Lenten Stuffed Peppers 🌶️ Bulgarian Fasting 🇧🇬 (Postni Palneni Chushki)

Description

Sweet bell peppers baked in a tomato bath and stuffed with herbed rice, onion, and carrot—soft, juicy, gently smoky. 🫶🍅

Hook: Par-cook the rice, don’t overpack—oven does the rest for jammy, saucy peppers. ⚡

Ingredients

• Peppers & Filling
• 🌶️ Bell peppers, tops trimmed & seeded: 6 medium (≈900 g / 2 lb)
• 🧅 Yellow onion, finely chopped: 200 g (1⅓ cups / 7 oz)
• 🥕 Carrot, small dice: 120 g (1 cup / 4.2 oz)
• 🍄 Mushrooms, finely chopped (optional): 200 g (2 cups / 7 oz)
• 🌾 White rice (medium/short grain), rinsed: 250 g (1¼ cups / 8.8 oz)
• 🧂 Salt: to taste (≈10 g / 1¾ tsp)
• ⚫ Black pepper: 1 g (½ tsp / 0.04 oz)
• 🌶️ Sweet paprika: 4 g (1½ tsp / 0.14 oz)
• 🍅 Tomato paste: 30 g (2 tbsp / 1 oz)
• 🌿 Parsley or dill, chopped: 2 tbsp (8 g / 0.28 oz)
• 🫒 Sunflower/olive oil: 45 ml (3 tbsp / 1.5 fl oz)
• 💧 Vegetable stock or water (for parcooking rice): 360 ml (1½ cups / 12 fl oz)
• Baking Sauce
• 🍅 Crushed tomatoes or passata: 400 g (1¾ cups / 14.1 oz)
• 💧 Water/veg stock: 250 ml (1 cup / 8 fl oz)
• 🫒 Oil: 30 ml (2 tbsp / 1 fl oz)
• 🌿 Bay leaf: 1
• 🍬 Sugar (to balance): 3 g (½ tsp / 0.1 oz)
• 🧂 Salt: to taste (≈6 g / 1 tsp)

Preparation

1. 1️⃣ Start filling: Heat 🫒 oil in a wide pan. Sauté 🧅 onion 5–6 min; add 🥕 carrot 2 min, then 🍄 mushrooms 3–4 min until moisture cooks off.
2. 2️⃣ Toast & parcook rice: Stir in 🌾 rice 1 min. Add 🍅 tomato paste, 🌶️ paprika, 🧂, ⚫, and 💧 1½ cups stock/water. Simmer 6–7 min—rice should be half-cooked and still wet. Off heat; fold in 🌿 herbs.
3. 3️⃣ Stuff: Pack the peppers loosely (rice expands). Stand them in a snug baking dish.
4. 4️⃣ Sauce & bake: Whisk 🍅 tomatoes, 💧 water, 🫒 oil, 🌿 bay, 🍬 sugar, and 🧂 salt. Pour around peppers to come halfway up. Cover with foil; bake at 190°C / 375°F 30–35 min. Uncover and bake 15–20 min until peppers are tender and tops lightly blistered.
5. 5️⃣ Rest & serve: Rest 10 min, spooning sauce over each pepper.

Total Time

🕒 Prep: 20 min
🔥 Cook: 50–55 min
⏳ Total: 1 h 10–15 min

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