Baked Stuffed Peppers / Capsicums

Stuffed capsicums was one of the dishes that my dad always insisted on for the big dinners at home, when he had people over...My mom makes some wonderful stuffed capsicums, which for some reason, hasn't been made in the longest time now...

I had this packet of sunflower seeds lying around and wasn't sure what to use it in. Googled for a recipe using sunflower seeds and found these stuffed baked peppers, that included brown rice - another one of the ingredients in my kitchen, that was waiting to be used...



The sunflower seeds added a nice crunch and I quite liked the idea of the rice and cheese, which made this a complete meal in itself !



The stuffed peppers brought back a lot of memories of the ones that my mom made, though the ingredients here are very different. I hope to make her version soon and post that too..

What you need -

1/2 cup long-grain brown rice
6 large capsicums / peppers (2 red, 2 green, 2 yellow)
3 Tablespoons butter
1 medium onion, chopped fine
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
2 tsps chopped cilantro
10-12 olives, chopped in half
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 cup shredded cheese

What you do with it -

Cook brown rice in 1-1/2 cups boiling salted water until tender. Drain if necessary
Set it aside in a large mixing bowl
Preheat oven to 220 deg C. Line a baking pan with nonstick foil
Cut the bell peppers in half and deseed
Parboil bell peppers in boiling salted water for 5 minutes. Drain thoroughly and arrange cut-side up in the prepared pan
Saute onions and sunflower seeds in the butter over medium heat until onion is soft and translucent. Remove from heat and let cool 5 minutes. Add to the rice in the bowl, along with olives, cilantro, cheese, oregano, basil, salt and pepper
Mound rice mixture in the bell peppers. Sprinkle the shredded cheese over the stuffed peppers
Bake in the pre-heated oven at 220 deg C, for 15-20 mins