Stuffed Peppers in Olive Oil
Peppers filled with rice, currants and pine nuts — a classic eaten cold.
- Time
- 80 minutes
- Serves
- 6
- Level
- Medium
- Cuisine
- Turkish
In Turkish cooking dolma divides into two kinds, and they are not interchangeable: meat dolma is eaten hot and served with yoghurt; olive-oil dolma is eaten cold and never sees yoghurt. This recipe is the second kind — in Ottoman kitchens it was also called yalancı dolma, "the false dolma", because it contains no meat.
Three ingredients define the filling: currants, pine nuts, and the pairing of cinnamon and allspice. That sweet-spiced profile comes straight from the palace kitchen and is what separates the olive-oil dolma from the meat one. It is also what emerges as it cools: hot, you taste the spice; cold, the olive oil and the currants do the talking.
Directions
- Cut the stem end off each pepper to make a lid and clear out the seeds.
- Soften the onion and pine nuts in half the olive oil until pale gold.
- Add the rice and stir for 3-4 minutes; then the currants, grated tomato, spices, sugar and salt.
- Add half a cup of hot water and cook until absorbed. Off the heat, stir in the dill and mint.
- Once the filling has cooled, fill the peppers two-thirds full — the rice will swell as it cooks.
- Stand the peppers upright in a pan. Pour over the remaining olive oil and the lemon juice.
- Add hot water to come halfway up the peppers and set a plate on top.
- Cook over low heat for 45-50 minutes. Cool in the pan before serving.
Tips & storage
Take the two-thirds rule seriously. Rice doubles in volume as it cooks. A pepper filled to the brim splits open in the pan, the filling escapes and the dolma collapses.
Why the inverted plate? A plate laid over the dolmas holds them in place; it stops them floating and tipping over as the water boils, which would empty the filling out. If you need more weight, set a small bowl on the plate.
Choosing peppers. Pick short, thick-walled peppers; thin-skinned ones collapse during cooking.
Low heat, no hurry. Over high heat the rice cooks on the outside and stays raw within. Forty-five to fifty minutes on a low flame is the most important ingredient in this recipe.
Leave it overnight. Olive-oil dolma is noticeably better the next day; that is exactly how long the spice and oil need to move into the rice.
Storage. Four days sealed in the fridge. Take it out half an hour before serving.
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