Red Pepper Poppers
Recently, I hosted a raw food pot luck at my home. Talking to everyone, at all levels of involvement with raw food was interesting and enlightening. It is always fun to see what raw food dishes people show up with. One couple brought some jalapeno poppers, made the raw food way. They were very good. I was inspired to take a shot at it and see what I could come up with.
Instead of using green jalapeno’s, I opted for small red cayenne peppers, for the color and the ripeness. The heat is about the same. The filling is made from pine nuts, cashews and a few other ingredients. Eggplant “bacon” tops completes the bite size morsels. There are quite a few recipes out there for eggplant “bacon”. This one was inspired by a trip to the spice shop and a desire to make it quick and easy. It turned out great. I had to fight my daughter to keep enough for the photos!
Pepper Poppers with Pine Nut Filling and "Bacon"
The day before, make the bacon.
Eggplant Bacon
- 1 eggplant
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon ground chipotle peppers (I get them pre-ground)
- 2 tablespoons agave (or liquid sweetener of your choice)
- Using a vegetable peeler or mandolin, slice the eggplant into strips about 1/8″ thick. Set aside.
- Mix together marinade ingredients.
- Place eggplant in marinade, making sure all is covered. Cover and let soak for 2-3 hours.
- Dehydrate at 116 for at least 12 hours, or until crisp.
The day of:
Pine Nut Filling
- 1 1/2 cups pine nuts (presoak for 4-5 hours.)
- 1/2 cup cashews (pre-soak for 4-5 hours)
- 1 1/2 lemons (juice from)
- 1/4 cup water
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast (not considered raw, but used frequently in raw food recipes)
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
- pinch salt
- 1/2 red pepper
- Place all ingredients in food processor and process until smooth.
Assembly
- 10 cayenne peppers
- pine nut filling
- eggplant bacon
- Cut peppers in half and remove seeds. I use plastic gloves when doing this. Be careful to not touch your face while doing this. The heat is in the seeds.
- Fill pepper halves with pine nut “cheese” and top with eggplant bacon. Enjoy!!
Mandi wrote on November 6, 2009
Wow! This made my heart skip a beat. I really miss poppers! I will be trying this out ASAP. Thank you so much.
Mark wrote on November 6, 2009
Awesome! Thanks for sharing this. This is a keeper!
ofek wrote on November 6, 2009
you are one of the most creative raw-chefs out there!
I tried stuffing de-seeded hot peppers before but the dish came out rather spicy at the end. is there a trick to it?
Susan wrote on November 6, 2009
Peppers are hot by nature. Taking out the seeds helps a ton but they are still going to be spicy.
GirlonRaw wrote on November 5, 2009
Can’t wait to try this recipe. 🙂
Crystal wrote on November 5, 2009
Those look great!
Trevor wrote on November 5, 2009
This looks amazing!