Turkish Stuffed Peppers

I first came across these in a market in Vienna.  I was walking around and just followed my nose across 3 aisles of other vendors to find a happy little turkish man dishing these out to a HUGE line of customers.  The line was 50 people and almost half an hour long but the smell kept me there and I am forever grateful that it did as this has become one of my favourite dishes.


You can stuff these with just about anything (Chorizo and rice is fantastic) but I'll always be partial to the original because nothing tastes as good as nostalgia.


Per person:
1 red pepper
1/4 pound ground lamb or beef (sometimes we combine with ground chicken ot turkey)
1/2 cooking onion diced
1 clove garlic diced
1/3 cup couscous
2/3 cup chicken stock
1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp kofta spice
1 handful rough chopped cilantro
pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 400F. Multiply the recipe by the number of servings (and peppers) you want to make.

Bring the stock to a boil, add couscous and turn down to a summer for 3-5 minutes until couscous has absorbed all the liquid.

Saute the onions in the oil over medium low heat until soft.  Add the spices and garlic and continue to cook until the garlic is fragrant. Add the meat and cook thoroughly, then add the couscous, mix thoroughly and remove from heat.

Cut the tops off the peppers and spoon out the seeds and pith as though you were going to make a tiny jack-o-lantern. Spoon the filling into the peppers.  Place the peppers in a casserole dish so that they prevent each other from falling over. Roast in the oven for 15-20 minutes until the pepper skin begins to blacken.  As the peppers cook they will release their juices and oil into the rice mixture which is really what makes this dish fantastic.

Serve with a salad or veggies on the side or all by itself.  You can also use very small peppers or divide them in half and serve these as the side dish.