July 21, 2010

Stuffed Bell Peppers


Here is another interpretation of one of my very favorite BG dishes. Can be made vegetarian as well as with ground beef/pork (although I like the vegetarian version way better). Here is what you'll need (as always the recipe can be scaled up or down):

INGREDIENTS:
  • 9 red bell peppers, tops removed
  • 2 cups of rice (brown, wild, white ... pick your favorite)
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 3-4 carrots, peeled and chopped
  • 1lb mushrooms, sliced
  • 1/2 cup corn, fresh or frozen
  • 1/2 cup peas, fresh or frozen
  • 2-3 zucchini or summer squash, peeled and sliced
  • 2-3 good sized potatoes, peeled and cut into thin round slices
  • 2 cans of diced tomatoes (i like to blend them and get a homogenized mixture)
  • season with thyme, savory, salt, red paprika, black pepper, cayenne pepper to taste

PROCESS: 

0. To speed things up, I like to pre-cook the rice, especially if I use brown or wild rice, since these take ~ 45 mins to cook. In a boiling pot, mix 2 cups of rice with 4 cups of water and bring to boil. Then reduce to light simmer and cook until rice is almost done (brown rice ~ 45 min, white rice ~ 15 min).
Also preheat oven to 425C.

1. While the rice is cooking start working on the vegetables (you can also add ground beef/pork as well in addition). In a large pan over medium heat put some olive oil and saute the onions and the garlic until translucent. Add the carrots and keep cooking until tender, or for another 5 min. Then add the sliced mushrooms and cook until soft and all the water has been released. Add the corn and peas and the sliced zucchini last and cook for 5 min. Lastly, add the canned tomatoes (pre-blended to avoid large chinks) and cook for another 5 min and add the seasonings (thyme, savory, salt, black and red pepper, cayenne etc...).

2. Add the almost cooked rice to the vegetables and stir well to mix. It is a good idea to taste the rice mixture and add additional seasonings if necesary.

3. Then arrange the bell peppers (washed and tops removed) into an appropriate size baking dish and add ~ 1 inch of water at the bottom of the dish. Stuff the peppers with the rice+vegetable filling and "cap" each stuffed pepper with a slice of potato. If you have extra filling, then you can put it between the peppers in the baking dish. Then tilt the peppers so that they are laying on their side and cover with aluminum foil and bake at 425C for 1h. Then remove the foil and broil for ~ 10 minutes until the skin of the peppers is slightly burned.

4. Serve and top with a spoon of plain yogurt and enjoy!

4 comments:

  1. Bravo Slaninka!
    This is a perfect ETL(Eat to Live) recipe! It's on my short list already :)

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  2. I concur with Lokuma - I will be making this tomorrow. Planning to replace most of the rice with beans ( which are soaking right now!)

    Yum!!!!!

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  3. Marulka did you make the peppers with beans instead of the rice? I am curious how they turned out...

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