Korean Style Stuffed Peppers

At this point it's clear I've got a thing for stuffed peppers. I'm really loving the whole idea of a vegetable bowl holding the cooked goods, adding some extra flavor to the dish and vegetables to my diet. It's like a lettuce wrap, but not as bland and tasteless. Who thought to put a burger on one of those?

Korean bowls, on the other hand, are spicy and full of flavor. I am quite the fan of Asian inspired dishes. While seemingly related to bibimbap bowls, these are simpler in that they are made with ground beef and have some varied ingredients. They're a simple, easy dinner option, one that I fully took advantage of on a lazier night.

As much as I love cooking, time and energy are strong obstacles after particularly long days. I personally won't pretend to be the best meal planner. Though I always have the best intentions, schedules change and life gets mixed up.

Making the bowls was pretty simple. I cooked the ground beef first, then chopped it as finely as I could. I added soy sauce, honey (using this instead of brown sugar), garlic, sesame oil, ginger, chili garlic sauce, and pepper. I simmered this mixture for about 5 minutes to let all the flavors meld together and the sauce thicken. I'd cooked some rice separately and mixed that in, then stirred in some green onions.

I then sliced some bell peppers in half, seeded then, and filled them with the beef and rice.

I baked the peppers for about 20 minutes in the oven, just enough to soften them slightly. A pepper with a little crunch to it is best in my world. And since the bowls would have been good on their own with some chopped pepper in there, the pepper as a bowl thing worked out quite well. Anything you think chopped pepper would be good in: bam! Use it as a bowl.

Korean Style Stuffed Peppers Recipe

Ingredients:

6 bell peppers

1 pound lean ground beef

1 cup soy sauce

2/3 cup honey or light brown sugar

1 tablespoon minced garlic 

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger

1 tablespoons chili garlic sauce

1 teaspoon pepper

1 bunch green onion, chopped

2 cups cooked rice

Instructions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Cut tops off bell peppers and remove seeds. Slice in half vertically if desired to use half-peppers as bowls. Prepare 2 cups of rice. Add ground beef to a a large skillet and cook until browned, chopping finely while cooking over medium-high heat. Lower heat to medium and add soy sauce, honey, garlic, sesame oil, ginger, chili garlic sauce, and pepper and let the mixture simmer for about 5 minutes. Stir in green onions, setting some aside to top as garnish if desired. Scoop mixture into peppers and place in a casserole. Bake for 20-30 minutes, until peppers are as tender as desired. Bake longer for softer peppers. Serve.

adapted from korean ground beef rice bowls