Ahhh...bell peppers. I'm sure a lot of you already have a favorite way to chop these. So if you do and you love it, stick with it! However, since a lot of our recipes call for bell peppers, including the Amazing Chilis Fajitas which I made a quadruple batch of a few days ago:), I thought I'd post a quick "how to" on my favorite way to chop these delicious peppers. In addition to tasting great and adding tons of color and appeal, a bell pepper is also great for you. It is an excellent source of vitamin C, vitamin A, as well as many other nutrients and is a pretty good source of fiber. Here are the nutritional facts.
Nutrition Facts
Serving Size: 1 medium pepper (148 g)
Amount per Serving:
Calories-30
Calories from Fat-0
Total Fat-0g
Saturated Fat-0g
Cholesterol-0g
Sodium-0g
Total Carbohydrate-8g
Dietary Fiber-2g
Sugars-0g
Protein-1g
Bell peppers are pretty much available year-round, although their peak season is summer/fall. By the way, did you know that a red pepper is actually a fully ripened green pepper with a milder flavor?
How To: Cutting Bell Peppers
Submitted by Amy ~ The Sisters Cafe
1. Wash and dry bell pepper. Using a sharp knife, carefully chop off the top and bottom of the pepper.
2. I like to use as much of the pepper as possible, so I then cut off the pepper around the stem. Slice or chop and set aside. Do the same with the bottom. (The stem happened to pop out on this one, but I usually just cut around it.)
3. Reach into the pepper, grab the plug, twist your hand and pull it out. Discard.
4. Set the pepper upright on the cutting board and slice in half. At this point you may also slice it into four equal pieces if you would like shorter slices of pepper.
5. Grabbing the pepper in one hand, use a paring knife (or just your fingers if you're lazy like me:) and remove the inside rind and seeds. Rinse if necessary.
6. Placing pepper skin-side down on cutting board, cut vertical slices down the length of the pepper. If you're in a hurry, you may also stack the pepper to speed things up a bit! You may now grab the pepper slices, and dice them in the opposite direction.
7. Here's a little trick for dicing, for you type A people out there. If you want nice, uniform pieces of diced pepper you can make even vertical slices running almost the entire length of the pepper. Next, turn the pepper counterclockwise and slice in the opposite direction!
That's it! Now try out your techniques on some of our favorite recipes with bell peppers! Here's some delicious ideas: Amazing Asian Noodle Salad, Cheesy Chicken Fajita Dip, Deliciously Easy Stir-Fry, Amazing Chilis Fajitas, Grilled Pesto Shrimp and Summer Veggies, Thai Lettuce Cups and there's so many more. Enjoy!
that was great Amy - very easy to follow and colorful pics! I was never that efficient cutting peppers before...now I know how to do it! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the awesome tip Amy. I loved this information.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Amy! I have never had any rhyme or reason to how I cut peppers. I am excited to try this way!
ReplyDeleteFirst thing you learn in culinary school - how to hold the knife. Placing your finger on top of the blade will actually cause you to have more accidents in the kitchen. The correct way to hold a knife is to let the very end of the handle rest in the "valley" between your thumb and index finger, letting your hands grasp around the handle and your thumb to touch the blade area.
ReplyDeleteNow, on to the pepper. A lot easier to cut the pepper in half, length wise, then using your hands grab the membrane, seeds, and stem out. Then cut into strips, then into a dice.