These stuffed bell peppers are filled with a savory, rich filling in a neat parcel. Perfect for any meal!
I am a creature of habit, and getting out of my normal routines can be quite difficult for me. Dinner ends up being the same more often than not. But occasionally, I get an idea lodged in my head, and I know I need to jump on it. And the idea of stuffed bell peppers got stuck.
Stuffed bell peppers are not a dish that I eat often, but I always love them when I do. I feel like there is a lot of room for playing with the flavors and components when making them as well. I stuck with vegetarian ingredients and Indian leaning flavors because I still lean into some habits regardless of what I am cooking.
The other great thing about stuffed bell peppers is how contained they are. The pepper acts as a pouch to help keep all that goodness in. I have also seen the cheese become a natural lid.
Check out the Make section of MCG for more fun recipes like desserts and savory dishes.
Ingredients
The ingredients for the filling were a mixture of brown rice and mushrooms. I also decided to add some carrots. More vegetables would have been nice, but I was working with what I had in the kitchen. I also added onions, garlic, and a handful of powdered spices to kick up the flavor.
Process
The Filling
I started with the filling because there isn’t much to do to prepare the peppers. There were no special instructions for cooking the brown rice, just the process on the bag. The big pan is where I did most of my cooking. I started by heating up the oil and added the garlic once the oil was sizzling.
Then I added the onions and cooked them for a bit. I think I like brown, slightly caramelized onions. They just give a better flavor. Then it was time to cook off the water from the mushrooms. I like to use mushrooms as my ground protein when it comes to dishes like this. I just feel they give such a good texture and flavor.
Then it was time to add the carrots and powdered spice. I would have added some other vegetables here if I had some on hand. I think this would have been a great moment to play and experiment with food and flavors.
Removing the pan from the heat, I added brown rice to finalize my filling. This made quite a bit of filling and probably could stand alone as a dish. Which it might become if the peppers aren’t able to handle all of it.
Stuffing the Peppers
Preparing the pepper was a quick and easy process. I cut off the top and tried to remove as many seeds as possible. Most of the seeds were removed, but I am not particular enough to make sure of it. There was a little bit of shaking out the peppers and calling it good enough.
I spooned the filling from the pan and into the peppers. To make sure each pepper was filled equally, I would do one spoonful in the first, second, and third before doing a second. Almost like dealing out cards for a trick-taker. Finally, I sprinkled some cheese on top of each pepper before baking them in the oven.
Reflections
These stuffed bell peppers turned out well. I love the flavor profile, and being so contained made them perfect for lunch. I am glad that I went with brown rice because it added more of an earth, umami that I felt complemented the flavor profile well. White rice would have worked too, but I think it would be more of a contrast in flavors.
Lessons
Testing the flavors
I wasn’t the most confident that the monetary jack would match well with the flavors, and the easiest way to test that is to taste. Before putting everything together, I took a spoonful of the filling and a bit of cheese and tried them together. It was a good way to get an idea of how the flavors would combine in the end. Tasting while cooking is important for making sure the flavor is right, but it can also help with decision-making.
recipe
Stuffed Bell Peppers
Ingredients
Method
- Cook brown rice according to their instructions.
- In a large pan, heat the olive oil until hot. Add minced garlic and roast until aromatic. Sweat onions until lightly browned around the edges.
- Add mushrooms to the pan and cook off the water. Add spices and mix to coat the mushrooms. Add carrots and cook until relatively soft. Mix in cooked rice.
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Take the red peppers and cut off the tops and core out the seeds from the inside.
- Fill each pepper with the mushroom / rice mix. Top with shredded Monterey jack cheese. Cover each pepper with aluminum foil.
- Bake for 20 minutes.
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