Vegan Wild Rice Stuffed Peppers

These are quite the labor of love, but well worth it! The creamy red pepper sauce is so good, I’ll be dipping everything I make in it for the next week. If you prep ahead of time by cooking the rice and lentils then making these before dinner won’t be as hard, and it’ll taste just as delicious! These are really filling, just one pepper can be someone’s whole meal thanks to the healthy carbs from the rice and the protein from the lentils.

Ingredients (Serves 4):

For the roasted red pepper sauce:

1/4 cup raw cashews

2 red peppers

1 tbsp follow your heart smoked gouda vegan cheese

1 tbsp nutritional yeast

1 small garlic clove

tsp olive oil

1/2 cup water

salt to taste

For the stuffed peppers filling:

1 cup dry wild rice

1 3/4 cup water

1 tbsp veg broth

1/8 tsp turmeric

1/4 tsp onion powder

1/4 tsp garlic powder

sea salt and white pepper

1/2 cup red onion, diced

2 tbsp diced green chillies (canned)

2 tbsp vegetable broth

1/2 cup lentils

1/4 cup vegetable broth

1/4 cup water

1/8 tsp cumin (or more)

salt to taste

1 small tomato, diced (about 1/2 cup)

Putting it all together:

4 large (either very wide or very deep) yellow and orange peppers

tsp olive oil

tsp vegetable broth

For the avocado crema:

1/4 cup raw cashews

1 avocado

juice of 1/2 lime

1/4-1/2 cup water

1/4 tsp dried cilantro

salt to taste

How-to:

1. Preheat oven to 450*F, soak 1/2 cup cashews in 1/2 cup water.
2. Remove stems and seeds from red peppers and cut in half lengthwise. Place on a baking sheet covered in parchment paper, bake for 20-25 minutes until slightly charred. Remove from oven, and change heat setting to 350. Let sit for 10 minutes then remove charred peel.
3. While peppers are roasting, bring wild rice, water and vegetable broth to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and add in turmeric, onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Cover and simmer for 35 minutes.
4. In another pot (or you can wait for wild rice to finish and make in same pot) bring lentils, broth, water, cumin and salt to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, cover and cook for 10-15 minutes.
5. After 35 minutes, add in red onion, green chillies, and rest of vegetable broth to wild rice and cook another 10 minutes.
6. When both lentils and rice are done, mix together in a large bowl. Mix in the diced tomato as well.
7. Remove stems and seeds from the 4 peppers. Fill each with 3/4 to 1 cup filling.
8. Drizzle a clear baking dish with olive oil and vegetable broth. Add in peppers and cover with tin foil. Bake for 35 minutes at 350*F.
9. While peppers cook, blend together all the roasted red pepper ingredients to make a creamy sauce. Set aside, and then blend all the avocado crema ingredients separately. Add just enough water to the crema to combine a thick creamy sauce.
10. Remove from oven and remove tin foil. Drizzle with roasted red pepper sauce and cook another 10 minutes uncovered.
11. Let peppers cool 5-10 minutes. Drizzle with avocado crema. Serve with a side of red pepper sauce and Tofutti sour cream. Enjoy!