Stuffed Thai Capsicums (easy Thai food #3)

 

 

 

 

 

If you ever make Pad Kra Pao - Spicy Beef Mince with Thai Basil and Chilli I'd suggest trying this variation because it's dead easy and delicious (and always impresses guests - never a bad thing!). Apologies in advance for some of the photos. A friend dropped round unexpectedly so we cracked a Martinborough Pinot while it was in the oven. And shortly thereafter my (already negligible) plating and photography skills abandoned me; I even broke one of the eggs...

OK. Moving right along, all we're doing is stuffing mince into capsicums. It's still summer right now so there are great "King Sweetie" capsicums around, those long thin ones which genuinely are sweeter, have thinner skins and are great eating. And if you happen to be cooking a multi-dish Thai meal you can stuff these in advance then cook them in the oven, freeing up valuable stove-top space and last minute time for other more hands-on dishes. Otherwise, this is a good-sized meal for two, with perhaps some rice or a salad.

Ingredients

• 1 x recipe Pad Kra Pao
• 2 "King Sweetie" red capsicums (or other capsicums)
  
• 4 eggs
  
• Extra Thai basil

Method

• First up, make the Pad Kra Pao as per the recipe. It might look like this:

• Cut the capsicum in half lengthways and scoop out the seeds and membrane. This is surprisingly simple as the peppers cut easily and there are very few seeds. (The picture is pre-deseeding.)
  

• Spoon the mince on top of the capsicum. This is enough mince for 4 capsicum halves but I was being lazy and stuffed extra onto three bits to fit the dish. You can then cover and hold these in the fridge for a few hours if required. Probably overnight but I haven't tried that...
  

• Pre-heat the oven to 180C and when it's hot bake the capsicum for 30 minutes. Regular, thicker capsicum might take 40 minutes.

• Fry the eggs - one for each capsicum half.

• To serve, sprinkle the capsicum with extra Thai basil, put the eggs on top and eat accompanied with rice or salad. Or just on their own.
  

Yes, a broken egg. Oh the shame! A Definite case of Plating Under the Influence

OK. There we go. Nothing authentic in the slightest I'm sure but absolutely delicious, hot and salty and spicy, with soft sweet red pepper and rich thick egg yolk flowing in with the mince and little aniseed hits from the basil - YUM!

And, of course, only one of many things you can stuff into those brilliant capsicums. I love food that can be prepared in advance; it just makes things easier. Sorry again about the crap plating. And photos - I'm using an old instamatic and can't work out how to turn the flash off.