Aromatic and full of flavour these Lebanese stuffed capsicum are a meal in itself.  We suggest you try making double quantities so you have two tasty meals later on!

ALL the ingredients for this recipe are now available at your local Ritchies supermarket. Find your local VIC, NSW or QLD store.

Lebanese stuffed capsicum

• 4 large capsicum
• 500g beef mince
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 cups rice (cooked)
• 2 tablespoons pine nuts (toasted)
• 2 inner sticks of celery, plus leaves – finely diced
• ½ red onion, finely diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 ripe tomatoes, seeded and finely diced
• ½ cup mint, chopped
• ½ cup parsley, chopped
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon sumac
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 x 800g cans chopped tomatoes
• 1 cup low salt chicken stock

Carefully cut the top off each capsicum around 5cm from the top, clean the seeds and membrane from the capsicums with a spoon, cut any seeds from the tops keep the tops as they will be the “lids”. Heat a fry pan over a medium heat and add the beef mince and cook until it begins to brown on the edges then add the minced garlic and fry for a further 2 minutes stirring well. Remove from heat and empty into a large mixing bowl. In a dry pan, toast the pine nuts until brown all over, remove from the hot pan and set aside until cool.

Cook the rice as per instructions on pack to make around two and a half cups of cooked rice. Once cooked, drain and combine with the cooked beef mince. Add the onion, pine nuts, dry spices, fresh herbs, celery, tomato and lemon juice to the bowl and mix well, season with salt and pepper. Combine well and spoon into the empty capsicum shells. Do not pack too tightly. Heat a large casserole dish over a medium heat and add the tins of chopped tomatoes together with stock and season with salt and pepper. Stand the stuffed capsicums up in the tomato sauce and sit their lids on top. Cover with lid and simmer gently for around 1 hour, gently stirring the bottom and spooning the sauce over the capsicums. until the capsicum is tender but still holding it’s form. Remove gently with a slotted spoon and serve with the lid on top in the tomato sauce . Serves 4