Polneti Piperki: Recipe

1 of 5

RECIPES | Polenti piperki is one of my favourite Macedonian dishes to eat. Literally translating as “stuffed peppers”, it’s a dish that’s common throughout the Balkans and former Ottoman empire. Many cultures, from the Caucuses, to the Middle East and beyond have regional versions.

It’s a simple, healthy, comforting meal that can be enjoyed year-round. My baba (grandmother) used to make them all of the time, and my recipe is based on hers. My polenti piperki is different to other versions you might have tried, linked to my family’s roots in the mountainous villages of Greece’s Western Macedonia region.

Most versions use regular bell peppers, which is admittedly an easier pepper to stuff, however my grandparents are from the region where the famed Florina pepper is grown. It’s a red bullhorn pepper, prized for its thick flesh and rich, sweet flavour. Unsurprisingly, it’s this pepper that they use.

Another difference is the use of meat. Although meat is a very common filling in many regional versions of the dish, most people when they think of Greek stuffed peppers (gemista), will think of the Southern Greek version, which is tends to be vegetarian and more rice-heavy. Like many of the dishes in Northern Greece, Ottoman influences are stronger, and they’re a bit of a hybrid between what you might find in Southern Greece, the Slavic Balkan countries, and Türkiye.

Polenti piperki is easy to prepare and cook, and quite forgiving. It’s a great way to feed the family, and leftovers will last in the fridge for several days.

Preparation Time: 10 minutes / Cooking time: 1 hour 48 minutes / Serves: 4-6

Ingredients

• 10 large / 12 medium red bullhorn peppers (preferably Florina or ajvarski variety)
• 500g pork/beef mince
• 100g (uncooked) basmati rice
• 2 tbsp (30ml) olive oil
• 1 tbsp (15ml) extra virgin olive oil
• 1 brown onion (finely diced)
• 4 cloves of garlic (chopped)
• 250ml vegetable stock (preferably Vegeta)
• ½ tspn (2g) white sugar
• salt and black pepper
• 600ml passata
• 3 tspn (10g) smoked paprika (normal paprika is fine)
• 1 tspn (2.5g) Greek oregano (Italian oregano is fine)
• A handful of flat leaf parsley leaves

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C fan forced.
2. Slice the tops off the peppers. Scoop out and discard all of the seeds.
3. Heat the olive oil in a saucepan at medium until hot.
4. Add the onions to the saucepan and sauté until soft and golden, around 8 minutes
5. Add the garlic, mince, and the rice and stir continually until the rice is well coated and starting to turn translucent, and mince is browned, around 5 minutes
6. Add 150ml of stock, sugar, 100ml of passata, half the paprika and salt and pepper to season to the pan. Stir it all through, cover, and simmer for around 5 minutes, until the liquid has mostly evaporated, but it’s still saucy. If it’s too dry, add a bit more stock.
7. While the ingredients above are simmering, make the sauce. Combine 500ml passata, the remaining smoked paprika, Greek oregano, salt and peeper to season, and the remaining stock. You want it to be a bit watery so things don’t dry out while baking.
8. Fill each of the peppers with the rice mixture. Make sure that you push the mixture right down to the bottom of each pepper. I use the handle of my wooden spoon to push the filling in. Pack the filling in, but leave a bit of space, about a centimetre, between the opening as the rice will continue to expand while cooking in the oven.
9. Place the peppers side by side in a baking tray that’s high enough to fit them in nicely. Evenly pour the sauce over the top of the peppers, drizzle with the extra virgin olive oil, and cover with foil.
10. Bake in the oven for 45 minutes, remove the foil, and bake for a further 45 minutes.
11. Plate 2 per serving, and garnish with the fresh parsley.

Notes

If you can’t find red bullhorn peppers, you can use regular bell peppers. Indeed, other regional versions of the dish do.

Regarding the smoked paprika and Greek oregano, regular paprika and Italian oregano still work well, however you’ll lose the smoky element with the former, and some of the earthiness with the latter.

Polenti piperki works very well as a vegan dish. Simply omit the mince from the recipe, and increase the amount of basmati rice to 250g.

This is one of those dishes that benefits from having some time to let sauces soak in. It tastes great as soon as it’s been cooked, but arguably even better the next day.