This healthy and vegan stuffed bell peppers with lentils and sweet potatoes are a perfect comfort food. Recipe might look complicated at first, but most of the ingredients are spices, so there is not much cutting to do. And the best part is, if you don’t like cooked bell peppers, you can just serve and enjoy them fresh (filling still has to be cooked ;)). It’s like eating the main dish and a salad all in one perfect bite. I usually leave half of the peppers fresh and cook the other half, so everyone can choose the version they prefer or try from both. I like the sweetness of the cooked bell peppers, but our younger son doesn’t like them cooked. Fresh version is also slightly more nutritious because it doesn’t lose any vitamin C during cooking. So do try both and decide which is better for you. 🙂
Healthy Vegan Stuffed Bell Peppers with Lentils and Sweet Potatoes
Equipment
- Blender
- Deep Pot
- Baking Dish optional
Ingredients
- 8 large bell peppers use colour that you prefer
- 4 tomatoes for placing on top
Sauce for the filling:
- 500 g brown lentils
- 2 large or 3 small sweet potatoes
- 1200 ml water for cooking
- 2 tablespoons dried porcini mushroom powder
- 100g concentrated tomato paste
- 3 cloves garlic
- 2 tablespoons vegetable stock powder
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 tablespoon sweet paprika powder
- 1 teaspoon hot paprika powder
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika powder
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 250-300 g greens of choice spinach, kale…
- a handful of walnuts about 80g
- 80 ml water for walnut sauce
Instructions
- Rinse the lentils with cold water and place them in a deep pot with water to cook.
- Peel and dice the sweet potatoes into small cubes (about 1x1cm). Add the to the pot. Reduce the heat once the water boils.
- Blend or finely chop dried mushrooms in a blender until powdered. Add them to the lentils.
- Crush the garlic and add it to the sauce.
- Add all the other spices: salt, black pepper, concentrated tomato paste, vegetable stock powder, soy sauce, sweet paprika powder, hot paprika powder, smoked paprika powder, cumin.
- Cook on low heat until the lentils and sweet potatoes soften, approximately 25-30 minutes.
- Towards the end, add the walnut sauce: Blend the walnuts and 80 ml of water together in a blender until you get a creamy sauce.
- Wash the spinach, finely chop it, and add it at the very end.
- Wash the bell peppers, cut them in half, and remove the seeds and stems.
- Fill the halved bell peppers with prepared sauce. Place tomato slices on top of the stuffed peppers.
- You can serve the stuffed peppers immediately, or arrange them in a baking dish and bake in the oven for about 15 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius.
