afoona
Oven-Baked Meat-Stuffed Mini Peppers with Whole Garlic Cloves
Meat

Oven-Baked Meat-Stuffed Mini Peppers with Whole Garlic Cloves

Small sweet peppers, yellow and red, stuffed with meat and rice and baked in a deep pan in tomato sauce. The whole garlic cloves soften in the oven until you can spread them on bread.

⏱ 2 hr🍽 6 servings 🌍 Middle Eastern👩‍🍳 Afoona🧩 2 parts

👨‍🍳 Method

For the Meatball mix

  1. 1
    Mix the ground meat with the onion, parsley, baharat, rice, salt and black pepper until evenly combined.

To assemble

  1. 2
    Preheat the oven to 180°C (355°F).
    ⚙ Preheating the OvenOven
    💡Put things in the oven only once it's reached temperature, after the heating light has gone off: an oven that hasn't reached temperature changes baking times, and the bake burns outside or stays underbaked.
  2. 3
    Cut the cap off the peppers and set it aside. Scoop out the insides with a teaspoon.
    KnifeCutting board
  3. 4
    Fill the peppers with the mixture up to ¾ full: the rice swells as it cooks.
    💡Fill only three-quarters full: the uncooked rice swells inside the vegetable, and a full filling gets pushed out.
  4. 5
    Heat the oil in a deep, wide 30 cm ovenproof pan and fry the garlic in it 3 minutes over medium heat, until it is golden in spots. Add the tomato paste and paprika and stir for a minute. Add the tomatoes, sugar, lemon juice, stock and salt and bring to a boil.
    StoveDeep skillet (sauté pan)
  5. 6
    Arrange the peppers in the sauce in a single tight layer, openings up. Tuck the caps in between the peppers along with the leftover filling in small balls.
    Deep skillet (sauté pan)
  6. 7
    Cover the pan tightly with foil.
    Baking panAluminum foil
  7. 8
    Heat the oil in a wide pot, add the tomatoes, tomato paste, garlic, sugar, lemon juice and salt and cook 0 minutes.
    ⚙ BakingOvenBaking pan
    💡Check by the cue (until…), not just the clock: every oven bakes a little differently.
  8. 9
    Remove the foil for the last 20–25 minutes so the sauce reduces.
  9. 10
    Let the peppers rest 10 minutes before serving.
495calories
22 gprotein
39 gcarbs
24 gfat
● protein 19%● carbs 34%● fat 47%

Per serving (620 g), of 6 servings

For the Meatball mix · To assemble ·

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⚖ About the ingredients

🔧 Tools needed (6) · 🍳 2 cooking vessels

  • Oven · 💡 Workaround, changes the dish: Toaster oven (Fits one small pan; good for small batches) · Air fryer (Small batches only, no runny batters) · Pot (Only for covered stews on the stovetop, no browning on top)
  • Stove · 💡 Workaround, changes the dish: Portable hot plate (one weaker burner) · Camping gas stove (One burner, outdoors) · Electric pressure cooker (multicooker) (One pot, no real shallow frying)
  • Deep skillet (sauté pan) · Also works: Wide, shallow pot (None) · Frying pan (Liquids spill)
  • Baking pan · Also works: Glass / ovenproof baking dish (None) · Disposable pan (None)
  • Cutting board · Also works: Plate (Large plate, dulls the knife)
  • Knife · Also works: Food processor (Fast, less control over size) · Kitchen shears (For herbs/dough)

🧻 Consumables: Aluminum foil

By the steps, as the recipe is built now: another version or addition can change the list.

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