Chushki Burek (Fried Stuffed Peppers)

Name: Chushki Burek (Fried Stuffed Peppers)
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 70 min
Yield: 1 serving
Ingredients: Red peppers for roasting (kapia or red bell) × 2; 80 g Sirene (Bulgarian white brine cheese); Eggs × 2; 1 tbsp Fresh parsley, finely chopped; 0.3 g Black pepper; 20 g All-purpose flour; 1½ tbsp Sunflower oil, for frying; Tomato × 1; 100 g Cucumber; Spring onion × 1; 1 tsp Wine vinegar; 1 tsp Sunflower oil, for the salad; 1 g Salt

70 min · Medium · Serves 1

750 kcal per serving · 30g protein

Roasted red peppers, peeled whole and stuffed with sirene, egg and parsley, then rolled in flour and egg and fried until the coating is golden and the cheese sets soft inside. It is one of the best-loved Bulgarian lunches, and a fresh tomato and cucumber salad on the side cuts through the richness. Autumn, when the markets are full of red peppers, is the time to make it.

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Ingredients

Red peppers for roasting (kapia or red bell) × 2
80 g Sirene (Bulgarian white brine cheese)
Eggs × 2
1 tbsp Fresh parsley, finely chopped
0.3 g Black pepper
20 g All-purpose flour
1½ tbsp Sunflower oil, for frying
Tomato × 1
100 g Cucumber
Spring onion × 1
1 tsp Wine vinegar
1 tsp Sunflower oil, for the salad
1 g Salt

Method

Roast the peppers

Heat the oven to 220°C and lay the whole peppers on a baking tray. Roast for 25 minutes, turning the peppers once halfway, until the skins are blistered and blackened in patches.
Cover the peppers to loosen the skins

Move the hot peppers into a bowl, cover tightly with a plate or lid and leave for 15 minutes, until the skins have loosened.
Chop the salad vegetables

Chop the tomato and cucumber into bite-size chunks while the peppers rest, slice the spring onion and put the vegetables in a salad bowl in the fridge.
Peel and core the peppers

Peel the skins off the peppers with your fingers, keeping each pepper whole, then cut around the stalk with a small knife and pull the stalk and seed core out through the top. Shake out any loose seeds and pat the peppers dry inside and out with kitchen paper.
Mix the filling

Beat the eggs with a fork in a small bowl. Crumble the sirene into a second bowl, add half of the beaten eggs, the parsley and the black pepper, and mash everything together into a thick, chunky filling.
Stuff the peppers

Spoon the filling into each pepper through the top opening until the pepper is plump but the edges still meet, then press each pepper gently to flatten it slightly.
Heat the oil

Pour the sunflower oil for frying into a large non-stick pan and heat over medium heat for 2 minutes, until a pinch of flour dropped in sizzles at once.
Coat the peppers in flour and egg

Spread the flour on a plate. Roll each stuffed pepper in the flour, tap off the excess and dip the pepper in the rest of the beaten eggs, then lay the pepper straight into the hot oil with space around it.
Fry until golden

Fry the peppers for 3 minutes per side, turning once with a spatula, until the coating is deep golden and crisp on both sides.
Drain and serve with the salad

Lift the peppers onto kitchen paper to drain for 1 minute, then dress the salad with the wine vinegar, the sunflower oil for the salad and the salt, and serve the chushki burek hot with the salad.