Hungarian Stuffed Green Peppers

Hungarian Stuffed Green Peppers

These stuffed peppers are made in the Hungarian tradition with good Hungarian Paprika and slow cooked for 90 to 120 minutes at no more that 300 degrees. I have also prepared for multiple meals by making an excess of the meat and rice mixture used to stuff the peppers. This extra stuffing mixture is ideal for making meatballs or rissoles. My preferred use of the extra stuffing mixture and the tomato sauce is in stuffed eggplants. The tomato sauce can be replaced with a 50/50 mixture of bread crumbs and grated cheese. (See the last photograph.)

Stuffed medium Yellow Peppers

Hungarians like stuffed vegetables. Whether it is cabbage, kohlrabi or peppers, stuffed vegetables are on the menu in every household. Hungarian stuffed peppers aren’t really Hungarian. This recipe has Turkish origins and was adopted by Hungarians during the Turkish occupation in the 16th and 17th centuries. When the Turks invaded Hungary in the 16th century, they brought their cooking customs with them. These included the use of the spice, paprika. They also taught the Hungarians how to cook stuffed peppers and eggplants. The Turks also introduced coffee to Hungary.

Hungarian yellow peppers give this dish its distinct taste, although any kind of bell peppers can be used. Multicolored bell peppers, including green peppers, have thicker skin and may take longer to cook. In the recipe below we use large green peppers, not the traditional Hungarian yellow peppers shown above. In many ways the stuffed peppers of Hungary and Turkey were another adaption of rissoles, common in cooking cultures around the globe. A modest amount of the most expensive ingredient, meat, was well used to provide tasty and less expensive dishes. In many countries, bread served as the combination ingredient. In the case of Hungarian stuffed peppers, rice was the major combination ingredient.

This is an easy recipe to prepare and if you make extra stuffing mixture you can use the extra stuffing as the base for a number of other different meals.

Large Stuffed green Pepper

Ingredients

6 medium to large green peppers

1 lb ground beef

1 lb ground pork

1 lb ground mild Italian Sausage

3 eggs

3 16 oz.cans diced Italian tomatoes

1  12oz. can tomato paste

2 cups of chopped white onions

3 cups cooked rice

3 Tbsp. imported sweet Hungarian Paprika

2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. pepper

1/2 cup sugar or sugar substitute

1/2 cup olive oil


Take the tops off the peppers, clean out the seeds and dice the tops of the peppers.

Prepare the stuffing mixture. Combine and mix the ground meat, rice, eggs, salt, pepper, paprika, sugar, olive oil and one cup of chopped onions.

Prepare the tomato sauce. Combine the diced tomatoes, tomato paste, diced green pepper tops, and one cup of diced onions. Note: Tomato Sauce may not be the most descriptive term. Salsa may be a better term. In Hungary the term would be "lesco"(LEH-choh). This is a traditional dish of peppers, tomatoes, and paprika and serves to enhance a range of meat, soup and stew dishes as well as serving as a side dish.

Place the peppers in a cooking pot. Add the meat and rice stuffing mixture to the peppers.  Add the tomato sauce until the peppers are covered.

Slow cook the stuffed peppers at 300 degrees for two hours.  With large peppers, a half pepper may be a single serving for most. I serve the peppers with the tomato sauce and nothing else.

Options. Some have placed the rice in the stuffing mixture uncooked. I prepare a rice mixture and combine a 6 oz.packet of Uncle Ben's wild rice with two cups of plain white rice. Slow cooking the peppers for two hours will ensure the rice is cooked. If you do not have diced Italian tomatoes, add a teaspoon of Italian seasoning to diced or crushed tomatoes, fresh or canned.

Some substitute ground turkey for the ground beef to make the meal a little more healthy. Cooks who have a good track record with this dish stress the importance of sugar to enhance the spices. They also stress the importance of slow cooking and the use of  Hungarian sweet paprika. A dutch oven makes an excellent alternative to the traditional saucepan.

Stuffed Peppers Ready To Be Covered In Tomato Sauce

From My Time In New York

I fell in love with this dish when serving as a lowly  beginning professor at Columbia University in the early 1970s. Three blocks from Columbia was a Mom and Pop restaurant, The Green Tree Hungarian Restaurant. Pop met you at the door and closely monitored and ensured quality service. Mom was very much in charge of the kitchen and often came by the table to make certain you were pleased with the cooking. While the restaurant is long gone, I have many fond memories of the tasty modestly priced food, great service and friendly family atmosphere.


The New York Times Dining Out Guide from May 1977, reported:

GREEN TREE HUNGARIAN RESTAURANT 1034 Amsterdam Avenue - New York


"Trim and spotless, the rough, white plaster walls are hung with colorful patterned rugs, glazed earthenware and garlands of dried red peppers. This is acuisine de femme, with women doing all the cooking ......  The food is hearty and warmly fragrant, and portions are large. Appetizers are unusually good; among them, stuffed peppers filled with rice and meat in a sweet-sour tomato sauce or sauteed brains, eggs and onions.........

 The food is hearty and warmly fragrant, and portions are large. A friendly and convivial restaurant offering hot, lusty and well-seasoned four-course dinners with coffee for under $9. Reminiscent of the homey, Bohemian cafe-restaurants of Europe, the Green Tree is a favorite with students from Columbia and Barnard. Diners seated at oilcloth tablecloths are supplied with paper napkins and get familial concern from waiters and owners. Dishes that have held up over time are golden, aromatic chicken soup; cold beet borscht; potato pirogen, filled dumplings fried and topped with cool sour cream; stuffed roast chicken, beef or veal goulash. Beers and wines are moderately priced."

Making Use of Extra Meat and Rice Stuffing Mix

Try stuffed eggplant with bread crumb and grated cheese topping. 

Meat and Rice Stuffed Eggplant

Paprika

A small bowl of Spanish pimentón

The spice paprika is a common spice that comes in a range of versions. Paprika is mostly ground red chile peppers. Because red chili peppers range from very sweet to very hot, we must expect a range of tastes in paprika. We chose the sweet hungarian version of paprika. Spain and Hungary are considered the biggest producers of paprika and both countries produce both hot and sweet forms of paprika. In Spain paprika is known as "pimenton".