Baked Falafel Stuffed Capsicums

The only time I will ever use the term "get stuffed" is when I'm talking to one of my favourite vegetables, the  commendable capsicum.

These stuffed capsicums are gluten-free and 100% plant-based.

This is literally one of my tastiest, yummiest, most mouth-watering and flavoursome recipes to date.

I've been wanting to write a blog post on these since I first made them on the weekend and seeing as my blog is now officially live (yay!) I decided I'd make them again this morning (double yay!) to remind myself of the ingredients and steps I used. 

I'm a big fan of Middle Eastern cuisine because of its freshness and flavour and also a big Mexican food lover (there's never a bad time for guac!) so stuffing capsicums with falafel just seemed to make sense in my mind, and then serving them with avocado sauce seemed like an even better idea!

I only had one capsicum and heaps of stuffing so I ended up making several small falafel patties too - these are perfect to fill a lunch box for school or work!

Makes 2 stuffed capsicums and 7 falafel patties
Prep time: half an hour
Cooking time: half an hour 

Falafel Stuffing

2 cups cooked chickpea splits (I actually cooked these on the weekend in a huge batch and froze them)
1 brown onion
small bunch of coriander, chopped
4 garlic cloves, crushed (for ease of peeling and also because garlic must be crushed or cut to release the anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and anti-viral activity of allicin)
2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground ginger
Celtic sea salt to taste
3 tbsp coconut oil

Avocado Sauce

1/2 an avocado
juice of 1/2 a lemon, few tbsp of olive oil
2 spring onion shoots

1. Slice the capsicums in half and de-seed.

2. Pre-heat the oven to 190 C.
3. Toss all falafel ingredients into a food processor and pulse away until everything is holding together but a bit soggy.
4. Scoop mixture into capsicum halves and form remaining stuffing into slightly soggy falafel patties.

5. Place patties onto a baking-paper-lined tray for 25 minutes, until browned on the outside. 
6. Blend sauce ingredients and serve stuffed capsicums and falafels with avocado and Hawaiian red alaea salt, avocado sauce, lime wedges, and a smattering of hemp seeds and activated raw pumpkin kernels.

There you go! A Sisi-friendly, slightly Mexican spin on traditional falafel that's packed with nutrients and flavour!