Stuffed red peppers

Stuffed red peppers

One of the miserable things about stuffed red peppers or any of the bell peppers, be they red, green or yellow, is that you have to cook everything before you cook everything. What? Well, first you cook the rice or quinoa, right? Then you sauté the veggies until they are cooked. Meanwhile, you have to boil the peppers to get them nearly cooked. Finally, you stick them all together and put them in the oven for a final baking time or on the stove to finish cooking!

That is so much work and so many dirty pans. I have been looking for a one-pot recipe for stuffed red peppers and we have yet to find one. So, until we do, here is an interesting recipe using quinoa instead of white rice. White rice, by the way, has so little nutrition to recommend it that we don't! Use brown rice at the very least; wild rice mixed with brown rice is better; quinoa is excellently nutritious and many of the other rices in the world beat white rice hands down!

If you have not heard of quinoa, (pronounced KEEN-wah) it is a South American seed that resembles millet. It is high in protein and can be used as the grain itself for a rice substitute and as a flour. It has a nutty taste and is totally gluten-free. Let the following stuffed red peppers recipe be your introduction to quinoa and nutritious eating:

Stuffed Red Peppers - (altered from a recipe by J. Ari Kornfeld on www.quinoa.com)

4 red bell peppers

1 cup quinoa

5 cups vegetable broth

6-8 sun dried roma tomatoes

1 medium onion

5 large fresh white mushrooms, sliced

1 cup buckwheat groats

3-4 garlic cloves

rosemary, basil, oregano to taste

1 cup tomato puree

1 egg white

Rinse quinoa well and set aside to drain. Chop onion, garlic, and sun dried tomatoes and set aside. Carefully cut the stem out from the top of the bell pepper, reserving the seeds, but removing the core.

Heat 2 cups of broth to a boil in a medium sized saucepan. Once broth has reached a boil dump in the quinoa and sun dried tomatoes. Cover and bring flame down to simmer for 12 minutes.

Add 1 cup of buckwheat groats to 1 egg white and mix until groats are coated. Turn the mixture into a dry frying pan and cook over medium heat for 2-3 minutes, stirring well to keep groats separated. After 2-3 minutes add a cup and a half of broth, mushrooms, onion, garlic, pepper seeds and other spices. Cover and bring flame down to a simmer for about 12 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Drain quinoa, saving vegetable stock. Place quinoa in a bowl and add the buckwheat groats. Add 1 cup of tomato puree and mix well. Once mixed, spoon liberally into bell peppers.

Take the leftover broth and put into large pot with steamer tray. Add enough broth (add water if the quantity of broth is insufficient) to touch the bottom of the steamer rack and place peppers into the pot. Secure lid and place on stove. Bring to a boil, then let simmer for 20-30 minutes, until peppers are very soft.

This stuffed red peppers recipe should get rave reviews from your family and friends. And you can educate them about quinoa while feasting!