Cherishing Dinners: Stuffed Pepper Bolognese

There is a wonderful thing about our palettes. Whenever we try a new food, it records the taste of it, the place where we ate or the person who prepared it, in our minds. Later, when you come across the similar taste, it brings back the memories.

There are lots of people in my life who introduced me to variety of tasty dishes. Each one of them were unique and special. When it comes to “Stuffed Peppers”, I would say that it is “Pattu Maami” who introduced me to the taste and the concept.

Bell Peppers are not an all season produce in my home town. Since the hot and dry climate is not much suitable for Bell Peppers, they are not grown locally. They are shipped either from Ooty or from Bangalore. Since they are scarce, there won’t be any fancy dishes like “stuffed peppers”, prepared in our households.

Pattu Maami’s son was doing his Masters in a University near Bangalore. Pattu Maami and her husband, Mamaji (as we call him) used to visit their son once in a while. Whenever they visit Bangalore, they will bring lots of Vegetables and Fruits specially grown there.

Maami brings lots of Bell peppers to share with us. She used to prepare wonderful stuffed peppers that I get nostalgic even now. Though I am not posting about her recipe for stuffed peppers, I wanted to share with you my memories.

The Stuffed pepper Bolognese is a non-meat version of the recipe. I usually convert a recipe that calls for meat by beans or oats, if the recipe has other ingredients or sauces that contributes to the taste than the meat. This is one such conversion.

Ingredients:

½ Cup uncooked white rice ( I used Brown Basmati rice)
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/8 Cup minced carrot
1/8 Cup celery ( I used 2 Tablespoon Celery flakes)
6 Bell Peppers (Stems and seeds removed. Cut in half lengthwise)
1 (15 ounce) can white Cannellini Beans (Drained and ground coarsely)
11/2 cups Marinara sauce
¼ Cup red wine (I replaced with grape juice)
½ Tsp red pepper flakes
1/3 Cup heavy cream (I replaced with ¼ cup non fat dry milk powder)
½ Cup Grated parmesan cheese

Method:

1. Cook rice until tender and fluffy.
2. Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.
3. Stir in the carrots and celery flakes. Cook until tender.
4. Add the ground bean and cook until scrambled and browned.
5. Add marinara sauce, grape juice and red pepper flakes.
6. Simmer for 10 minutes. Mix the non fat dry milk powder in ¼ cup water and add to the boiling sauce.
7. Add cooked rice and half of the cheese.
8. Simmer until the liquid is absorbed. Let it cool enough to handle.

9. Grease the insert of a 5 quart slow cooker. Stuff the pepper halfs with the rice mixture and arrange in the slow cooker.
10. Drizzle with remaining olive oil and top with remaining cheese.

11. Cover and cook in high for 4 hours or in low for 8 hours.

This is my entry for VOW/JFI event hosted by Pooja.