Stuffed Bellpeppers With Saffron Basmati Rice

I LOVE stuffed Bell Peppers. Now that I know how much better homemade tomato sauce is, everything that has tomato sauce in it, or on it is only going to get better. The secret is making sure your tomatoes are very, very ripe.

Gathering the Ingredients for Stuffed Bell Peppers

Ingredients:

Cooking the Beef

4 Ground Beef Patties
4 Large Bell Peppers
1 Red Onion - Chopped
5 Ripe Roma Tomatoes - Chopped
1 tsp. Garlic Powder
1 tsp. Dried Basil
10 Strands Spanish Saffron
1 Cup Basmati Rice
1- 1/2 Cup Hot Water

Cooking the Chopped Roma Tomatoes

Chop the tomatoes and cook on low heat until the tomatoes cook down into the most delicious sauce you will ever taste. Add the garlic powder and basil and stir well. Keep the sauce simmering until everything else is ready.

Basmati Rice

Add the rice and hot water and saffron to a pan with a good fitting lid and bring to a boil. As soon as the rice is boiling (do not remove the lid) turn the temperature down to warm and set a timer for 20 minutes. As soon as the timer goes off remove the rice from the heat and fluff gently with a fork.

Continue Browning the Beef

Most people make their stuffed bell peppers with raw beef, and I have made them that way in the past. I prefer to cook the beef ahead of time so I can remove the stuffed bell peppers from the oven before the peppers get too well done. I like crunchy vegetables.

Keep the beef and onions warm.

Push aside the ground beef and toss in your chopped onion to soften the a little.

Wash the bell peppers.

When I first started making stuffed bell peppers many, many, many years ago, you could only get green bell peppers. Now you can get them in various stages of ripeness. I prefer the flavor of the red ones. But all colors of bell peppers whether red, orange, green or yellow are really delicious.

Have all the ingredients ready.

Once the sauce is done begin stuffing the bell peppers. I put the Saffron Rice, Ground Beef, Onions, and then topped it with the tomato sauce. Reserve any left over sauce and keep it warm for when you serve the bell peppers. I like lots of extra sauce on mine.