Fil Fil Mahshi by Hawa Hassan
Food52
Photo by Food52
- Serves
- 6
- Prep Time
- 20 Minutes
- Cook Time
- 1 Hour 20 Minutes
"The filling of this main dish is delicious with bell peppers but will work with zucchini, cabbage leaves, grape leaves, or small eggplant as well. To make a vegetarian version, omit the meat and add an additional ½ cup rice."—Hawa Hassan
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves (reserve the stems)
- 2 tablespoon chopped fresh dill or mint leaves (reserve the stems)
- 6 bell peppers (any color you like), tops removed and reserved, seeds discarded
- 6 tablespoon olive oil
- 12 ounce ground beef or lamb
- 1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
- 2 plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, chopped
- 2 teaspoon ground coriander
- 2 teaspoon ground cumin
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 long-grain white rice
- 1/3 cup tomato paste
- 4 cup low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
Featured Video
Recipe from “Setting a Place for Us: Recipes and Stories of Displacement, Resilience, and Community from Eight Countries Impacted by War” © 2025 by Hawa Hassan
Directions
- Step 1
Gather the parsley and dill stems into a bundle, tie together with kitchen twine, and set aside.
- Step 2
Select a Dutch oven large enough to hold all of the bell peppers standing and fitting snugly. Place over medium heat and add 2 tablespoons of the oil. When the oil is hot, crumble the meat into the pot, add the onion, and cook, breaking the meat up with a wooden spoon into small crumbles, until the meat is no longer pink, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the chopped tomatoes, chopped parsley and dill, half of the garlic, and the coriander and cumin and season with 2 teaspoons salt and several grinds of pepper. Cook, stirring, until well mixed, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in the rice, remove from the heat, and let cool just until warm.
- Step 3
Stuff the meat-rice mixture into the bell peppers, filling each pepper about three-fourths full to leave room for the rice to expand during cooking.
- Step 4
Wipe the Dutch oven clean with a paper towel. Return the Dutch oven to medium heat and add the remaining 4 tablespoons oil. When the oil is hot, add the tomato paste and the remaining garlic and let sizzle, stirring occasionally, for 1 minute. Pour in the broth, then add water as needed so the liquid will reach about halfway up the sides of the peppers (about 1 cup) once the peppers are added. Add the reserved herb stem bundle, then nestle the peppers in the pot and cover them with their reserved tops. Cover the pot and simmer until the peppers are tender and the rice is cooked, 45 minutes to 1 hour.
- Step 5
Carefully transfer the peppers to a serving platter. Remove and discard the herb stem bundle, then taste the sauce, season with salt if needed, and bring to a simmer to reduce slightly, 2 to 3 minutes. Serve the peppers with the sauce spooned over the top.