4 bell peppers sliced in half lengthwise, seeded, stem removed
½ cup dry quinoa
1 lb. 85%-90% ground beef
⅓ cup parsley, chopped
⅓ cup pine nuts
1 egg
1¼ tsp. salt
½ tsp. each dried mint, sugar
¼ tsp. each baharat, black pepper, cinnamon, sumac
⅛ tsp. cayenne
1 (15 oz.) can tomato sauce mixed with 1 Tbsp. sugar, ½ tsp. black pepper
About 1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded, divided in half
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Bring a medium pot of water to a boil and add quinoa. Boil 5 minutes then drain through a mesh strainer, rinsing with cold water. Drain very well. Set aside.
Sprinkle a little salt in each of the peppers and set aside.
Using your hands, mix together the meat with quinoa, parsley, pine nuts, egg, salt, spices and sugar along with 3 Tbsps. of the tomato sauce mixture and ½ cup of cheese.
Lightly coat the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch baking dish with the tomato sauce.
Evenly distribute the meat mixture to each halved pepper and place them in the baking dish. Press the meat down so it doesn't stick up above the dish.
Dollop tomato sauce mixture on top of each stuffed pepper (you probably won't use it all). Cover with aluminum foil and bake 45 minutes.
Carefully remove peppers from the oven and remove the aluminum foil. Easy because there's a lot of steam under the foil! Turn oven broiler on.
Top each pepper with a generous amount of mozzarella cheese. Broil 3-5 minutes until cheese is melted and/or browned.
Notes
Baharat is a spice blend often called Arabic 5 Spice or 7 Spice. The blend I use has 9 spices. If you don't have access to Baharat I would sub ⅛ tsp. each allspice and cumin.
Recipe by The Spice Kit Recipes at https://www.thespicekitrecipes.com/cheesy-lebanese-kofta-quinoa-stuffed-peppers/