One Pot Sausage, Peppers and Rice makes a perfect meal for hectic evenings. It is one of those recipes that are quick to make and taste delicious. The best part about this recipe is that everything is cooked in just one pan or skillet, making cleaning up a breeze.

You will find almost all the ingredients used to make this recipe in your fridge or pantry. I like using sausages in my recipes because they are easy to cook and have lots of flavour. I brown the sausages in a little oil, transfer browned sausages to a plate and then proceed with the rest of the cooking process in the same oil with rendered sausage fat. This little tip helps in making the base of the rice so much more flavourful.
What I absolutely adore about this recipe is how much you can play around with it. Just swap around a few ingredients and you have a completely new dish in hand. You can replace sausages with prawns and add ½ tsp Paella spice for a Spanish version of this recipe. If you are using Italian sausages add ½ a teaspoon of Italian herbs or if you are using smoked sausages add ½ a teaspoon of Cajun spice for different flavour profiles of the same recipe.

• To make sausage peppers with rice start by browning sausages in a pan or skillet. Transfer browned sausages to a plate lined with paper towel.
• Sauté onions, garlic, and peppers in the leftover oil from sausages.
• Add tomato paste, chicken stock and rice. Cook rice till almost all the liquid has evaporated.
• Close lid and allow rice to steam till all the water is absorbed and rice fully cooked.

FAQs

Why do you rinse and soak the rice?

Rinsing and soaking helps get rid of extra starch present on rice surface which prevents the rice from sticking together when cooking resulting in perfectly separate grains. Soaking also makes the rice grain longer.

What is the ratio of liquid to rice?

When cooking rice in a stock (pilaf method), the ratio of rice to liquid is 1:1.5 i.e. for every 1 cup of rice you use 1 and a ½ cup of liquid/stock.

Ingredients:

• Smoked Sausages 400g
• Olive Oil 2 tbsp.
• Onion 1 medium; finally chopped
• Red Pepper 1/2; diced
• Yellow Pepper 1/2; diced
• Garlic 3 cloves; minced
• Salt 1 tsp.
• Black Pepper 1/2 tsp.
• Paprika Powder 1 tsp.
• Chilli Flakes 1/2 tsp. (optional)
• Dried Oregano 1/2 tsp.
• Tomato Paste 2 tbsp.
• White Rice 2 cups; washed and soaked
• Chicken Stock 3 cups
• Parsley 1/4 bunch; chopped

Instructions:

Heat oil in a pan and fry sliced sausages till browned. Remove sausages to a plate lined with kitchen paper. In the same pan fry onions and garlic till translucent. Add chopped yellow and red peppers and saute for 5 more minutes. Once the peppers are a bit soft add tomato paste, salt, pepper, chilli flakes and oregano. Pour chicken stock into the pan and bring it to a boil. Add washed and soaked rice to boiling stock and continue to cook on high. Put the fried sausages back into the pan. Cook rice on high flame until almost all the water has evaporated and bubbles appear on the surface of rice (see below attached video). Cover pan and turn heat to lowest setting. Allow the rice to steam for 10-15 minutes or until all the water has evaporated. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve.

This can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a week. To reheat place rice in a pan and add a few teaspoons of water to keep the rice from drying. Gently heat on low setting till steam starts forming and rice is heated thoroughly.