Vegan Stuffed Pasilla Peppers

Instructions

1. Roast the peppers: Heat your oven’s broiler.
2. Wash the peppers and pat them dry. Place them directly on the oven rack, about 5 inches from the heat source.
3. Broil until the side next to the heat source is dark green/black and blistered all over, then turn to expose the next side to the heat source. Continue until the peppers are dark and blistered on all sides. This usually takes 10-15 minutes total.
4. Remove the peppers from the oven and place in a heat proof bowl. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let sit for at least 15 minutes.
5. Now it’s time to peel those roasted peppers. (I use gloves, because they are very spicy and I have sensitive skin. Once I did not use gloves and my fingers felt hot for the rest of the day.) Gently peel the blistered, darkened skin off of each pepper. You may not be able to easily remove every last bit, but that’s okay.
6. Lay a peeled pepper on your cutting board. Gently pinch the skin in and up in the middle of the pepper, then, using a sharp knife, cut a small slit down the length of the pepper in the pinched part. Carefully open the pepper at the slit and remove the seeds. I keep a paper towel handy to wipe my fingers on as I go, as the seeds are a bit slimy and sticky. Repeat with each pepper.
7. Stuff, batter and bake the peppers: Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
8. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or foil.
9. Combine all of the filling ingredients in a food processor and pulse to combine. You want to leave some texture.
10. Spoon 1/4 of the filling into each prepared pepper, carefully and gently working some up into the cavity near the stem and carefully and gently wrapping the sides of the pepper up and around the filling to close it.
11. Whisk all batter ingredients together in a large, wide bowl until smooth.
12. Carefully dip each filled pepper, seam side up, in the batter. You are just coating the bottom of the pepper at this point. Place dipped pepper, seam side up, on lined baking sheet.
13. Spoon remaining batter over the tops of the peppers, smoothing it down the sides of each with the back of the spoon.
14. Bake 10-15 minutes, until batter is lightly browned and beginning to crack. While the peppers are baking, prepare the tomato sauce and avocado crema.
15. Simple Tomato Sauce:
    Puree tomatoes and their juice, onion and garlic in the blender until smooth. Transfer puree to a small saucepan and heat over medium-low heat for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
    Season to taste with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
16. Avocado Crema:
    Cut each avocado in half and remove the seed from each.
    Scoop the flesh out with a spoon and place in the blender or a mortar and pestle with the lime juice and a pinch of sea salt.
    Blend/pound until smooth and creamy.
17. To serve:
    Ladle some tomato sauce onto a plate, if serving individual portions, or a platter if serving family style.
    Place the pepper(s) on top of the tomato sauce.
    Ladle a bit more tomato sauce over the top of each pepper, followed by a dollop of avocado crema. Garnish with snipped fresh cilantro.