Instructions:
- Prepare filling
- Rinse rice in hot water, then mix with ground meat, onion, egg, paprika, parsley, salt, and pepper.
- Stuff peppers
- Cut off tops of peppers and remove seeds. Stuff each with meat-rice mixture, but don’t pack too tightly (rice will expand).
- Make tomato sauce base
- In a pot, heat oil/lard, stir in flour, and cook until golden (make a light roux).
- Add sugar, stir, then slowly whisk in tomato purée and water until smooth.
- Add bay leaf, season with salt & pepper.
- Cook peppers
- Gently place stuffed peppers into the sauce.
- Cover and simmer on low for 45–60 minutes, until rice and meat are cooked through.
- Finish & serve
- Taste sauce and adjust seasoning if needed.
- Traditionally served with fresh bread or a side of nokedli (Hungarian dumplings).
🍅 Tips & Variations:
- You can cook extra meatballs from leftover filling in the sauce (very traditional!).
- Hungarian wax peppers are authentic, but yellow bell peppers work well if you can’t find them.
- Some families like to add a touch of paprika to the sauce for more color.
Would you like me to also share the variation with sauerkraut? (In some Hungarian regions, the peppers are simmered in tomato sauce layered with sauerkraut for extra tangy flavor.)