-
1
Dry-fry pine nuts over a medium heat until lightly toasted, about two minutes.
-
2
Keep separate until later.
-
3
Heat butter or oil and add onion and garlic, and the chilli if using.
-
4
Cook for a few minutes until just soft, stirring often so as to not burn the garlic.
-
5
Add the coriander, cumin and tumeric.
-
6
If using ground cloves, add now too.
-
7
Cook for about 30 seconds or until the spices smell aromatic, stirring.
-
8
Add the uncooked rice and stir to coat with the spices, then pour in the stock.
-
9
Add bay leaves and whole cloves, if you didn't already add ground cloves.
-
10
Bring to the boil and reduce to a simmer, then cook covered for 30 minutes for brown rice or 15 minutes for white.
-
11
Cook until the rice is cooked through and the stock is absorbed.
-
12
Add more stock if the rice is getting too dry before it is cooked.
-
13
(I sometimes use 1.5 cups of cooked leftover brown rice, so I halve the amount of stock and the time to cook.)
-
14
Let the rice cool for a few minutes, and if it has clumped, use a fork to separate the grains.
-
15
Remove bay leaves, and if you used whole cloves, remove them too (if you can find them, lol).
-
16
Stir in the parsley and pine nuts, and pepper and salt.
-
17
Halve the peppers and remove the stalks, seeds and membrane.
-
18
Scoop the rice into the pepper halves, and if you have leftover mix, add extra to the peppers to make them heaped.
-
19
Cook in a medium oven for 30 to 40 minutes, remove from oven when the peppers are tender and probably slightly charred.
-
20
While the peppers are cooking, mix the yogurt, mint and lemon.
-
21
Serve peppers with a generous dollop of the yogurt mix, and a few mint leaves to garnish.
-
22
Some people prefer it without the yogurt mix (not me), so you may like to taste it before adding the yogurt.
-
23
Eat with a knife and fork if you like the pepper skin.
-
24
If you don't like the skin, use a spoon to scoop the rice and pepper flesh out, it should separate easily after having been in the oven.
