Chickpea and Feta Stuffed Peppers

I love stuffed peppers as a main meal or they make a great side dish for BBQ chicken. There’s nothing complicated about this recipe which I why I make them so often especially if I have leftover cooked rice. I use tinned chickpeas and you don’t even have to cut the tomatoes so it’s really simple to assemble. If you like a little spice in your life then add a chopped chilli or a pinch of chilli flakes. Any filling that spills over the top of the pepper becomes crunchy which adds a lovely texture at the end.

INGREDIENTS
Serves 2 Adults & 2 Kids
4 red peppers
250g drained chickpeas
100g feta
85g rice (yields 250g cooked rice)
8-10 cherry tomatoes
1 lemon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp smoked or unsmoked paprika
parsley
olive oil
optional: parmesan to finish

• Cook the rice in salted water (use my easy 20-minute rice recipe). Pre-heat the oven to 195°C (175°C Fan). Cut the top off each pepper then use a small, sharp knife to remove the core.
• Tip the drained chickpeas into a mixing bowl then add the tomatoes, roughly chopped parsley and broken up pieces of feta. Add the cooked rice to the bowl then sprinkle over the paprika and salt then squeeze over the juice of the lemon and stir to mix everything together.
• Use a spoon to stuff the peppers then drizzle over with olive oil and grind over with a little salt then loosely cover each pepper with a piece of foil to top the tops from burning. Roast for 45 minutes then finish with a little parmesan and fresh parsley.