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Brown Rice and Lentil Stuffed Peppers Baked in Tomato Sauce

Red and yellow pepper halves filled with spiced brown rice and green lentils, baked in tomato sauce and topped with crunchy toasted seeds. A vegan, gluten-free dinner with 10g of fibre.

Dinner

80

Serves 4 (2 halves each)

A glass baking dish of red and yellow pepper halves filled with spiced rice and topped with toasted seeds, baked in tomato sauce, on a wooden table

Ingredients

  • 4 large red or yellow peppers (bell peppers, about 600g/1lb 5oz once deseeded), halved through the stalk
  • 120g/4oz/⅔ cup long-grain brown rice
  • 1 x 400g (14oz) tin green lentils, drained and rinsed (about 240g/8½oz drained)
  • 1 tbsp plus 1 tsp (20ml) olive oil
  • 1 small onion (about 120g/4oz), finely chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic (about 8g), crushed
  • 1 tsp ground cumin, 1 tsp smoked paprika, half a tsp dried oregano, a pinch of salt and black pepper
  • 400g/1⅔ cups passata (strained tomatoes): 100g for the filling, 300g for the dish
  • 15g/2 tbsp sunflower seeds and 15g/2 tbsp pumpkin seeds
  • A small handful of flat-leaf parsley (about 10g), chopped

Method

  1. Rinse the rice and cook it in a pan of boiling water for 25 to 30 minutes, until tender, then drain well. Meanwhile, heat the oven to 200C (180C fan, 400F).
  2. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a frying pan (skillet) over a medium heat and cook the onion for 8 minutes, until soft. Add the garlic, cumin, smoked paprika and oregano for 1 minute.
  3. Stir in the rice, lentils, 100g of the passata, salt and pepper and half the parsley.
  4. Pour the remaining 300g of passata into a baking dish about 20 x 30cm (8 x 12in). Sit the pepper halves in it, cut side up, brush the outsides with the last teaspoon of oil and fill with the rice mixture.
  5. Cover with foil and bake for 25 minutes. Uncover, scatter the seeds over the filling and bake for 10 to 15 minutes more, until the peppers are soft and the seeds are toasted.
  6. Serve 2 halves each with the tomato sauce from the dish and the rest of the parsley. Because of the rice, cool any leftovers within an hour, keep them in the fridge and eat within 24 hours, reheating only once until steaming hot. Not suitable for freezing.

Why it works

Two halves give you about 12g of protein and 10g of fibre for 344 calories, from the lentils, brown rice and seeds.

Rice and lentils together. Grains and pulses complement each other: together they provide a better balance of the essential amino acids than either alone, which matters on a plant-based diet.

Why bake them in sauce. The passata in the dish keeps the peppers moist as they soften and becomes the sauce. Covering with foil for the first 25 minutes stops the filling drying out.

Why it is tagged for blood sugar. It has 45g of carbohydrate, mostly from brown rice and lentils. Their fibre means a slower, gentler rise in blood sugar than a white rice dish would give.

Free from gluten, dairy, soya and nuts. For a meat version, try the turkey and quinoa stuffed peppers.