Hungarian Stuffed Red Bell Peppers Recipes

HUNGARIAN STUFFED PEPPERS

Steps:

• Wash peppers. Cut off tops and remove seeds. Season cavities lightly with salt and pepper. Finely chop pepper tops and place in a large bowl.
• Add onion, ground chuck, pork, parboiled rice, egg, paprika, salt, pepper, and garlic to the bowl containing the pepper tops. Mix well.
• Stuff peppers lightly with meat mixture because the rice will expand. If you have any leftover meat filling, form it into meatballs.
• Place stuffed peppers and any meatballs in a small slow cooker. Mix together tomato sauce and sugar and pour over peppers. Cook on low for 8 to 10 hours. This also can be cooked in a 350 F oven for 1 hour or on the stovetop for 1 hour.
• Serve peppers with a dollop of sour cream, if desired, and crusty white or rye bread . Cooked peppers freeze well if covered with sauce.

HUNGARIAN STUFFED PEPPERS (TöLTöTT PAPRIKA)

Steps:

• Wash the peppers, cut the top off, and remove the middle section including seeds. Give the peppers a second rinse to remove the rest of the seeds.
• Wash the rice and add it to a small pot. Add water according to package directions and cook the rice until it is half cooked. Let it cool.
• In a medium-sized bowl, combine the ground meat, rice, egg, salt to taste, and black pepper to taste. Mix well.
• Stuff the green peppers with the meat-rice-mixture. If there is any left, you can form meatballs.
• Wash the celery stick and the banana peppers (optional). Also, peel the onion.
• Place the celery stick (you can cut it in half or thirds if it is too big), whole onion, and banana peppers (optional) into a large pot. Add the crushed tomatoes and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.
• Add the stuffed peppers - and meatballs if any - into the pot. Add sufficient water to almost fully cover the contents. In our case, that's approx. 4 cups of water. Depending on the size of your pot and the size of the peppers, it might be more or less for you.
• Bring everything to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low. Place a lid on the pot and let it simmer for around 1.5 hours. You can turn the peppers a couple of times during this time.
• Once the stuffed peppers are soft, remove them from the pot. Also remove the celery stick, onion, and hot peppers and squeeze out the juice. If it's too hot to touch them with your hands, you can place the vegetables in a strainer and then press down with a fork or spoon to squeeze the juice out. Discard the squeezed celery, onion, and banana peppers.
• In a small pot, make a light roux by melting one tablespoon of butter and adding the flour to it. Mix well with a wooden spoon until there are no flour lumps left and sauté the mixture until lightly brown. Add approx. two tablespoons of water to the roux and mix thoroughly.
• Add the roux to the pot of tomato sauce and whisk well. Bring the tomato sauce to a low boil and whisk regularly until there are no lumps left. Let the sauce simmer for a few minutes until it has thickened. Add a pinch of sugar and salt to taste.
• Placed the stuffed peppers (and meatballs) back in the pot of tomato sauce. Let them simmer for 2-3 minutes. You can serve the stuffed peppers with potatoes and/or bread.

HUNGARIAN STUFFED RED BELL PEPPERS

Steps:

• Cut off the very top part of the peppers. Chop the pepper tops finely, omitting the stems, and save for the filling. Seed and core the peppers; set aside.
• Heat a large covered frying pan and add the lard or oil. Saute the garlic, onion, and reserved chopped pepper tops until tender. Add the parsley and rice and saute for a few minutes.
• Add 1/2 c of the chicken stock and cover. Simmer for 10 minutes. Allow to cool.
• In a large bowl combine the ground meat, paprika, egg, salt, and pepper with the rice mixture. mix very well. Fill the peppers just to the top, but don't pack too firmly because the rice will expand during cooking.
• Place the filled peppers in a Dutch oven and add the remaining 1 cup chicken stock to the bottom of the pot. Cover and simmer very gently for 45 minutes, keeping the temperature very low or the peppers will break. Move the peppers about the pot a few times during cooking to prevent sticking.
• After 45 minutes pour the Paprika Gravy over the peppers, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes more.

HUNGARIAN BEEF & PORK STUFFED BELL PEPPERS

Steps:

• Prepare rice by rinsing under cold water for a few seconds.
• Put rice in small pot with water and bring to boil uncovered, at medium heat.
• When rice begins to boil, lower heat to medium low and place lid on pot tilted to allow steam to escape.
• Cover tightly when craters appear in rice, lower heat and simmer approx 15 minutes.
• Let sit for 5 minutes, fluff with fork and let cool.
• Prepare green peppers by slicing off tops approximately 1/4" down and remove seeds and membrane.
• Wash peppers and allow to drain upside down on paper towel.
• Prepare filling by placing ground meat in large bowl.
• Saute diced onions in vegetable oil in small saute pan until onion is transparent.
• Add to meat bowl.
• Add salt and pepper.
• Add 1/2 can tomato sauce (reserving remaining 1/2 can) Add rice to bowl and combine ingredients with hands until blended together.
• Add lightly beaten egg and continue to blend mixture.
• Loosly pack each pepper with meat mixture forming small dome on top.
• If you have extra filling, form into individual meat balls.
• In large stock pot, pour remaining 1/2 can tomato sauce and 1/2 can water, swishing around until blended.
• Place stuffed peppers into stockpot, along with extra meatballs (if you made any).
• Add 1 can tomato soup, 1/2 can water to pot.
• Add catsup to pot.
• Add remaining 3 cans tomato sauce, and add about 1/2 can of water to each can to clean up remaining sauce in can.
• Add this to pot also.
• Bring stockpot to boil, lower heat, cover with lid slightly tilted.
• Cook over low heat for about 1 hour.
• Blend flour into sour cream in bowl.
• Slowly blend in about 1/2 cup (or more) hot gravy from pot.
• Add sour cream mixture SLOWLY into pot, stirring constantly until gravy slightly thickens and becomes a deep orangy color, rather than the bright red color of tomatoes.
• Serve peppers in bowls, split open, and generously covered with gravy.
• Have crusty bread available for soaking up the rich gravy.