6 medium sized green peppers
1 lb. ground beef (you may you any mixture of either ground turkey, for a lower fat meal or ground pork for a more flavorful meal)
1 cup cooked rice
1 28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes
1 28 oz. can of tomato puree
1 large white onion, chopped and slightly sauteed
2 Tb Hungarian paprika (buy imported sweet, if possible)
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbs sugar which takes the bitterness our of the tomatoes
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
1 whole bay leaf
1 tsp oregano
1/2 cup water only if needed
Cut off the tops of peppers and reserve. Take the seeds out. You may blanch your peppers for 5 minutes to get rid of any possible bitterness. Cook your rice. Saute you onions slightly. In mixing bowl, place the ground meat, cooked rice, onions, salt, pepper, oregano and paprika. Mix well. Stuff peppers, using all the meat mixture. If you have some of the mixture left, make a few meatball to either save for another smaller meal or place them in the pot around the peppers . Set peppers up-right in a large dutch oven type pot. Add the tomatoes, sugar, onions and chopped tops of peppers over the peppers, toss in the bay leaf. Cover and slowly cook for about 1 1/2 hours.
If it looks too thick add a little water.
Serves 4
