Middle Eastern Stuffed Peppers (Dolmas)

When they stuff grape leaves, peppers, tomatoes, onions, or whatever in the Middle East with meat mixtures, they call that food ‘Dolmas‘, which literally means “stuffed”.

I haven’t had these particular stuffed peppers since I lived in Iran but I do stuff peppers with a variety of meat mixtures fairly often. Our maid in Iran made something like this for us one time. I remember she put raisins in her meat filling, which I thought very odd at the time. That jacks up the carbs too high for me on my low-carb regimen, since peppers themselves are pretty carb-y. So I tend to leave out the raisins. If I think I can splurge a bit, I’ll snip up a few with kitchen shears and add them since they add so much flavor. Fatimeh also used bulgur wheat in hers, whereas I used lower-carb hemp seeds. Even with my changes, the peppers themselves have quite a bit of carbs, as you can see in the stats below. But peppers are so good for you, I don’t care. I’m just going to fix stuffed peppers once in awhile and that’s a fact! One of these is a serving and fills me right up. These are suitable once you get to Phase 2 Atkins. Keto folks can probably fit these macros into their day with menu planning. These are also suitable for those following Primal or Paleo programs.

INGREDIENTS:

4 medium-large green peppers (or any other color you like)

20 oz. lean ground beef

2½ oz. onion, chopped

3/4 c. chopped parsley

1 14.5-oz (total) can diced low-sodium tomatoes

3 T. hemp seeds/hearts

1 tsp. each turmeric, dried mint and dried dill

1½ tsp. ground cinnamon

Dash each salt and pepper

VARIATIONS: Use ground lamb instead of beef. Use cooked lentils instead of hemp seeds (carbs will go up with lentils). If you can are in maintenance and can afford the extra carbs, add 2 T. snipped raisins to the meat mixture before filling the peppers.

DIRECTIONS: Cut the tops off the peppers. Pull out the seed cluster and discard. Save the “lids” if you want to use them for plate presentation, otherwise, chop the flesh and save all but the stem in a baggie in the refrigerator for future pepper needs. Parboil the peppers in a braising/soup pot of water 1″ deep for just 2-3 minutes to slightly cook them. Carefully drain off water and stand the peppers cut-side up in the pot. Set aside for now.

For the filling, in a skillet over medium-high heat, brown the meat and onion together. Add half of the can of tomatoes (just solids) to the meat and stir. Add all remaining ingredients and simmer 5 minutes to cook off any water in the tomatoes. Preheat oven to 350º while you are simmering the meat. After 5 minutes of cooking, spoon the filling equally into the peppers. Place pepper “lids” on top if using. Pour the remaining diced tomatoes and their liquid down into the bottom of the pan around the peppers as shown below to help the peppers remain moist during cooking. Pop your cook pot into a 350º oven for about 40-50 minutes. The amount of time will depend upon the size of your peppers and the thickness of the pepper “walls”. Bigger/thicker peppers will take more time. If they look like they are about ready to collapse, they’re done! As the filling is totally cooked, you just want to cook the peppers until they are tender and not fall-apart stage, so keep an eye on them (ovens vary).