00:00In many Southeast European countries, stuffed peppers are a favorite dish.
00:05But which ones are the best? And how do the recipes differ?
00:09The best stuffed peppers come from Albania.
00:13Of course, they've always been a Hungarian dish.
00:17I'd say they're Bulgarian.
00:19But so many people have passed through our land that the recipes have changed over time.
00:23Even so, I think they were originally Bulgarian.
00:27We'll have a look at how this traditional dish is made in three countries.
00:32We'll start out in Albania.
00:3573-year-old Mida Ara lives with her family north of the capital Tirana.
00:41She loves to cook, and once a week she serves up her very own stuffed peppers.
00:46The fresher the vegetables, the better they taste.
00:52For this recipe, we need bell peppers to stuff with onions and vegetables like eggplant, tomatoes, some rice, pepper and salt, garlic, oil and mint.
01:10Albanians regard stuffed peppers as a fairly simple dish.
01:13Almost every family has their own way of making them.
01:16Mida uses her mother's vegetarian recipe.
01:20I follow the family tradition and make them without meat.
01:25I've never stuffed peppers with meat because I don't like it, though I know many others do.
01:32Now I chop the onions, eggplant and zucchini, peel and chop the tomatoes.
01:43I've washed the rice and herbs.
01:47And now I'll stuff the peppers.
01:50The mixture is cooked for 15 minutes, and then the green peppers plus filling go into the oven.
02:01We'll see the result in a bit.
02:04Like Mida, many Albanians buy their peppers at the market or grow them in their own garden plots.
02:12All Albanians love stuffed peppers and cook them often, especially in the summer.
02:17We've always got them on the table.
02:21We stuff them with meat and spices that give them such a wonderful taste.
02:27But where did the tradition of stuffing peppers originate?
02:33Like many Southeast European countries, Albania was long a part of the Ottoman Empire.
02:39The centuries of Turkish rule left their mark, even on the cuisine.
02:44The practice of stuffing vegetables came from the Ottomans.
02:47Bulgaria's cuisine was also influenced by an Ottoman past.
02:52Today I'll show you a traditional Bulgarian recipe for peppers stuffed with ground pork and rice.
03:01Everyone loves it.
03:03It's been popular since the 14th century.
03:05My grandmother used to fix it.
03:07The recipe's been handed down and perfected through the generations.
03:11Bulgarians prefer red peppers for their version, and most often stuff them with meat.
03:17Traditionally, they're baked in a clay pot for about an hour and a half.
03:22Then they're smothered in an egg and yogurt sauce.
03:25Many Bulgarians make the dish at home.
03:29I love stuffed peppers, especially my grandmothers.
03:35Now my mum will be mad at me, and my wife too.
03:42If my wife hears me say this, she won't be happy, but I like them the way my mother fixes them.
03:48Hungarian cuisine is also riddled with peppers.
03:53Here too, the Ottomans introduced the pepper plant in the 16th century.
03:58It's native to Central and South America.
04:01Alongside goulash, stuffed peppers are among the most popular Hungarian dishes.
04:08Shandor Chiki likes to buy his vegetables at the farmer's market in Budapest.
04:13These are the right bell peppers.
04:19The Hungarian peppers are traditionally stuffed with meat, either ground beef or diced bacon.
04:25This is mixed with rice, egg and herbs.
04:28Then the stuffing is packed into the bell peppers and cooked in a tomato sauce,
04:33unlike their Bulgarian and Albanian counterparts, which stay closer to their Ottoman origins.
04:40The Hungarian version is completely different.
04:44Even though we moved to the north, Hungarian cuisine has evolved in a wonderful way.
04:50Like this dish, the filling still has the rice and the meaty, pasty texture,
04:55but cooking it in tomato sauce puts a new emphasis on it.
04:59On the table, the dish looks like this.
05:06Meanwhile, back in Albania, it's also time to eat.
05:09The peppers may be stuffed a bit differently in different places,
05:13but for everyone, they're a little slice of heaven on a plate.
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