Ricotta Stuffed Mini-Peppers

This dish was inspired from one of Giada’s recipes on Food Network. Giada is a beautiful chef who charms you into trying her dishes mainly through the exquisite elegance and ease with which she prepares them in her gorgeous kitchen that overlooks the beach. The colors and artful presentation catch your eye and you look forward to recreate that prettiness in your own humble space. Since I’m known to love colors, the vivid colors of the yellow, red, and orange peppers drew me in.

The mini-peppers are actually sweet and not as hot as one would imagine. They are totally toothless-ly devoid of any heat once you remove their seeds.

Ingredients

1. About 20 peppers of mixed colors
2. 2 cups of ricotta (ricotta is Italian cottage-cheese, very similar to our Paneer in taste)
3. 1 small onion finely chopped
4. 2 cloves of garlic, finely minced
5. 1 teaspoon of garam masala or chaat masala
6. 1 teaspoon of salt
7. ½ teaspoon of chilli powder or chilli flakes (optional) for some heat
8. The zest of half a lemon
9. 1 tablespoon of olive oil

 Preparation

1. Cut the top of the peppers and remove the inside stalk that houses all the heat-infusing seeds (this is optional. You can retain the seeds if you like some heat to kick in)
2. In a pan, heat olive oil with garlic (so that the garlic flavor slowly imparts into the oil). Before the garlic turns brown, add the chopped onions and saute till the onions soften and turn translucent. Remove from heat. Let it cool.
3. In a bowl, mix the ricotta along with the garam masala, salt, and chilli powder. Add the cooled sauteed onions and garlic and mix well. Finally, add the zest of half a lemon to freshen the flavors.
4. The above is the stuffing. This stuffing needs to go into all the peppers. You can either spoon them in gracefully (like Giada), or be a little lazy (like me) and take a short-cut. Add the prepared ricotta stuffing into a small plastic bag. Cut one corner of the bag to make a small opening. Squeeze the contents of the bag into the peppers. To ensure that the peppers get stuffed all the way through, insert the bag deep into the peppers and start squeezing. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
5. Arrange the stuffed peppers on a parchment-paper-lined baking tray and bake for 15 minutes at 350 F.

That’s all there is to it! They are fancy-looking colorful appetizers that taste quite good. The same process can be repeated with banana peppers that are a bit more spicy and have a delicious tartness to them. But they may need a little more time in the oven. That will be my experiment for another day!