Halloumi Stuffed Peppers with a Spicy Tomato Sauce

I love a good vegetarian dish for supper as well as a good Moroccan spiced dish. This fortunately combines both! It’s fairly easy to put together as well, but once it’s together you shove it in the oven and forget about it. There are also a million things you can do with the couscous stuffing. You can eat it as a side by itself or stuff it into a chicken or lamb roulade. You could also integrate other ingredients; the options are endless! I made this dish to serve as a main course for two people making 4-5 peppers. It can easily be a side dish as well, just up the ingredients a bit.

Light lunch, dinner or a side dish!

Ingredients:
1 400g tin of tomatoes
2 medium onions
75g dried whole wheat couscous
225g block halloumi
4 large peppers
3 cloves garlic
50g dried dates
50g dried pistachios
2-4 tbsp. ras el hanout rub
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp. olive oil

For the Sauce:
Dice one onion and chop garlic.
In a saucepan combine tinned tomatoes, onion, garlic, and 1-2 tbsp. ras el hanout.
Bring to a boil and let it reduce until the onions are soft, about 10 minutes. (You might need to add half can of water)

For the Couscous:
Dice the other onion and garlic.
Slice the dried dates and pistachios.
In a small pan heat the oil and fry the onion, garlic, and dates until soft.
At the end add the pistachios and take off heat.
In a bowl mix the dried couscous with the friend onions, garlic, dates, and pistachios.
Pour about 250ml boiling water on to the couscous, cover with cling film and set aside.

To Assemble:
When the sauce is done take off heat.
Cut the tops off the peppers and remove seeds and veins.
Cut the halloumi in about 24 chunks (six pieces for each pepper)
Place a ladle of sauce at the bottom of the dish.
Place halloumi in each pepper arranged so you can still fill with the couscous mixture.
By now the couscous should be rehydrated and ready to fluff and fill. Use a large table spoon to fill each pepper evenly and repeat for all of the peppers.
Pour the rest of the sauce over the peppers.
Cover with foil and bake for about 45mins-1hr at 180.
Enjoy!