Curry Stuffed Bell Pepper Boats

You’ve had peppers in your curry before but have you ever had curry in your pepper? It’s great too! and really fun for meal prepping.

This recipe is easy to mix up with your favorite curry paste or powder, I use yellow curry paste but red or green would be equally good and next time I make this I’m going to try it with panang curry.

You'll need

• 2 bell peppers (any color is fine, pick your favorite!)

• 12 shrimp (uncooked, medium size, peeled, deveined)

• 2 shallots, diced

• 2 garlic cloves, smashed and chopped

• 1 tablespoon yellow curry paste

• 1 tablespoon tomato paste

• 1 teaspoon fish sauce

• 3/4 cup dry lentils (I used a sprouted trio mix)

• 1 1/2 cups cooked rice

• 1 cup chicken broth (maybe more)

• 1 bunch cilantro, chopped (a full cup)

• olive oil, salt, pepper

Instructions:

1. preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Cut your peppers in half and rub them with a little bit of oil then place them on a foil covered baking pan.

2. add about a tablespoon of olive or avocado oil to a dutch oven or cocotte or medium sized pot, let it warm up over medium heat. When the oil glistens, add in your diced shallot and cook until softened then add in the garlic and cook another couple minutes until fragrant.

3. Next add in the curry paste and tomato paste with a splash of chicken broth, mix until combined. Pat the shrimps dry and add them into the pot, cook 2 minutes on each side and then remove just the shrimp and set aside, leaving the onion curry mix.

4. Add in the lentils and toast for a minute then add just enough chicken broth to cover everything. Add in the fish sauce and then let the lentils soak up the broth and cook, about 5 minutes. While the lentils are cooking, stick the peppers into the oven to begin cooking.

5. Next add the rice, shrimp, cilantro and another splash of chicken broth. Mix it all up then turn off the heat and cover. Take the peppers out of the oven (they should be in there for at least 5 minutes though) and fill each half with the curry mix. Cover the pan with aluminum foil and put in the oven for 10 minutes covered. Remove the foil and broil for 5 minutes, watching closely. Remove the pan from the oven, plate your peppers and enjoy!

Tips and notes:

• If you don't have curry paste - use curry powder (1 tablespoon still) and an extra teaspoon of avocado oil!

• Don't like shrimp? This can easily be done with sliced chicken, you'll need one chicken breast.

• Fish sauce is necessary, I know it smells weird but trust me!!

• I like using frozen brown rice for this recipe because I don't have to bother with making any and I can measure out exactly how much I need. Feel free to make your own rice of course and it don't have to be an exact cup! This is also a great recipe for leftover rice. Use long grain or jasmine rice to keep it more traditional.