Stuffed Peppers (Greek Style - Version 2): An All Creatures American International Vegetarian Vegan Recipe

Ingredients

12-16 Bell Peppers, ripe (green or red)
2 cups Brown Rice, uncooked grain
4 cups Water
2 Onions, medium size
2 tsp. Mint Leaves, dried
2 tsp. Oregano, dried
1 cup Parsley fresh, chopped, or 2 tbsp. Parsley, dried
2 - 6-oz. cans Tomato Paste
Hot Sauce (optional - to taste)
(To enlarge the photos of the stuffed peppers, click on the photos or links)

Preparation

To shorten the cooking time, we baked the stuffed peppers in our microwave oven; however, they can also be baked in a conventional oven at 350 degrees F. until the peppers are tender.

We begin by placing our rice pot on the stove top with 4 cups of water. Then we turn on the heat to high to boil the water.

While the water is heating, we measure the rice (for this recipe, we usually mound the rice in our measuring cup, so it's a little more than 1 cup), and place it in a bowl. To the rice we add the mint, oregano, and parsley (if dried is used). If fresh parsley is used, wash and chop it. Next, we wash, peel, and dice the onions. When the water comes to a boil, we add the rice, herbs, and onions to the rice pot, cover, and reduce the heat to simmer.

While the rice is cooking, we wash the peppers and carefully remove the stem and inner seeds, being careful not to cut the curved top, as this curved top ring of the pepper helps it keep its shape while baking.

When the rice is cooked, turn off the heat and remove the pot from the stove top. Add the tomato paste to the rice, and the hot sauce, as desired (traditional Greek recipes would most likely use black pepper instead). Mix well.

(Baking 4 peppers) Because of the sizes of our covered baking dishes, we knew we had to place the peppers in two covered baking dishes; and since we were getting hungry, we decided to bake 4 of the peppers in a small baking dish in our microwave while we were preparing the second batch. Place the peppers tightly into the baking dish, and using a small spoon, pack the rice mixture into each pepper. When the peppers are stuffed, cover the dish and bake until the peppers are tender. We cooked these 4 stuffed peppers in 8 minutes in our microwave oven on "high" (1000 watts).

(Baking 10 peppers) While the 4 stuffed peppers were baking, we stuffed the remaining 10 peppers in our large covered baking dish, by following the above procedure. We baked these 10 stuffed peppers in our microwave in 20 minutes at 1000 watts. Note: Sometime we use larger peppers and only 6 or 7 will fit into the baking dish, but the amount of stuffing seems to work out either way.

(Serving) By the time we had prepared the dish of 10 peppers for baking, the first batch were cooked, so we served them and ate while the second batch was cooking. When the peppers are removed from the baking dish and placed on a plate, there will be some liquid remaining in the bottom of the dish. We carefully spoon the liquid into the peppers before serving.

We have found that the flavor of the stuffed peppers is even better the next day, so we always bake more for the next day or two, which also saves us cooking time.

Serve with a large tossed salad and enjoy!

Ingredients Information

Mint Leaves Photo and description not available	Onions, Yellow	Oregano, Dried	Parsley	Pepper, Green Bell
Pepper, Red Bell	Pepper Sauce - Hot Red	Rice, Brown	Tomato Paste	Love: Makes everything taste better!

Utensils and Equipment Information

Dish, Ceramic Baking	Dish, Small Ceramic Baking	Knives	Measuring Cups, Dry
Measuring Cup, Liquid	Measuring Spoons	Pot, Glass	Spoon, Large Mixing