Stuffing for vegetables, Balkan style

For some dishes we don't need/follow recipes. In cooking this kind of food we(Balkans) follow our instincts,..a bit of this and a bit of that...Like our mothers used to do. I will try to recall and record 'classical' stuffing for Mediterranean vegetables, that my mother taught me. This way you can stuff Capsicums, Eggplants, Onions, Zucchinis...

Stuffing:
2 tbs oil
1 big onion, finely chopped
2-3 teas paprika, ground
500 g mince (your choice)
1 teas salt
1/2 teas black pepper, freshly grounded
1 teas 'Vegeta', or other powdered stock
80-100 g rice, short grain, half cooked
1 garlic clove, pressed
small bunch of parsley leaves, chopped
Vegetables for stuffing: Capsicums (take the seeds out), eggplants and zucchinis (cut lenghtwise in half, take some flesh out), onions (peel them and cook for 10 min in salted water with a teas of vinegar, then carefully push out the layers).
Paprika sauce:
50 g Ghee, or butter/oil
2 teas paprika
Sour cream for decoration.
Method:
Heat the oil and fry onion: add meat and cook until it changes the colour. Take off the heat, add paprika, spices and rice. Mix well.Stuff the vegetables, but don't push hard. Place vegetable into baking dish and bake 45 min at 180-200*C. If starts to darken too early, cover with AL foil.
When baked, prepare paprika sauce: Heat the ghee on low temperature and spoon the paprika into it. It should produce sizzling sound.
On each piece of vegetable spoon a bit of sour cream and then pour the paprika sauce. Serve immediately!


Klasicno punjenje za povrce, Balkanski nacin

Fil/punjenje/dolma
2 kasike ulja
1 veca glavica crvenog luka
2-3 kasicice mljevene paprike
500 gr mljevenog mesa, govedine
1 kasicica soli
1/2 kasicice crnog bibera, svjeze mljevenog
1 kasicica Vegete
80-100 gr rize, upola skuhane
1 ceno bijelog luka, protisnutog
malo persunovog lista, sjeckanog
povrce za filovanje: paprike, patlidzani, luk, tikvice
Preljev (‘zacvrka’)
50 gr masla (putera ili ulja)
2 kasicice mljevene paprike
malo kajmaka
Nacin:
1- Na ulju proprzite luk, pa smaknite sa vatre; dodajte mljevenu papriku, meso, rizu i ostale zacine. Dobro izmijesajte. Ukoliko rizu ne kuhate prethodno, u ovaj fil trebate dodati i malo (1/2 solje) vode.
2- Pripremite povrce: Paprike operite i izdubite. Patlidzane mozete presjeci na pola i malo izdubiti ili napraviti nekoliko horizontalnih reznjeva po duzini, s tim da kraj (drsku) ostavite u cjelini kako se fil ne bi raspao.
Tikvice (vece) izrezete na 6-7 cm visine i malo im izdubite unutrasnjost, ukoliko su sasvim male mozete ih po duzini prepoloviti i izdubiti ih (kao camci).
Crveni luk (vece glavice) prokuhate u vodi sa malo sirceta. Korijen dobro odrezati kako bi se slojevi mogli lako odvajati (Pazite da se ne prekuha)!
3- Pripremljeno povrce filovati, ne pritiskati jako kako se unutrasnjost ne bi stvrdnula. Redati u tepsiju i naliti oko 1,5 cm vode (ili supe) u koji je dodato malo Vegete.
4- Peci u rerni/ pecnici oko 45 min na temperaturi 180-200*C.
5- Peceno izvaditi, preliti kajmakom i ‘zacvrknuti’: Zagrijte maslo (puter) pa u vrelo dodajte crvenu mljevenu papriku (pazite da ne pregori). Prelijte preko povrca.Ovo treba da proizvede specifican zvuk, zbog cega se ovaj preljev i zove ‘Zacvrka’.