When I was home last August, I went shopping in my parents’ pantry – or rather, was looking for last minute food items to fill up the empty spaces in my suitcase. Among many things, I ended up with a bag of wild rice. We prepared it a few nights ago, and this is what we did with the leftovers. You could probably stuff a lot of different things with this filling. Get creative. We used Piman (pronounced PEA-MAHN), the Japanese green pepper that’s much smaller than green bells in the States. I got the idea for this recipe from Rachael Ray, but she stuffs giant tomatoes instead of peppers.
10 Piman peppers (or 4 large green bell peppers)
2 TBS. olive oil (or 2 swigs around the pan)
3/4 cup prepared wild rice
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
a few handfuls of mushrooms (about 4 oz.), coarsely chopped
1 lb. ground chicken
1 TBS. paprika
1/2 cup sour cream (we used plain yogurt because it actually tastes more like sour cream than Japanese sour cream does)
salt & pepper
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees (180 C)
- Cut the tops off the peppers, and remove the seeds and membranes.
- Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Cook the onion and garlic until onion softens and garlic is just barely light brown.
- Add the mushrooms and cook for a minute more.
- Add the ground chicken and cook until done, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon until crumbly.
- Stir in the paprika. Remove pan from heat and stir in the sour cream (or yogurt), and prepared wild rice. Add salt & pepper to taste.
- Fill the peppers with the chicken-wild rice mixture and place upright in a baking dish. Bake for about 20 minutes or until the peppers are tender and the top of the filling is lightly browned. Serves 2 hungry people.
i’ve never made stuffed peppers before…i really need to try them sometime! they look tasty!
I came upon your blog through a Google search, imploring the powers that be to direct me to the grand cilantro-horde here in our shared adoptive home of Japan. I must say, your recipes are fabulous. I don’t currently have an excess of time for cooking, but this gives me the extra push to make the most of the time that I do have, culinarily speaking. Looked at your seventh day website as well – and I felt as if my spiritual eyes (which have long been heavy and tired) opened a little wider. Thank you thank you. By the way, I too adore Sufjan and Anathallo (the later of whom I will be seeing live when I visit the states next month). I have photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/shosha
Take care,
Suzanne
thanks, ashley! an even easier idea is filling them with leftover taco meat and topping them with cheese and salsa. yum!
suzanne, I appreciate your kind comment. I checked out some of your photos and was very impressed with how you’ve captured Japan. Amazing. I wish you the best! May I ask where in Japan you’ve made your adoptive home?