Stuffed Pepper (Plnená Paprika)

Ingredients: 4 or 5 peppers, 2lbs ground beef, 1 cup rice, 1 jar tomato sauce, 1 onion, oil, flour, black pepper, paprika, knedľa, parsley, marjoram

Prep time: 1hr 15 minutes

Recipe:

Here is the recipe for a Slovak stuffed pepper dish. It is similar to the what is eaten in America, with the exception that it’s served with a side of knedľa (steamed dumpling). You can substitute rice or potatoes if you don’t have these dumplings.


Start by cleaning peppers by removing seeds and the “veins”. You can use either sweet bell peppers or spicy ones.


Fry finely diced onion in a big greased pot until the onion turns pink. Add little bit of flour to thicken the mixture (this is called “zápražka”). Add water and let boil. Next add salt, pepper, paprika, and any additional seasoning to taste, such marjoram and parsley. Finally add one large jar of tomato sauce.


In the meantime, mix together ground beef, one egg, rice, salt, black pepper and paprika. Some people prefer to use cooked rice, but there is no need to cook it ahead of time. The rice will cook with the beef.


Stuff the peppers with the meat and rice mixture.


Any leftover mixture can be formed into balls to make meat balls. Add everything to the sauce, and cook until rice gets soft. This will take about 45 minutes.


Serve with a steamed dumpling (knedľa).