Mexican rice stuffed capsicums

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Cooking for vegetarians and meat-eaters in the one household? This easy recipe is one of those that can do double-duty, satisfying both camps - it's filled with a mixture of rice, beans, tomato, corn and cheese which makes for good protein for the vegetarians AND it can become a delicious accompaniment to a plain grilled steak or fish for the carnivores.

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Ingredients

2 cups cooked doongara rice *
400g (14oz) can mixed beans, drained, rinsed
2 zucchini (courgette), chopped
1 tomato, chopped
1 corn cob, kernels removed
¼ cup sweet chilli sauce
4 red capsicums (bell peppers)
½ cup low-fat grated tasty cheese
2 tablespoons toasted pine nuts
2 tablespoons chopped parsley or coriander
mixed leaf green salad to serve

* This is a lower GI white rice similar to Basmati in GI value. If you can't find it at your supermarket, just use a brown rice or a regular white rice.

Methods/steps

1. Preheat oven to moderate 180°C (350°F). Line a baking tray with baking paper.

2. In a large bowl, combine rice with the drained beans with the zucchini, tomato, corn and sauce.

3. Slice the top off each capsicum and remove all seeds and white membrane. Arrange capsicums on prepared tray.

4. Spoon the rice filling into each and sprinkle with combined cheese, nuts and parsley.

5. Bake for 20 minutes until capsicum is tender. Serve with salad.

Additional Tips

Cook's tip:
If cooking rice from raw, you will need about ¾ cup.

Variation:
If preferred, you can use small golden nugget pumpkins (remove top and scrape out seeds) which have been partially cooked in the microwave oven on High (100%) power for 5 minutes each. Increase cooking time to 30 minutes.

Preparation time: 15 min Cooking time: 20 min

Nutrition per serve:
Including a generous serve of salad

1715 kilojoules (410 Calories), 11g fat (including 2g saturated fat), 26g carbohydrate (including 12g sugars), 12g fibre and 535mg sodium. Read our nutrition rating system.

This recipe is from Zest: the Nutrition for Life Cookbook by Catherine Saxelby and Jennene Plummer. If you want to cook healthy recipes that are quick and delicious, try the many easy recipes in this book. It's available here online from our website, click here to order.