Quinoa Stuffed Peppers
3 medium sized bell peppers, use a variety of colors, I especially like red
2 Tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 large tomato, chopped
1 carrot, grated
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon coriander
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 cup quinoa, 2 cups water
salt, nutritional yeast
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
This is my variation on a recipe I found in a Moosewood cookbook, trying to use ingredients I had on hand
Cut the peppers in half, lengthwise, or if you prefer, just lop the top off. Remove seeds.
In a large saute pan, heat oil and saute onion until translucent. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add cumin and coriander and cook for another minute until it is fragrant. Add tomato, cover and cook for about 2-3 minutes. Add carrot, red pepper flakes, oregano and black pepper and cook for another minute. Add quinoa and water and stir to mix well. Cover and cook on medium low heat, stirring occasionally for about 15-20 minutes, until quinoa is cooked. The quinoa will become translucent when it's cooked. Add more water if necessary. Add salt to taste. I also add a bit of nutritional yeast to the mix at this point. Stir in toasted pine nuts.
Fill the bell peppers with the quinoa mixture and place in a baking dish with a little bit of salted water in the bottom of the dish. Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350 for about 20-25 minutes or until the peppers have softened. Just give the peppers a gentle poke with a fork or a knife to check if they're done.
SO HOW'D IT GO?
Very nice recipe. The spices add tasty, subtle background flavours and the pepper cooks perfectly. I made one portion of the recipe as I only cook for myself, and used a yellow pepper.
Changed a few things: cooked the quinoa in stock, skipped all the sauteing and added all ingredients in the pan at once (was in a rush), didn't use a tomato, chopped the carrot instead of grating, used half an onion for one portion (opposed to half for 3 people) which i think was good, didn't have nut. yeast or pine nuts (both missed!), no oregano (added 1/2 tsp each of dried parsely and basil instead) and added mushrooms like Libertyhunter. Also had a bit of an old tomato, squeezed the insides into the quinoa when cooking and put the skin on top of the pepper before baking. Chopped a brazil nut and put under the tomato.
I served it with some steamed cabbage, some leftover quinoa mix with added peas and a drizzle of hemp oil. Quite a few changes, sorry..! I'll post a picture soon inshaAllah (God willing). Thanks for the great recipe.
great recipe...its smart and easy! i also added in about 1/2 c of button mushrooms, 1/4 c of ground flaxseed (couldn't taste it, but made it healthier), and used sunflower seeds instead of pine nuts.