Stuffed Bell Peppers

Stuffed peppers have always been my favourite dish. And in fact, it was never important what they were stuffed with. Here is my experimental recipe, which turned out to be very successful. However, I did not calculate the proportions precisely, and made too much filling. So as a result I “killed two birds with one stone”: I’ve made a dinner and some home-cooked semi-manufactures as a reserve for lazy days.

Ingredients

Bell peppers 7-8 pcs.

Filling:
Lentils (green) 1 cup
Rice 1 cup
Onion 1 pc.
Corn 0.5 cups
Peas 0.5 cups
Cabbage 150 gr.
Celery 2 stalks
Garlic 2 cloves
Sun-dried tomato 3-4 pcs.
Olive oil 2 tbsp
Spices: chilli pepper 0.5 pcs, cumin seeds 1 tbsp., sweet paprika 1 tbsp.,
smoked paprika 1 tsp, nutmeg 1 tsp, caraway seeds 1 tsp, black pepper

Sauce:
Tomatoes 1 can (400 gr.)
Onion 1 pc.
Ginger 2 cm
Garlic 2 cloves
Eggplant 1 pc.
Zucchini 0.5 pcs.
Carrot 2 pcs.
Olive oil 2 tbsp
Spices: anise 1 tsp., bay leaf 2 pcs., chili pepper 0.5 pcs.,
savory 1 tbsp., basil 1 tbsp., coriander 1 tbsp.

How to make Stuffed Bell Peppers

Let’s start with the filling: It is better to soak lentils for a couple of hours before cooking (not necessary, but better for digestion). I use 2 cups of water to 1 cup of dry lentils (soaked).

Cook a cup of any rice you like, I use jasmine rice. Pour 1.5 cups of water to 1 cup of rice, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and cook for 10 minutes. Then turn off the heat and leave it for 10 minutes with a lid on, so that rice continue cooking in the hot steam.

Add the chopped onion to the pan with the olive oil. When the onion is slightly browned, add chopped garlic and a mixture of spices (except black pepper). I added also nutritional yeast, but I didn’t feel any taste of them, so I think it would be better if I sprinkled them on top just before serving.

Next add chopped cabbage and celery to the pan. Meanwhile, blend cooked lentils with finely chopped dried tomatoes. Transfer this mixture to a bowl and if the cabbage has softened by this time, mix all the ingredients: rice, lentils, stewed vegetables, pepper and mix thoroughly.

Sauce: You can use for the sauce the same pan or a stew-pot in which you are going to cook peppers. I have a pressure-cooker, so I use it.  Cut the onion, add to the pot with small amount of oil. Meanwhile, grind ginger and garlic, prepare spices. I use coriander grains, I like when they are partially whole .. it’s better to use a mortar for this … When the onion is browned, add ginger, garlic, coriander and chili pepper to it.

Grind carrots using coarse grater and send it to the same stew-pot. Then cut the eggplant and zucchini, send it to fry aswell, first the eggplant, and zucchini later (when the eggplant is slightly softened).

Then pour a jar of tomatoes (or chopped tomatoes, which is even better) and remaining spices and stir in. Add some water and wait until it boils.

Meanwhile, fill the peppers with the filling

Remove the seeds out of bell peppers and tightly stuff them with the prepared filling. My peppers are narrow and not very even. I used sushi sticks to fill them with filling more densely. Only 7 pieces fit in the pressure-cooker, because they are so long: they only fit lying down… And at least half of the filling remained.

I put the peppers in a pressure-cooker with the sauce, added some water, so that the sauce covered the peppers, closed the lid, brought to a boil and left it so that the pressure dropped naturally. If you have a regular pot or pan, then you need to bring the sauce with peppers to a boil and cook it for 10-15 minutes.

From the remaining filling I rolled up balls and baked them for about 30 minutes. After they cooled down, I sent them to the freezer. When there is a mood for pasta, they can be taken out and defreeze in tomato sauce, in the manner of “meatballs” or IKEA veggie balls.

 

 

Thus, I got 4 servings of stuffed bell peppers and 30 veggie balls for the stock (for 6 servings of pasta).