Meat and Rice Stuffed Bell Peppers and Tomatoes - Russian style

I like dishes that are tasty, healthy and look pretty. These stuffed peppers and tomatoes hit all check marks. Colorful Bell peppers and ripe tomatoes filled with meat and rice, cooked in fresh tomato sauce make a delicious one-pot dish. It easily made with simple ingredients and taste great after reheating. Enjoy it for lunch or dinner, with fresh bread dipped into sauce and garnished with sour cream for authentic Russian style.
You can adjust this recipe in lots of different ways to your taste: use different meat, poultry or a combination of both, the herbs and spices. Use your choice of red, green, orange, or yellow bell peppers to make these beautiful stuffed veggies filled with savory meat and rice. 
Bell peppers and tomatoes stuffed with a mixture of ground meat and rice then cooked in a piquant tomato sauce is a classic comfort food. 

Ingredients

500 g chicken, pork, beef or mixed (I used chicken breast this time)
1 medium onion
4 Bell peppers
2 tomatoes
½ cup rice
1 ½ tsp. instant soup powder (optional)
¼ cup parsley
Salt, pepper, your favorite meat spices, to taste
Sour cream (optional)
Sauce:
5.5 oz. (155 g) tomato paste
¼ cup parsley
3 garlic cloves, minced
Salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, to taste

Directions

Make meat stuffing:
Cook rice according to package instructions until almost ready. Add soup powder into boiling water for more flavor. Place aside to cool for about 10 minutes. The rice can be prepared in advance.
While the rice is cooking, prepare the meat. I have a meat grinder so I grind meat myself. It allows me to grind the onion and parsley as well. If you don’t have a meat grinder – no problem, you can buy ground meat or chicken and chop finely parsley and onion in a food processor or by hand. Mix to combine.
Beat the mixture by throwing it into a bowl a couple of times. By beating off the meat mixture you are removing the excess air which will make the texture more smooth and uniform.
Add salt, pepper, your favorite meat spices and rice. Mix well.

Prepare and Stuff Vegetables:
Cut tops from peppers and discard seeds and membranes. Wash peppers.
Wash the tomatoes and cut the tops off of tomatoes and using a tea spoon or a quarter teaspoon to carefully scoop the seeds and juice, leaving the walls intact. Keep the removed tomato pulp aside for the tomato sauce.
Place the stuffed vegetables upright, packed tightly, in the pan. Fill each pepper and tomato with meat-rice mixture. 

Make Tomato Sauce:
In food processor, finely chop all sauce ingredients with tomato pulp we set aside. Add ½ - 1 cup water, depending on the size of you food processor. Mix/blend well.

Transfer the sauce to the pot with stuffed vegetables and add water just enough to cover them completely.
Cover a pan and bring it to a boil over medium-high heat, approximately 15 minutes. Reduce heat and continue cooking for about 15-20 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender and the filling cooked.
Remove from the heat and serve hot with lots of sauce, fresh bread, parsley and sour cream – Russian style.