Stuffed bell pepper with pork and beans
This Mexican-style stuffed bell pepper with pork and beans, cooked in tomato and sweet potato sauce, is a hearty and delicious dish. The stuffing is made with an egg, so the dish is low-carb and gluten-free, but you could use cooked rice or some flour for binding the mince. Any remaining stuffing can be mixed (and cooked for 5 minutes) with the sauce and served with pasta for another meal. This dish is ideal for parties and dinner parties, as the sauce can be made ahead and cooked further with the stuffed peppers (which only takes 15 minutes).
Ingredients
Method
- In a frying pan stir-fry the mince with the oregano in a little oil. Add some salt and pepper. When the colour has changed, turn the cooker off and set aside. When cooled, drain through a sieve and put it in a mixing bowl.
- Cut off one-third of the peppers (with the stem) creating a cup.
- Cut any flesh off the stems and chop these up.
- Finely chop the onion, garlic, sweet potatoes and carrot.
- Heat the oil in a large, shallow saucepan and gently sauté the chopped vegetables for about 10 minutes.
- Add the oregano and spices, stir for a minutes, then add the tomato purée and stir for a few seconds. Season with salt and pepper.
- Add the tinned tomatoes, and using the tin, add enough water to cover the veggies.
- Bring to the boil and cook for 20 minutes until the veggies are tender.
- Add the herbs and, using a hand-held blender, blitz the soup until you get a slightly textured sauce.
- Cut the corn kernels off the cob or drain the tinned corns.
- Add about half a cup of the sauce to the fried mince together with the chopped parsley, corn, beans and egg. Mix well. Add more sauce if it looks too dry but the mixture must not be wet!
- Stuff the pepper cups with the stuffing an put them in the sauce, tightly next to each other, looking upwards.
- Put a lid on and cook for 10-15 minutes or until the peppers are tender.
- Serve warm with rice or flatbread.