Stuffed Mini Peppers with Hummus
Colorful mini sweet peppers filled with herb-infused hummus and topped with pomegranate seeds.
- 20 piecesmini sweet peppers(halved, seeds removed)
- 2 cupshummus
- 1/4 cupfresh parsley(finely chopped)
- 2 tbspfresh mint(finely chopped)
- 1 tsplemon zest
- 1/2 cuppomegranate seeds
- 1 tspza atar
- for drizzlingextra virgin olive oil
Peppers can be prepped and hummus can be mixed up to 1 day ahead. Fill peppers up to 4 hours before serving. Add pomegranate seeds just before serving.
- 1Halve mini peppers lengthwise and remove seeds and membranes. Pat dry.
- 2Mix hummus with parsley, mint, and lemon zest until well combined.
- 3Fill each pepper half with herbed hummus using a spoon or piping bag.
- 4Top each pepper with pomegranate seeds.
- 5Sprinkle with za atar and drizzle lightly with olive oil.
- 6Arrange on a serving platter and refrigerate until serving.
The stuffed pepper as a culinary concept has deep roots across multiple Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisines, where roasting and filling vegetables has been a technique for centuries. Mini sweet peppers are native to South America and were brought to Europe and the Mediterranean by Spanish explorers in the early 16th century, where they were quickly incorporated into local cuisines. Hummus — the Arabic word for chickpeas — has been a staple of Levantine and Egyptian cooking since at least the 13th century, with some of the earliest documented recipes found in Arabic cookbooks from medieval Cairo. The pairing of cool hummus with sweet roasted pepper is a natural extension of the mezze tradition, the Middle Eastern practice of serving a spread of small dishes for communal sharing. Pomegranate seeds as a garnish reflect Persian culinary traditions, where the fruit has symbolized abundance for millennia.