Stuffed red peppers

The other night in a discussion about cooking dinner my friend George said he was planning stuffed peppers the next night. Mmmm. I hadn’t any of them for a while. 

So being always open to suggestion, yesterday I stocked up on red peppers and cooked a batch for the first time in ages. The last time I made them I remember using Florina peppers which made the filling very difficult but ultimately worthwhile. This time I used squat bell peppers. The recipe accidentally became vegan as I forgot the fetta I normally add but they were delicious all the same. 

Ingredients 

4 red peppers (squat bell shape) 

500 gr wholegrain rice (precooked)

A handful of dill

1/2 cup currants

1 onion

2 cloves garlic

1 tbs tomato paste

200 gr tomato & basil pasta sauce

3 cups water

Mode

Preheat oven to 180c

Cut around top of peppers to create caps

Slice off back of cap

Clean inside of pepper of seeds

Chop dill

Peel onion and slice finely

Peel garlic and crush 

Heat oil in pan

Add onion and stir until tender

Add garlic and stir

Add dill, rice, currants, tomato paste, tomato sauce and 1 cup water

Stir to combine and allow to simmer and reduce

Take the rice mixture from the heat

With a spoon fill each of the peppers with the mixture

Stand the peppers upright in a baking dish

Pour 2 cups of hot water in base of dish

Bake in 180c oven for 45 minutes.

Stuffed peppers with a punch

One thing that the wretched @#$% shingles has not stopped me doing is cooking and thinking about recipes. Just before the disease hit, I had had a longing for stuffed red peppers and had been thinking of a recipe that contained some Indian flavours. I like the combination of those flavours and the Greek fetta.

As I was sick, this recipe was made with a number of readily available ingredients rather than much cooking preparation.  But let's face it, we all like to have some recipes on hand to make quickly. Two of the key ingredients were bought from the supermarket: a Tilda multi-grain rice pilau flavoured with cummin, curry leaf and fenugreek, and a Dolmio spicy pasta sauce with chilli.

I really liked the result of this easy recipe.  I hope you will too!

Ingredients

2 large red peppers
250 gr rice pilau
200 gr spicy pasta sauce
1 handful currants
20 gr fetta
1/2 cup water

Mode

Preheat the oven to 180c
Remove the head of the peppers and clean inside
Heat pasta sauce on stovetop
Add rice pilau and stir to combine
Add currants and stir to combine
Simmer until all ingredients are combined and liquid absorbed
Crumble fetta
Spoon rice mixture into each pepper until half full
Add half of the fetta to each
Spoon remaining rice mixture into peppers
Add pepper heads and place in a baking dish
Add water to baking dish
Place in oven and cook for 45 minutes.