Stuffed capsicum recipe (vegetarian/ vegan)

Just had my dinner and quiet enjoyed it, so I thought I might share the recipe with you... This recipe is very versatile and you can add or leave out ingredients to your liking. Other vegetables you could add are peas, carrots, eggplant, broccoli, green beans, tomatoes as well as mushrooms. The more veggies you use the less rice you will need, you could also use different rice and go wild with combinations of different rice; I like wild rice and basmati mixed together, just make sure to boil them separately first as the wild rice gives the other rice a purple colour, which doesn’t look nice and it takes longer to boil. Mixing rice is easy just mix ¾ boiled white rice with ¼ boiled wild rice.

You need:

5 large capsicums (I like the red once the best since they are sweeter and more flavorsome, but any colour will do, you can even mix and match)

1 onion chopped finely

2 cups of boiled rice (if you have some leftover rice from the day before this is a great recipe to use your leftover, choose your favorite rice, wholegrain being the healthiest choice or Basmati if you like white rice better)

1 small zucchini in small cubes

2 gloves of garlic chopped finely

Parsley and thyme (fresh if possible but dried will do just fine)

Salt and pepper for taste

2 spoons of extra virgin olive oil

1 liter of vegetable stock

We will use four of the five capsicums to stuff; the other one we will dice finely and mix in with all of the dry ingredients, then press the stalk of the remaining four capsicums inwards and once detached pull it completely out. We can now get all the little seeds out of the capsicums and stuff it with the rice and veggie mixture.

We bring the oil in a big pot to a high temperature and slightly brown the stuffed capsicums from all sides, then put them upright so the stuffing does not fall out. Add the stock to almost cover the capsicums; slowly cook with the lid on till all capsicums are tender and the veggies are done. By that time the stock should be almost completely gone and if the juices run out before the capsicums are done, make sure to add either water or more stock so the capsicums don’t burn. Take out all capsicums and then use the rest of the juices to make gravy. This is a nice meal in itself but can also be served with more steamed veggies or salad.

Bon Appetite