Aji Relleno, aka stuffed peppers, is a classic Cuban dish I grew up eating. I never really appreciated the value of this dish until I got older. Honestly, I hated having it as a child. Something about the peppers being a vegetable and me hating vegetables growing up. But as I grew older and my metabolism slowed down my intake of vegetables has increased. I guess you can say that the two are inversely proportional.
The best thing about making stuffed peppers is that they are a great way to put a spin on any leftover picadillo you have. I honestly hate having leftovers and typically cook something fresh everyday but this gives the left over picadillo new life and great flavor.
How do you make Aji Relleno?
Aji relleno is typically stuffed with ground beef, so first you are going to need to make picadillo, which the recipe can be found on my blog here. The next thing you are going to do is make the sauce, which is a combination of tomato sauce, white cooking wine, vinegar, water, and a bunch of spices. Next, you are going to cut the top off the bell peppers and remove the inside of the peppers. Then you are going to stuff the peppers with the picadillo. Make sure not to throw away the top of the bell pepper.
Once you have stuffed your peppers, you are going to place them in the sauce, place the top of the bell peppers on the bell peppers and then place a lid on the pot. You are going to cook the bell peppers for 45 minutes or until you notice that the bell peppers become soft and wrinkly.
Are these stuffed peppers hard to make?
I would not say they are hard to make, but they are pretty time consuming. Once your sauce is down, it takes about 45 minutes for the peppers to cook. Other than that, the sauce takes minutes and if you are making them with left over picadillo, you should be good to go.
Ingredients
- 2 cups Picadillo recipe on the blog
- 4 Bell peppers
- 2 tbsp Olive oil
- ½ cup Onions Diced
- ⅓ cup Green Bell Peppers Diced
- 3 cloves Garlic Diced
- 1 3oz can Tomato sauce
- ½ cup White cooking wine
- ¼ cup Water
- 2 tbsp White wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp Garlic powder
- 2 tsp Salt
- 2 tsp Onion powder
- 1 tsp Red pepper flakes
- ½ tsp Dried oregano
- 2 dry Bay leaves
Instructions
- Dice your onion, garlic, and green peppers in a food processor or by hand.
- Using a pot with matching lid, coat the bottom with the olive oil and heat over medium-high heat.
- Once hot, add the diced onion, garlic, and green peppers and cook for about 3-5 minutes, until the onions are translucent.
- Add the white cooking wine, tomato sauce, water, white wine vinegar, garlic powder, salt, onion powder, red pepper flakes, oregano, and bay leaves. Stir to combine.
- Allow the sauce to come to a boil and in the meantime stuff your peppers.
- To stuff your peppers cut the top off the bell peppers and remove the inside of the peppers. Stuff the inside with about ½ a cup of picadillo. Make sure not to throw away the top of the bell pepper.
- Once the sauce is boiling, lower the heat to a medium-low heat to maintain a rolling simmer on the sauce.
- Place the bell peppers in the pot and place the top of the bell peppers on the bell peppers. Place the lid of the pot on the pot.
- Cook for 45 minutes or until you notice that the bell peppers become soft and wrinkly.
- Remove from the pot and serve with rice, using the sauce to drench the bell peppers and rice.
