by Sophie Playle

Created on: September 05, 2008   Last Updated: June 15, 2011

Peppers are both delicious and healthy, and their hollow shape means they are great for stuffing with a variety of great-tasting vegetarian fillings. They can be cooked as a snack, a healthy lunch, or part of a main meal. The best part is, you can pick and choose what you stuff them with to cater for your individual preferences. They are so easy to make, and great fun to experiment with. This makes them a perfect vegetarian food.

With each recipe below, you can decide which colour pepper you prefer. Green peppers are slightly bitter as they are not fully ripe. Yellow and orange peppers are slightly sweeter - they are green peppers that have ripened a little more. Red peppers are the sweetest as they are fully ripe. All colours are edible, though.

Allow for one pepper per person.

RECIPE ONE: Breadcrumb Stuffing

Ingredients:

- 4 peppers
- 4 tbsp olive oil, plus extra to drizzle
- 150g/5oz peas
- 1 large red onion, finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic
- 150g/5oz breadcrumbs
- 1 egg
- salt and black pepper

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C.
2. Cut around the tops off the peppers. Remove the insides and seeds using a spoon and sharp knife. Rinse to get all the bits out.
3. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and pan-fry the peas with the red onion and crushed garlic.
4. Add the breadcrumbs and the egg to the pea mixture and stir.
5. Stuff the peppers with the mixture. Place in a baking tray and season with salt and black pepper. Drizzle with olive oil.
6. Cook them in the oven for about 20-30 minutes until soft and cooked through.

RECIPE TWO: Rice and Tomato Stuffing

Ingredients:

- 4 peppers
- 2 tablespoons of olive oil
- 1 onion
- 1 garlic clove
- 200g of basmati rice
- 1 teaspoons of dried parsley
- 1 teaspoons of dried oregano
- Half tin of chopped tomatoes
- black pepper and salt

Method:

1. Preheat the oven at 180C.
2. Cut around the tops off the peppers. Remove the insides and seeds using a spoon and sharp knife. Rinse to get all the bits out.
3. Heat the olive oil in a saucepan and pan-fry the onion and garlic for a few minutes.
4. Strain the tinned tomatoes into a measuring jug. Add some boiling water to the juice to increase the liquid to 300ml.
5. Add the rice, herbs and tomato liquid to the pan and bring to the boil. Let it simmer for 8 min.
6. Add half the tin of chopped tomatoes.
7. Make sure the mixture is heated through, then let to stand until all the liquid is absorbed.
8. Stuff the mixture into the peppers using a fork.
9. Place on a baking tray and

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