This recipe is ridiculously simple!  Mini Bell Peppers are so flavourful. The best way to enjoy them is to flash fry on high heat for a mere minute or two. The intense heat browns the outside just a little whilst sealing in flavour. The quick frying softens the pepper a tad bit leaving some crunch to bite into.

I am working down my list of 10 meze (hors’ d’oeuvre) recipes and this is the easiest hot recipe to prepare. From start to finish it takes 10 minutes and that includes prep time! You should consider serving this at one of your year-end parties not only because it is easy to prepare but also because it is good and easy to eat!

Here are all the 10 meze that I served at a recent meze party. Read more about it by clicking here, Meze, A Selection Of Wonderful Little Bites. Scroll to the bottom of the page to find out the names of the meze and the recipe that I would be posting next.

Flashed Fried Mini Bell Peppers

Prep: 5 minutes 
Cook: 5 minutes
Inactive: –
Level: Easy
Makes: ~8 mini bell peppers
Oven Temperature: –
Can recipe be doubled? Yes.
Make ahead? Up to 3 days refrigerated.

Ingredients

1 Tablespoon oil*
8 mini bell peppers
salt to taste
* Do not use olive or extra virgin olive oil. You need to use an oil with a high smoking temperature. For instance, rice bran, sunflower or safflower oil. 


Method

1. Trim the stalks just a little but do not remove. Before frying, ensure that the mini bell peppers are completely dry.
2. Pour 1 Tablespoon of oil into a frying pan. Turn on the burner to the highest heat.
3. When the oil is very hot, slide in the peppers. Be prepared to move your appendages away quickly as the oil might spit and splatter. Use the long handle of your frying pan to help move the mini peppers around to get them to brown and soften a little. Alternatively, use your spatula.
4. After one minute, add salt to taste. Toss one last time, remove the pan and transfer peppers to a serving dish. The peppers should never be cooked until completely soften. 

Tips

Instead of serving them as part of a series of appetisers, you could serve the mini bell peppers as a side vegetable to accompany the main course. I always serve it at my meze parties just because it is super quick to serve up and it is tasty!

WHAT’S COMING UP NEXT?

Labneh, which I love! Labneh is drained yogurt which can be used for sweet and savoury dishes. The one pictured below has zaatar and extra virgin olive oil sprinkled over it. I like it best served with a drizzle of clover honey.  Read more in my upcoming post!

To recap, this post is one part of my series on Meze, A Selection Of Wonderful Little Bites. The recipes should come especially helpful when menu planning for those upcoming year-end parties when serving a few pre-prepared pre-dinner bites would help ease your work load in the kitchen and allow you to mingle with guests.