Harissa Amaranth Stuffed Peppers
Get healthy with this tasty, spicy vegetable dish! It easily makes enough for around 6 stuffed pepper halves. One half is enough as a starter – and two halves would make a great main course served with a side salad.
Organic Amaranth Grain 1kg (Sussex Wholefoods)
1 cup amaranth grain
Organic Sun Dried Tomatoes 1kg (Sussex Wholefoods)
40g sun-dried tomatoes
Organic Coconut Butter, High Omega-3 250ml (Tiana)
High-omega coconut butter for frying
4 tsp harissa paste
Organic Pine Nuts 500g (Sussex Wholefoods)
30g pine nuts
Tunisian Extra Virgin Olive Oil 500ml (Clearspring)
Olive oil, for coating peppers
Other Ingredients
3 medium red peppers
1 medium red onion
Half a large aubergine
Feta cheese, as a topping (optional)
Method
1) Pre-heat the oven to 160°c/Fan 150°c/Gas Mark 2.
2) Grease a baking tray. Wash each pepper and slice in half length-ways. Take out the seeds. You can leave the stalk as this helps keep the shape of pepper whilst cooking.
3) Rub the outside of each pepper half with olive oil and place into the baking tray. Set aside.
4) Put the Amaranth into a pan and add at least double the amount of water. So, 1 cup of Amaranth to 2½ cups of boiling water.
5) Bring to a slow bubble and cook until you have a porridge-like consistency and all the water has been absorbed. The Amaranth should still have a slight crunch and the mix will look semi-translucent.
6) While the Amaranth is cooking chop the aubergine into smallish chunks, around 2cm by 1cm. Add a knob of butter to a non-stick frying pan and fry the aubergine on a medium heat.
7) Finely chop the onion and add to the frying pan once the aubergine has started to colour a little. Fry off until both the onion and aubergine are properly cooked.
8) Stir in the harissa paste. Chop the Semi-Dried Tomatoes into half and add these to the pan.
9) Then in a separate non-stick frying pan and gently toast the pine nuts until they are golden brown. Stir these through the aubergine mix. Set to one side.
10) Remove the Amaranth from the heat and mix in the vegetable mix and pine nuts.
11) Spoon the mix into the peppers.
12) Roast the peppers for 35-40 minutes, or until the peppers are softened.
13) Remove from the oven and serve.
14) Optionally: crumble feta cheese onto the peppers and grill under a medium-hot grill for 10 minutes or until golden brown.
