Lebanese Stuffed Peppers
Lebanese stuffed peppers are a comforting dish of tender bell peppers filled with aromatic rice, lentils, and fragrant spices, then baked in a rich tomato sauce.
Servings: 8 people
Calories: 407kcal
Ingredients
- 8 large Bell peppers (capsicum)
Stuffing
- ½ cup Pine nuts dry roasted
- 1 tablespoon Olive oil
- ½ small Onion finely diced
- ½ small Carrot finely diced
- 2 cloves Garlic crushed
- 1 cup Brown lentils cooked and drained
- 1½ cups Basmati rice
- 2 tablespoon Cilantro (Coriander) finely sliced
- 1 tablespoon Mint fresh (finely sliced) or ground
- 2½ tablespoon Parsley finely sliced
- 1 med Tomato finely diced
- ½ tablespoon Salt or to taste
- 1 teaspoon Cracked black pepper
- 3 cups Water
Sauce
- 4 tablespoon Tomato paste heaping
- 4 tablespoon Olive oil
- 1 tablespoon Ground coriander
- 2 cups water use leftover rice juice, if more is needed to make 2 cups, add water
- ½ teaspoon Cracked black pepper
- 1 teaspoon Salt or to taste
Optional Sauce for Dish
- 1 tablespoon Tomato Paste
- 1 cup Water
Instructions
Preparing capsicum for stuffing
- Cut the bell pepper tops off, in line with where the middle of the core would be. Deseed and take out any membrane. The tops will be used as lids. Finely dice the membrane/core to combine this into the rice stuffing in step 4.8 large Bell peppers
Stuffing
- Over medium - high heat, dry toast pine nuts until golden brown. Set aside.½ cup Pine nuts
- In a saucepan add oil, onion, carrot, garlic and sweat until the onion is translucent. Add lentils and stir through well. Add rice, sliced cilantro (coriander), mint, parsley, tomato and salt and pepper, combined well. Add water and cook until rice is parboiled, approx. 6 minutes. Do not open the lid for another 2 minutes.1 tablespoon Olive oil, ½ small Onion, ½ small Carrot, 2 cloves Garlic, 1 cup Brown lentils, 1½ cups Basmati rice, 2 tablespoon Cilantro, 1 tablespoon Mint, 2½ tablespoon Parsley, 1 med Tomato, ½ tablespoon Salt, 1 teaspoon Cracked black pepper, 3 cups Water
- Strain rice into a bowl and keep the leftover juice. Combine pine nuts and bell pepper membrane through the rice. Set both rice and juice aside.
Sauce
- Whisk together tomato paste, olive oil, ground coriander, water (use leftover rice juice to make up the 2 cups, if more is needed use water), salt and pepper. Set aside.4 tablespoon Tomato paste, 4 tablespoon Olive oil, 1 tablespoon Ground coriander, 2 cups water, ½ teaspoon Cracked black pepper, 1 teaspoon Salt
- Place the bell peppers snugly into a casserole dish. Loosely fill them up with the filling leaving a 1cm (⅓") gap from the rim to allow the rice to swell whilst baking.
- Pour sauce into each bell pepper (capsicum) until it is just under the top of the rice. Pour the rest into the casserole dish. Ensuring it is at least 1cm (⅓") deep. If required top-up with a mixture of water and tomato paste. Place the lids onto each pepper.1 tablespoon Tomato Paste, 1 cup Water
- Cover the casserole dish and bake in a preheated oven 180C (360F) for 45-60 minutes, until rice and peppers are cooked. Let it stand for 10-15 minutes with the lid on before serving warm. Serve each portion individually with some of the sauce from the bottom of the casserole dish.
Video
Notes
Baking times may differ (between 45-60) depending on the size of the peppers, check at the 45 minute mark by piercing the skin of the capsicum, if easily pierced, they are cooked.
Nutrition
Serving: 1pepper | Calories: 407kcal | Carbohydrates: 57g | Protein: 12g | Fat: 16g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 8g | Sodium: 829mg | Potassium: 847mg | Fiber: 13g | Sugar: 10g | Vitamin A: 6090IU | Vitamin C: 218mg | Calcium: 60mg | Iron: 4mg