Bell Peppers Stuffed with Tabbouleh

As a good little Armenian housewife-to-be, when I found a recipe for bell peppers stuffed with homemade tabbouleh in the vegetarian cookbook Allie gave me for my birthday, I marked it immediately as one I had to make.  I love tabbouleh, and I loved stuffed peppers.  I've never made my own tabbouleh before and was a little concerned that I needed to buy something called bulgur, but I gave it a try!

The bulgur was pretty simple to make; you just boil it and then let it sit in the water for ten minutes.  It puffs up and gets sort of soft.  Quinoa-esque but not exactly; kind of couscous-esque but not quite.  I am not sure how to explain it.  If you've ever had tabbouleh, you get what I mean!

Once the bulgur is cooled, you can mix the tabbouleh together: bulgur, diced cucumber and cherry tomatoes, golden raisins (these by far are the best part!!!), mint, scallions, and parsley, with a "sauce" of lemon juice and olive oil.  Is your mouth watering already?  Because just rereading the ingredients has me really wishing I had leftovers still.

This is a good summer meal (not that we are there yet, but I am subconsciously hoping!) because you only need to use the stove, not the oven.  Unlike many stuffed pepper recipes, these guys aren't baked (Mark did broil some that we gave to Christy though).  The peppers are just sliced, stuffed, and enjoyed!  That makes them pretty quick, and cool enough for the hot weather (it's coming someday).  I noticed that these are great served while the tabbouleh is still cooling, but are also good served cold, or room temperature, or basically any time.

My mom had had doubts about this meal (she kept wishing I would just stuff the peppers with ground beef or something equally gross), but she really loved it too.  She even had seconds of the tabbouleh, and ate it without peppers the next day (she agreed that the raisins really make it special!).  Mark ate two!  And Christy and Reagan enjoyed my extras (I doubled it like a crazy person).  So: I found another vegetarian meal that people will eat without complaining!

Recipe:

bell peppers stuffed with tabbouleh

from Simply Delicious: Vegetarian by Carla Bardi
serves 4

Ingredients:
8 ounces bulgur
1 cucumber, peeled and diced
8 ounces cherry tomatoes, diced
2 scallions, finely chopped
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
salt and freshly ground pepper
1/3 cup golden raisins (but I doubled this... they are so good in there!)
freshly squeezed juice of 2 lemons
2 tablespoons finely chopped mint
4 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
2 green bell peppers
2 red bell peppers
mint leaves to garnish

Instructions:

1) Cook the bulgur in a large pot of salted boiling water for 10 minutes.  Turn off the heat and let swell in the water for 10 minutes.  Drain and let cool completely (or somewhat if you're in a rush like me!).

2) Mix in the cucumber, tomatoes, and scallions.  Drizzle with the olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Add in raisins, lemon juice, mint, and parsley,  Refrigerate for 2 hours (I didn't).

3) Halve the peppers and remove the seeds and filaments.  Fill with the tabbouleh.  Garnish with the mint leaves and serve.