Sautéed bell peppers with cilantro rice is a delicious meal. In fact, it’s quick to make and a great way how to get some vitamins. Bell peppers are rich in beta-carotene and vitamin C. You will also notice that this humble dish is full of flavours and textures. It’s like an amusement park in your mouth. Hehehe.
First of all, do you know which bell pepper has the most vitamin C? Red, orange, yellow or green? The answer is red. More it gets ripe, more vitamin it contains. That means the green bell peppers are also perfectly edible but with a lower amount of vitamin C. They are just picked before they have the chance to turn into a brighter vivid colour.
Furthermore, I combined sausage and “my way” curry sauce to the sautéed bell peppers. Well, I thought “I can’t just skip the sausage”. And why I call the sauce “my way” curry sauce? Basically, what I did was a bechamel sauce with mild curry flavour. Moreover, to add even more flavour, I used coconut milk. To your surprise, the result was a silky, thick and very tasty curry sauce!
As a side dish, I decided for rice. White, fluffy rice with fresh cilantro and lime flavour is a perfect contrast to the crunchy peppers and spicy sauce.
Make the sautéed bell peppers with cilantro rice either for lunch or supper. You will have it on your plate in no time. And for those of you who don’t eat meat; simply skip the sausage.
Ingredients for 4 portions of sautéed bell peppers with cilantro rice:
- 1 red, 1 yellow and 1 green bell pepper
- 2 red onions
- 2-3 branches of fresh cilantro
- olive oil
- 200 g rice
- 1 lime
- 2 sausages (Vienna sausage, cut into 1-2 cm pieces)
- 200 ml vegetable stock (50 ml for the curry sauce)
- 40 g butter
- 40 g flour
- 300 ml coconut milk
- 2 Tbsp curry powder (mild or according to your taste)
- salt and pepper
First, wash and clean the bell peppers. I cut them into strips but you can cut them also into cubes. Slice the onion, in order to get nice long strips. Wash the cilantro and leave it to drain.
Second, put the rice to cook. It will take 10-16 minutes, depending on which rice you choose. I am always trying to cook it “al dente”. Like that is stays nice and fluffy. With the rice water proportions use 1:2 and everything will go great.
In the meantime, drizzle some olive oil in a larger pan and when it gets hot add the cut sausages and sauté them for a minute. Then add the onions and bell pepper strips and sauté for 6-8 minutes. Then add some vegetable stock, shake the pan and cook for 2 more minutes.
Furthermore, six minutes are more than enough to make the “my way” curry sauce. In a saucepan, melt the butter (but don’t burn it), add the flour and stir using a wooden spoon until all the traces of flour are gone. Here I switch from wooden spoon to the whisk. Stir in the coconut milk and 50 ml of vegetable stock.
Keep whisking until all the lumps are gone and then add the curry powder. Continue to whisk until thick and silky. Don’t forget to season it with salt and pepper.
Let’s go back to the rice. When all the water has been absorbed, squeeze the lime on it, drizzle some olive oil and add the fresh cilantro springs. Season as desired.
I just love this sautéed bell peppers with cilantro rice. I love the crunchy and colourful peppers, snapping sausage, creamy and spicy sauce and the citrus-rice. This sounds simply amazing! Such a simple dish but packed with flavour.
Enjoy!
