Stuffed peppers with rice (Vegetarian)

Member Name: STARCHILD1

Product:	Vegetarian
Date:	05/03/07 (42974 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: healthy, tasty and easy to make

Disadvantages: have to be baked slowly so takes around 30 mins to cook

When i first tried out this recipe I thought that I would not like it, but as it turns out it has become a family favourite.

Serves 4 people
Preperation time 30 mins
Cooking time 30 minutes

Ingredients

* 8 peppers (red, green, orange or yellow)
* 4 tablespoons of olive oil
* 2 onions finely chopped
* 2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
* 400g of basmati rice
* 3 teaspoons of dried parsley
* 2 teaspoons of dried oregano
* 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
* freshly ground black pepper
* pinch of salt
* boiling water

Method

Make sure the oven is at a medium heat, preferably at 190 degrees celsius

To prepare the peppers, cut a lid out of the top of each pepper around the stalk, making sure that all the white bits inside and seeds are removed.

In a heated frying pan add around 2 tablespoons of olive oil add onions to this and stir. Cook onions until the are translucent but be careful not to brown them as this alters the taste. Add in garlic and cook for a further minute.

Strain the tomatoes into a measuring jug and make the juice of the tomatoes up to 600ml using the already boiled water. Keep the strained tomatoes because you will need them later.

Add the rice and oregano and parsley to the onions and garlic in the pan. Add the tomato juice and water mixture to pan and bring to the boil. Cover the pan and let it simmer for 8 minutes. Add the remaining chopped tomatoes and slowly heat. Remove the pan from the heat and let it settle until all the liquid has been absorbed. Season with salt and pepper. Put the contents of the pan into a baking tray and smooth out so that there are no clumps, this can be done using the back of a fork.

Now take the cut out peppers and stuff them carefully with the mixture. Replace the lids onto the peppers and drizzle with some olive oil. Put all the peppers in a baking tray, puor just a little water into the bottom of the tray for steaming purposes, do not drown the peppers.

Bake the peppers uncovered int he oven for approx 30 minutes or until the peppers are nice and soft and the rims are just lightly browned.

Serve immediately, with salad. They can be eaten hot or cold, but they delicious when hot.

Summary: Surprisingly scrumptious dish, goes well with anything. Snack or main meal