Lunch today is vegan stuffed peppers. These turned out so well using bell peppers, fried onions, garlic, vegan ground beef (my favourite), and vegan cheese!
This was my first time making stuffed peppers and I was a little unsure of what to make. I did not follow a recipe, instead I googled stuffed bell peppers and took visual inspiration. I picked ingredients I already had at home as my husband had the flu and just ran with it. This is the same for the next couple dishes. To start I shelled the peppers, as pictured above. The method I used was similar to how you would carve a pumpkin. Cut a hole in the top and pull out the center. Slice the pepper in half and, optionally, wash out with water to remove any remaining seeds. After this was prepped, I put some sesame oil in a hot pan and fried my chopped onions over medium-high heat. As they fried I diced two cloves of garlic and added it to the pan.
After these were cooked, I set them aside and added sesame oil to the pan again. Adding the fake meat, I cooked and added soy sauce and a variety of spices and herbs. The ones I remember are parsley, onion, cilantro, basil, salt and pepper, and a general spice mix. Basically I just went through my spices and tried to choose ones that will make it taste closer to meat. Finishing the fake meat, I set up a pan covered with tin foil and placed the peppers on it. I filled each evenly with the onions, then meat, then cheese. This was my first time using vegan cheese and I think it turned out well.
Overall, this “recipe” went pretty well. I am not a big pepper person due to the texture, but taste wise it was good. My husband enjoyed them and my friend also did. However, for him, upon learning they were vegan, he said they would be better with “the real thing.” Overall, success!