“Mom, how do you make stuffed vegetables?” “Stuffed vegetables? That’s really easy” mom answered. For mom, every dish was really easy. And indeed, when I looked at her cooking, it seemed very simple. With quick hands she would mix the ingredients, put in a little bit of this, a little bit of that, her most accurate measure was “about a cup, maybe a little more”. Not a standard measuring cup, just any old cup. And when the cup broke she would use another one, bigger or smaller, depending on what was in the kitchen cabinet. When I made stuffed vegetables for the first time, naturally I called mom, and she guided me through the phone. It really was simple.
Ingredients
8-10 medium size peppers in different colors
1 lb ground beef
2 cups half cooked rice
2 garlic cloves minced
1 diced onion, fried
1 tomato diced
½ cup parsley chopped
2 TBS pine nuts
1 tsp sweet paprika
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp baharat
½ tsp cardamom
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
Sauce
2 TBS olive oil
15oz/425gr can of tomato sauce (about 1 ½ cups)
1 onion diced
2 garlic cloves minced
¼ cup pomegranate molasses
1 tsp sweet paprika
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp baharat
½ tsp cardamom
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
Water to cover
Mix all stuffing ingredients in a big bowl. Cut top of the peppers and set aside for use later. Scoop out the seeds and as much of the membrane as you can. Wash and pat dry.
Heat olive oil in a saute pan or deep pot over medium high heat. Add onion and fry until clear, about 2-3 minutes. Add garlic and fry one more minute. Add tomato sauce, pomegranate molasses and spices and mix well. Bring to boil. Meanwhile, fill peppers with stuffing mixture until about ¾ of their height. Place the peppers in the pan, make sure to fill up the entire space so they don’t lean to the side. Cover each pepper with it’s top, add water to cover and bring to boil. Lower heat and cook for about an hour, until peppers are tender.
