Zucchini Boats stuffed with bell pepper, mushroom, zucchini and cheese. Makes a great vegetarian dinner or lunch. Use your favourite veggies or beans in this recipe to make a filling and wholesome meal.
Trim the ends, cut the Zucchini in half (Vertically) and scoop out the flesh. I used a spoon to scoop out the flesh. Once done, squeeze out the water from the flesh and chop the zucchini flesh into fine pieces. Keep the flesh aside.
In a pan, add some oil. Add the zucchini flesh, finely chopped mushrooms, bell pepper, jalapeno. Add salt to taste. Saute for few minutes until the moisture of the vegetables disappears. It takes around 5 minutes.
Switch off the flame. Add onion powder, garlic powder, Italian seasoning to the cooked vegetable mixture. Keep aside.
Preheat oven to 400F/200C.
Grease a baking tray. Place the zucchinis on it. Add pizza sauce as the first layer.
Add the cooked vegetables on top. Add cheese as the next layer and finally top it with breadcrumbs. Bake for 20 mins or until the cheese is melted and the top is golden brown.
Remove the zucchini boats from the oven. Sprinkle red chilli flakes and cilantro on top. Serve hot.
Notes
Adjust spice to your taste. The filling can be customized to your requirements. You can use marinara Sauce instead of Pizza Sauce.Squeeze out as much water as you can from the zucchini flesh before adding it to the filling. This is to avoid the filling being too watery.
Do not scoop out a lot of the flesh. The zucchini needs some structure to support the filling. If you scoop out too much, they turn flimsy.
You can avoid the breadcrumbs if you want to cut down on carbs.