it would be wonderful served with yogurt, thank you for sharing your recipe.
We also make this dish some times with meat , rice or rice and meat together but I totally loved your recipe and I’ll try it .. Thank you so much.
Your stuffed peppers look truly wonderful!! I love your stuffing!!
I adore my peppers stuffed with anything yummie!
Zerrin, I just gave you an award!! Why? You can check it out @ my latest post @ my blog!!
Congrats!
Another incredible looking dish, and we love stuffed peppers. I look forward to knocking my hubby’s socks off with this tasty recipe.
Not only does this stuffed pepper recipe look delicious, I love the background information you provide about Ramadan. Thanks!
Wow! I love the picture. I love stuffed peppers. Your stuffing sounds really good.
Another lovely tradition! Your stuffed peppers look great!
I love the tradition of eating at other people’s houses during Ramadan…I think it’s nice to be able to break your fast with your family and friends around. I love stuffed veggies, and these red peppers look really delicious!
Jessie- Thank you, it’s nice to hear that this one is unique
Diana- Friends definitely love this whenever I make it for them.
Heidi- Actually, I love yogurt with everything, and for me, if there is no yogurt near stuffed veggies, they are missing.
Miya- Thank you for your comment. Some people also mix rice and minced beef to stuff these peppers, but I prefer in this way, just like mom.
Sophie- Thank you so much. You’re so kind to give that award to me, I’m so honored. I’ll go check it now.
Oyster- Hope your husband loves it. Mine wanted to have these even the day after we ate them.
JMom- I myself enjoy sharing our traditional Ramadan days here. Glad to hear you love them.
Erica and Lisa- Thank you. Colors in the picture are great, aren’t they?
Faith- I agree, we enjoy not only the meal, but also the intimate atmosphere when we eat with our friends and families.
I’m hoping to make stuffed peppers this week – these look great!
This looks delicious. I prefer the red bells myself, but green bell peppers are cheaper around here
The stuffed peppers sound excellent, love that you used the red bell peppers, they are so much juicer than the green ones!
Love stuffed peppers! This sounds great with all the herbs!
[...] a result of their fast and they realize that not everybody can afford even the basic foods. You know iftar tents open for the poor, but there is still another good way of helping these poor people if you want to [...]
[...] the internet to find a recipe for this type of stuffed pepper…and found this recipe for Kırmızı Biber Dolması, which looked just lovely! I love rice with lemon [...]
Zerrin
Thanks for stopping by my blog! I can’t wait to eat these tonight. I used Basmati rice (because it is supposed to have a better glucose load and is just plain yummy with yogurt).
My rice didn’t open as much as I’d like (and i steamed for 60m), so next time, I think I might cook the rice first, then mix, then stuff and steam.
I’m so happy I found your blog, and can’t wait to try more stuff
jennifer
[...] sat stuffed peppers [...]
delicious rice colourful thank you for sending