Stuffed peppers with minced meat and rice in tomato-cream sauce

Ingredients for 10 servings:

• 20 bell peppers
• 250 g rice (2 boil-in-the-bag rice)
• 500 g minced pork
• 3 onions
• some oil
• 4 carrots
• 500 ml tomatoes, pureed
• 2 cups of cream, 200 ml each
• 3 bay leaves
• salt and pepper
• 1 tbsp, levelled sugar
• Crème fraîche to serve

Instructions

Working time approx. 1 hour; Cooking/baking time approx. 2 hours; Total time approx. 3 hours

traditional Ukrainian cuisine

Cut out the stems and deseed the peppers. Cook the rice until half-cooked and let cool. Dice the onions, sauté in a pan with oil until golden brown, and let cool. Grate the carrots on a coarse grater. For the filling, mix the cooled rice, minced meat, sautéed onions, and 3/4 of the grated carrots well, season with salt and pepper. Fill the peppers with the minced meat and rice mixture. Arrange layers in a large pot, sprinkle each layer with the grated carrots, and sandwich the bay leaves between them. For the sauce, mix the tomatoes and cream in a bowl, season with salt and pepper, and add a little sugar. Pour the sauce over the peppers. Add a little more water, if necessary. The pot shouldn’t be filled to the brim, as the stuffed peppers simmer quite vigorously. You can place an upturned plate on the surface as a weight. Place the pot on the stovetop, bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer the stuffed peppers for about 2 to 2.5 hours. Alternatively, you can cook them in the pot in the oven. Serve with crème fraîche. Tip: To make the peppers juicier, you can use 300g of ground meat instead of 500g. Do not use mixed ground meat, but pure ground pork. The stuffed peppers are prepared in Ukraine using the same recipe as holubzi (traditional Ukrainian cabbage rolls). The thinner the peppers, the better. Tennis ball-sized green peppers from Turkish supermarkets are best for this.