Baked peppers with chickpea and apricot pilau and smoked almond dukkah

Name: Baked peppers with chickpea and apricot pilau and smoked almond dukkah
Yield: Serve 4
Ingredients: 175 g brown rice; 6 tablespoons olive oil; 400 ml good vegetable stock; good pinch of saffron; 50 g raisins; 40 g dried apricots, soaked in water, drained and chopped; ½ teaspoon ground cumin; 120 g cooked chickpeas (tinned are fine), drained; 1 onion, finely chopped; ½ teaspoon ground coriander; 50 g pine nuts; salt and freshly ground black pepper; 2 tablespoons honey; 4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar; 4 large red peppers, halved and deseeded, stalks intact; 1 tablespoon flat-leaf parsley, chopped; little salt and freshly cracked black pepper; ½ teaspoon cumin seeds; 15 g coriander seeds; 20 g sesame seeds; 25 g smoked almonds

Preparation info

Serve
4

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Pure Vegetarian

By Paul Gayler

Published 2006

About

An excellent dish packed full of energy and flavour with its roots in the Middle East. The use of smoked almonds for the dukkah - a spiced seasoning popular in Egypt - adds a wonderful smoky overtone to the dish. I suggest serving the peppers on a bed of buttered garlic spinach and roasted squash.

Ingredients

400 ml good vegetable stock
good pinch of saffron
175 g

Main course
Vegetarian

Method

Preheat the oven to 220°C/400°F/gas mark 6. Gently heat the vegetable stock in a pan and infuse the saffron in it for 4-5 minutes. Add the rice and simmer, covered, for 20-25 minutes or until the rice is tender and all the stock has been absorbed.

Heat