If you search stuffed capsicum recipe in the internet, you probably might get thousands of recipes. I have seen many stuffed capsicum recipes in many different recipe sites as well as blogs. But somehow I never tried any of them. It might be because I don’t like this vegetable. I buy it every time I go for shopping because my husband is a huge fan of it.
When I was chatting with our friend Vitz , he asked me if I have tried this stuffed capsicum. When I said I have never cooked it, he said his sister makes a very tasty stuffing of gram flour( besan ) and it tastes awesome. From the day he told that, I kept on asking him to send this recipe. Though he sent it long back, I never tried it so far, even though I had picked up capsicums during my each shopping spree thinking of making this dish. Finally I tried it. It came out so good that even I took a second serving. The stuffing overcomes the strong flavor of capsicum. In all it was a great tasting dish. Thanks Vitz for the recipe.
Ingredients: 4 big capsicums Oil 3/4 cup chopped onion 3-4 tbl spn gram flour ( besan ) 1/2 tea spn chili powder A pinch turmeric powder 3-4 curry leaves 1/2 tea spn tamarind extract or thick juice of 3-4 tamarind pieces 1/2 tea spn jaggery A pinch asafoetida 1 tbl spn grated coconut Salt
Method: Cut capsicums into two pieces vertically. Dry roast gram flour on a low heat till a nice aroma comes out, this was not there in original recipe, but I roasted flour to avoid any raw taste. Take out from heat. Mix all ingredients, except oil and capsicum. Stuff the mixture into capsicum. (no need to add any water for stuffing). Heat oil in a heavy bottomed or non stick pan and place the capsicums on it. Cover the pan with a tight lid. Cook on low/medium flame for around 15-20mins. Serve hot.
Serves : 3-4 Preparation time : 30mins
Dal palak or palak dal must be one of the most popular comfort foods in India. Everyone has their own version of this dish. Hot rice and this dal makes one of the most soothing and fulfilling combination. I have tried it many times and also tasted it in many friends places, though I loved all the different versions, I always wanted to twist it. This time while I was making this, I got a new idea and I should say this was the best palak daal I ever prepared here.
All these days I used to fry onion, tomato and add mashed daal , cooked palak to it. Though daal gives a thick consistency to it, I used to add a lot of daal to make it a thick gravy. So this time, I fried cumin seeds, garlic, onion, tomato and ground them into a coarse paste. This gave a thick base of onion and tomatoes. This came out delicious.
Ingredients: 1/2 cup toor dal 3/4 cup chopped spinach 1/3 cup chopped onion 1/3 cup chopped tomato 3-4 green chilies 1/2 tea spn cumin seeds 1/2 tea spn urad dal A pinch of asafoetida(optional) 4-5 curry leaves A pinch of turmeric 1 tea spn chopped garlic Oil/ghee Salt
Method: Cook toor dal with a pinch of turmeric till it is well mashed. Mash it with a spoon. Cook spinach. You can use two cooker vessels to cook these two at a time. Heat oil and add cumin seeds. Add garlic, green chilies and onions till onions turn slightly brownish. Add tomato, salt and cook till tomatoes become slightly tender. Grind this mixture into a coarse paste. Cook the paste with dal , spinach. Remove from heat when they are well cooked. Heat a little oil, add urad dal . When it becomes brownish, add a generous pinch of asafoetida and curry leaves. Instead of adding garlic in paste, it can be added at this step to get a garlicky taste. Add this seasoning to the daal . Serve hot with hot rice and ghee .
Serves : 2 Preparation time : 20mins
PS: A little tamarind can be added to suit the taste.
