My baking ventures have been going rather well lately (if I do say so myself!). Last month, I baked bread bowls for a soup (featured previously) which unexpectedly turned out to be a winner. The weekend after that, I was looking to bake something else savoury and ended up making these stuffed Peppers which were a bit hit too. My oven has been good to me and considering I have a few more baking experiments lined up, I hope I'm on a roll here! 

Me and my husband love Bell Peppers. It is one of those vegetables that has a permanent spot in my fridge. I love that it has the ability to infuse tremendous color and flavour into any dish it is added to. I use bell peppers quite extensively in my cooking. However, the only time peppers see the inside of my oven is when I incorporate them in grilled vegetable sandwiches or bruschetta. I haven't tried baking/grilling peppers under any other scenario. So, I thought why not try to bake stuffed whole bell peppers. I browsed through several recipes but didn't find the 'one', so, I developed my own recipe merging ideas from here and there. I didn't have any time to go grocery shopping so I had to make do with whatever ingredients I had on hand. Most of the recipes I saw called for quinoa or brown rice to stuff the peppers with. I didn't have quinoa so I opted for brown rice. I didn't have black beans (which are common in Mexican cooking) either so I settled on red kidney beans. I had grated parmesan cheese and a baking cheese blend consisting of cheddar, parmesan and mozzarella so I incorporated both into my dish. As for the seasoning, cajun spice is something I really like and it is a staple in my pantry. It is a spicy blend of onions, garlic, red pepper, herbs and other spices. I used a combination of cajun spice, cumin powder and red chilli powder to flavour the rice with. Fresh jalapenos would have been a great addition but I didn't have any at the time (boo!). Anyway, after I was done assembling and adorning the peppers, they went into the oven and came out looking quite striking. And more importantly, they tasted delish! I was pleasantly surprised. My husband who isn't the easiest person on the planet to impress, said that they were really good so I was on cloud nine  ☺

I love brown rice in general and in this dish particularly, I felt that the chewy texture of the brown rice went perfectly. The blend of spices complemented each other quite well so the overall flavour was spot on. I added sweet corn kernels, red beans, more bell peppers and cilantro into the stuffing so when it went into the tricolored peppers it was uber colorful indeed. I'm no purist yet I refrained from calling this dish 'Mexican Stuffed Peppers' since I modified the dish to the available ingredients in my kitchen and to suite my taste. But authenticity aside, take my word for it when I say this version is legit.

This is a great dish for parties because you can make the stuffing and prep the bell peppers ahead of time. All you have to do then is pop the peppers into a preheated oven about 20 mins before you want to serve them. It is not only a colorful and hearty dish but it can be made healthy too (if you go easy on the cheese that is). 

Here is my recipe. I have tried to make the recipe as versatile as possible listing all the possible ingredient substitutions.

I really hope you try it out and fall in love with it just like I did!