Stuffed Poblano Peppers

I love the smell of roasted peppers. The aroma of blistered, blackened peppers of any kind brings the promise of exciting, maybe even great food to my otherwise ordinary, everyday cooking. The promise certainly exceeds my current skills, but it’s wonderful to indulge in culinary fantasies!

The poblano is a well known pepper from Mexico, and is generally fairly mild in its green form. The dried red version is known as Ancho Chili. It is well suited for stuffing since it has thick walls that hold up well in the oven. It is also a fairly large pepper and each can hold upto ⅔ c. of filling; two stuffed peppers and a salad make a satisfying dinner. Poblano peppers are easily found in most produce stores and the organic ones from TeraFarm are just bursting with flavor.

This recipe is vegetarian, and can have endless modifications. Substitute the black beans and quinoa with cooked ground turkey or beef and you can have a meaty meal. Don’t have quinoa? Use brown rice or white rice. Or even bread stuffing.  But I feel that the key is to have a filling that is not too intensely flavored so that you can enjoy the taste of the pepper itself.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

4 large poblano peppers 

1 cup  cooked quinoa

1 can black beans drained, rinsed and lightly mashed

½ cup frozen corn kernels

1 large onion, chopped

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

½ can fire roasted diced tomatoes

½ c finely chopped carrots or zucchini (optional)

½ tsp cumin powder

1 tsp dried oregano

¼ tsp red chili powder or ancho chili powder

Salt and pepper to taste

½ c shredded cheese (cheddar or mixed)

Method:

• Turn the oven to broil for 5 minutes. 

• Place the peppers on a tray on the top rack of the oven. Broil for 4-5 minutes till the skin is blistered and blackened. Carefully open the oven, pull the tray out half way and with your nose at a safe distance from the heat, take a deep inhale of the wonderful aroma. Turn the peppers over and allow the other side to blacken, 2-3 minutes. Remove from the oven. Take in the aroma again!

• Place the peppers in a bowl and cover for around 10 minutes. 

• Meanwhile, heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan and add onions and garlic. Saute for 3-4 minutes till translucent. Add corn, black beans and tomatoes and stir till well combined. Add carrots or zucchini, if using. Add the quinoa and all the seasonings. Add salt and pepper to taste. Stir and combine well. Remove from heat.

• Peel the peppers taking care to remove the blackened skin all the way to the stem. Leave stem intact. 

• Gently make a single slit on one side of each pepper all the way from the stem to the tip. Remove the seeds from inside. I don’t care if a few seeds stay behind - they add a pleasant heat to the eating experience.

• Stuff each pepper with  around ⅔ c of the quinoa-bean filling and place in an oven-safe dish. Top each with shredded cheese.

• Place in a 375 degree oven for around 5-7 minutes and then broil for 2 minutes till the cheese is lightly browned. 

• Serve warm garnished with chopped green onions, or cilantro. Or both!

-Vaishali