Stuffed Russian bell peppers

Russian food is much influenced by the cuisines of Russia's own Near East of Caucasus, Central Asia and the Muslim nations of the Volga basin.

Stuffed bell peppers are one of such Oriental goodies that quite commonly appear on the Russians' table. It is a festive dish and takes some time to prepare but the result is totally worth the fuss.

Equal quarters of mince, cooked rice, chopped onions and a pre-stirfried and pre-seasoned vegetable mix go into the stuffing. I gentrify the original recipe with a few sophisticated touches:

1. I use tartare mince which is low-fat;
2. rice is cooked with quarter less water than necessary, thus it helps trap the juices inside the peppers;
3. I add shiitake and Iranian spices in the veggie mix;
   
4. I steam the peppers in a glass of white wine added at the bottom of the pot.

I have found that Chilean white wine from the Pedro Jiménez variety of grapes, it goes perfect with my stuffed peppers. It is dry with just one tone of passion fruit that rings like an A sharp. It is slightly gassy and tastes the best when left in the glass to warm up and oxidise a bit.