Lenten Stuffed Peppers 🌶 Macedonian Oven-Baked 🇲🇰 (Posni Polneti Piperki)

Description

Sweet red peppers stuffed with herbed rice, onions, and tomatoes—juicy, aromatic, and perfectly soft after a slow roast. 🍅🫒

Hook: Orthodox-fasting favorite—prep the filling in 10 minutes, the oven does the rest. ⚡

Ingredients

• Pepper shells
• 🫑 Red bell peppers, tops cut off & seeded: 6 medium (900 g / 2 lb)
• Rice filling
• 🫗 Sunflower oil: 45 ml (3 tbsp / 1.5 fl oz)
• 🧅 Onion, fine dice: 200 g (1½ cups / 7 oz)
• 🥕 Carrot, fine dice: 100 g (¾ cup / 3.5 oz)
• 🧄 Garlic, minced: 8 g (2 cloves / 0.3 oz)
• 🌾 Medium-grain rice, rinsed: 250 g (1¼ cups / 8.8 oz)
• 🍅 Tomato, grated (or passata): 200 g (¾ cup / 7 oz)
• 🌶️ Sweet paprika: 6 g (2 tsp / 0.21 oz)
• 🌿 Dried mint (classic) or oregano: 0.5 g (1 tsp / 0.02 oz)
• 🌿 Parsley, chopped: 2 tbsp (8 g / 0.28 oz)
• 💧 Hot water or vegetable stock: 480 ml (2 cups / 16 fl oz)
• 🧂 Salt: to taste (≈9 g / 1½ tsp)
• ⚫ Black pepper: 1 g (½ tsp / 0.04 oz)
• Baking sauce
• 🍅 Tomato passata: 300 ml (1¼ cups / 10 fl oz)
• 💧 Water: 200 ml (¾ cup / 6.8 fl oz)
• 🫗 Sunflower oil: 30 ml (2 tbsp / 1 fl oz)
• 🌿 Bay leaves: 2
• 🌿 Parsley, chopped (finish): 1–2 tbsp (4–8 g / 0.14–0.28 oz)

Preparation

1. 1️⃣ Sauté base: Warm oil in a pan. Cook 🧅 onion & 🥕 carrot with a pinch of salt 5–6 min until glossy; add 🧄 garlic 30 sec.
2. 2️⃣ Build filling: Stir in 🌾 rice 1 min. Add 🍅 tomato, 🌶️ paprika, 🌿 mint, 🌿 parsley, 🧂 salt & ⚫ pepper. Pour in 💧 hot water/stock; simmer 5–6 min until rice is ~70% cooked and saucy. Cool 5 min.
3. 3️⃣ Stuff: Pack the peppers loosely (rice will expand). Stand them snugly in a lightly oiled baking dish.
4. 4️⃣ Sauce & bake: Whisk 🍅 passata with 💧 water and 🫗 oil; tuck in 🌿 bay. Pour around (not over) peppers to reach 1–2 cm up the sides. Cover with foil and bake at 190°C / 375°F 35–40 min; uncover and bake 15–20 min more until peppers are tender and lightly blistered.
5. 5️⃣ Finish: Rest 5–10 min. Spoon some pan sauce over each and scatter 🌿 parsley.

Total Time

🕒 Prep: 25 min
🔥 Cook: 55–60 min
⏳ Total: 1 h 20–25 min

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