Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Peppers Stuffed with Curried Chickpeas and Quinoa Raisin Salad

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I wake up in the middle of the night and can't fall back asleep.

I think about food...recipes... and those things we can control in our lives -when the goal is staying healthy.

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That's why this year I'm thinking...for every plate of cheeseburgers and fries (because those are going nowhere) ~ there will be a dish like this.

After all...isn't a healthy life all about balance?

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Peppers Stuffed with Curried Chickpeas and Quinoa Raisin Salad

Prepare the Quinoa (keen-wa) Raisin Salad:

2 cups prepared Quinoa (according to your package instructions)
2 tablespoon Pine Nuts, toasted
Handful of Raisins

Add all three ingredients to a bowl, fold together and set aside.

Prepare the Peppers (2-3 large or 4 smaller sized peppers):

Take your peppers and cut off their tops and clean out the insides

Blanch peppers in boiling water for 10-12 minutes or until just soft but still able to stand on their own. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350.

Prepare Curried Chickpeas:
Recipe adapted from Jolinda Hackett, About.com Guide

1 can Chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup vegetable stock (or chicken)
1/2 onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, diced
3 tbsp olive oil
juice from half lemon
1/2 tsp curry powder
scant 1/2 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp garam masala
1 large handful baby spinach
Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

In a large skillet, saute onions and garlic in olive oil until soft, about 5 minutes.

Add spices and lemon juice and stir for one minute. Add Chickpeas and broth and stir. Cover and simmer about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, adding more stock (or water) ONLY if needed until chickpeas are cooked and soft.

Reduce heat, add spinach and cover. Allow spinach to wilt for 2-4 minutes.

Mix together the Curried Chickpeas and Quinoa Salad, stuff the peppers with the mixture, place in oven and cook approximately 20 minutes. Broil at the end for an additional 3-5 minutes if desired.

Can be made a day ahead and reheated.

19 comments:

Miss Meat and Potatoes said...

LOL - I do the same thing. It's kind of scary actually. If I tallied the number of hours I thought a day (and night) about food - I'd have to check myself into a clinic!

This is my favorite post about approaching the New Year yet. Spot on, Lovely! And when you make a healthful dish so pretty - well I can't help but crave it as if it were a big 'ol plate of cheeseburger and fries!

Clint said...

Beautiful pics---and what a great idea for peppers. Think I'll have a martini before and some cabernet sauvignon during. Yummm.

Whats Cookin Italian Style Cuisine said...

These look fabulous!

Mags @ the Other Side of 50 said...

What a delicious and healthy looking dish.

It IS all about balance, isn't it. Love this recipe.

Velva said...

Beautiful! healthy, flavorful and delicious.

I totally relate...I think about food 24/7.

Velva

chow and chatter said...

wow this looks amazing what a great creation your a fab cook

Andrea the Kitchen Witch said...

Good God those look GOOD! LOVE the flavors in this, the raisins with curry are SO good! I so agree about the balance. And when healthy food looks this good, and tastes amazing too, whats not to be excited about? :)

Courtney said...

I'm in love with stuffed peppers but never even thought about using quinoa (I always use rice). Those peppers look delicious - and of course I can't turn down anything that involves curry!

Unknown said...

That sure does not look like the stuffed peppers my mom used to make... if they had looked like this, I would have eaten them!! These look absolutely beautiful..and they sound so delicious!

Katerina said...

We stuff peppers and tomatoes too here with ground beef and rice or only rice. Your stuffing looks absolutely mouthwatering.

Val said...

I love stuffed peppers and these look wonderful.

Mary Bergfeld said...

Boy, oh boy, these look really good. I never used chickpeas to stuff peppers but yours look wonderful. I'll have to give these a try. I hope you are having a great day. Blessings...Mary

Simply Life said...

Oh I'm with you think about food all hours of the day! Great looking recipe!

The Food Hound said...

This filling looks to die for!! I love sweet-savory grain dishes like this!!

Nuts about food said...

What an original recipe, I love the idea. I also like the idea of a healthy dish for every non healthy one. You go girl!

Rich said...

I'd take a few of those for every cheeseburger, too! What a fantastic-looking dish ...

Anonymous said...

This looks delicious! And I love when the healthy dishes end up being the tasty ones too :)

Lizzy said...

These look great. I just posted a similar stuffed recipe but it's apples instead of peppers. I think quinoa is just perfect for stuffing veggies. Thanks for the recipe!

Tanvi@SinfullySpicy said...

meandmy husband love red peppers and this is a fantastic way of eating them.I sure these would be quite flavorful with chickpea filling!
stumbled upon your blog via chow and chatter and so so love it.will be back quite often.