Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers-nimbuls (Zeytinyağlı Biber Dolma)

Another great traditional olive oil dish recipe: Stuffed peppers with olive oil. Olive oil dishes are cooked only with olive oil; best when they're served cold; and are usually summer dishes. There are two ways to cook stuffed peppers with olive oil: on the stove and in the oven. In my family we like baked stuffed peppers. Here's another certified Turkish recipe from my mom.












2 lb small green bell peppers (approximately 18-20 peppers)

2 cups white rice

4 medium size onions, finely chopped (you can use a food processor)

3 tomatoes, grated

1 tomato (this one is for covering the tops of bell peppers after stuffing)

1/3 cup pine nuts

1/3 cup currants

1 tbsp all spice

1 tsp ground black pepper

1 tbsp mint flakes or ¼ cup fresh mint, chopped finely

1 tsp white sugar

salt

juice of 1/2 lemon

1 cup olive

-Mix well all the ingredients (except for peppers and 1 tomato) in a bowl.

-Wash peppers and take out the top part and the seeds.

-Stuff the peppers with the rice mix with a spoon or your hand.

-Cut small pieces from 1 tomato to cover the top part of peppers. Press the tomato slice down a bit so that it won’t come out.

-Place the dolmas in an oven dish which is as tall as dolmas. Pour on top 2 cups of boiling water.

-First let it boil for 5 minutes on stove. Than, bake it in a preheated oven at 400F for 35-40 minutes until rice is cooked and tops are browned. Check them regularly if you don’t want to burn the tops.

-It’s better cold, but good when it’s hot, too.