Stuffed Vegetables – Middle Eastern–Style Tomatoes and Peppers with homemade chicken stock

👨‍🍳 Method

For the homemade chicken stock ✓ Homemade · or skip – back to store-bought

1. 1
   Put the chicken, the onion, carrot, celery, parsley, bay leaves and peppercorns and the water in a pot and bring to a boil. Skim off the foam that rises during the first 15 minutes with a spoon.

   StovePot
2. 2
   Turn down and simmer gently 2.5–3 hours.

   Stove

   💡A gentle simmer, not a boil: a hard boil dries the food out and clouds it, a slow simmer cooks it evenly.
3. 3
   Strain the stock.

   Colander

For the Meatball mix

1. 4
   Mix the ground meat with the onion, parsley, cumin, paprika, turmeric, rice, olive oil, salt and black pepper until evenly combined.

To assemble

1. 5
   Cut the cap off the vegetables and set it aside. Scoop out the insides with a teaspoon.

   KnifeCutting board
2. 6
   Fill the vegetables 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.
3. 7
   Cover each vegetable with its cap.
4. 8
   Arrange the vegetables, now stuffed, in a wide pot.

   Wide, shallow pot
5. 9
   Pour the stock over the vegetables.
6. 10
   Heat in a wide pot and sauté the chopped caps 0 minutes. Add the stock and stir until the paste dissolves.

   StoveLid