Nutty Stuffed Peppers

I've never really been a fan of peppers, but I could tolerate them on pizza and in pasta dishes etc, as long as the taste was drowned out by something else. But over the years, I don't know what changed... I found myself drawn to them, and when I realised you can eat them stuffed, I was like WOAH, I need to try this because I can imagine it being soooo delicious!

Usually you find recipes for stuffed peppers with rice and veg etc, but I decided to go super low carb and try it stuffed with mixed ground nuts. I got this idea from a dish that my mum makes which I LOVE (probably because I absolutely love nuts... LOL...). She stuffs small African aubergines with a a sort of nut paste and adds serves potatoes which we eat with chapatti as a dry curry. So I thought, what if I stuff a pepper with a similar mixture? The result = YUM!

It is actually so easy and filling, and the great thing is you can batch cook the filling and store it in a container in the fridge for up to a week, then when you want to eat it you can open and stuff one pepper each time as peppers tend to go off quickly.

The below recipe makes enough for about 4-5 peppers.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 -1 tbsp green chilli (depending on how hot you want it) - ground/finely chopped

• 1 tbsp garlic

• 1 tbsp ginger

• 1/2 tsp turmeric

• 1 flat tsp salt

• 1 tsp cumin & coriander powder

• 200g mixed nuts - ground (you can either buy an already ground bag of mixed nuts from the supermarket, or grind a selection of your own in a food chopper. I would recommend cashews, peanuts, almonds, macadamia and hazelnuts)

• 1 white onion - finely chopped

• 4-5 bell peppers

• 1 tsp coconut oil

• sprinkle of freshly chopped coriander

RECIPE:

1. (Skip this step if you have bough pre-ground mixed nuts.) Measure out equal parts of your selection of nuts i.e. if you're only using cashews and peanuts measure out 100g of each. In a food processor, grind the nuts until they are in small chunks - don't let them go too small that they look like powder. Empty out into a bowl and mix well.

2. In a saucepan heat the oil, then add in your green chilli, garlic and ginger and sizzle for about 30 seconds.

3. Add in your onion and sizzle this for about a minute then lower the heat before adding in your ground mixed nuts. Mix well.

4. Sprinkle in your salt, cumin & coriander powder, turmeric and fresh coriander and mix well. Cover and leave to cook until the nuts go slightly soft and the onion begins to water. Stir occasionally to ensure the mixture doesn't stick and the nuts don't brown. This shouldn't take longer than 5-10mins.

5. Once cooked, you can either empty into a container, leave to cool and store in the fridge for later, or if you want to eat straight away, leave the pan uncovered to one side to cool.

6. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees (180 degrees fan). Line a baking tray with foil.

7. Wash your bell pepper(s) and pat dry. Slice across the top of the pepper(s) so the stalk part forms a lid (see above image).

8. Carefully use a small knife to cut out any white flesh and remove all of the seeds. Rinse the inside to get rid of the seeds if you need to. If the pepper(s) aren't sitting up straight, you can trim of a little bit from the bottom to form a flat surface.

9. Using a tablespoon, fill up the pepper(s) cup with the nut and onion mixture. Once full, flatten the top using the back of the teaspoon to ensure the pepper is fully stuffed (add more mixture if you need to).

10. Place the 'lid' on the pepper(s) on and bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes - the contents should be piping hot all of the way through but the 'lid' stops the mixture from burning/browning at the top.

11. Remove from the oven and enjoy! You can serve this with rice or salad if you don't want to eat it on its own.