Stuffed Peppers/ Stuffed Mirchi/ Bharwaan Mirchi...choose!!

Stuffed Peppers/ Stuffed Mirchi/ Bharwaan Mirchi...options…choices…love them or hate them? Get confused by them or thrive on them? So apparently the world is divided between “maximizers” (ones who want to find the absolute best option) and “satisficers” (ones who go for the first option that clears the sets criteria)…and if you are wondering where you stand between the two, go through this post – choose any one name, choose any one stuffing option, choose any one cooking method…and then tell me where you think you stand 😊

Stuffed Peppers/ Stuffed Mirchi/ Bharwaan Mirchi

Ingredients:

• Long fat Green Chillies/Peppers, any non hot kind would do, 6-7 (or even the small coloured sweet peppers, they make excellent appetizers)
• Stuffing, of your choice
• Oil, 1-2 tsp or Oil Spray if cooking in the oven/ Oil, 1 tbsp, if cooking in a pan
• Half a lime, optional

Stuffing

Option A

• Roasted Peanuts, ¼ cup
• Sesame Seeds, 1 tbsp
• Coriander Powder, 1 tsp
• Red Chilli Powder, ½ tsp
• Lemon/Lime juice, 1 -2 tsp
• Salt, to taste
• Oil, 1-2 tsp

Pulse the peanuts and sesame seeds in a mixer/blender/food processor a few times –as coarse or as fine as you’d like. Mix with rest of the stuffing ingredients in a bowl.

Option B

• Roasted Peanuts, ¼ cup
• Sesame Seeds, 1 tbsp
• Fresh Grated Coconut, 1 tbsp (or even use desiccated coconut)
• Coriander Powder, 1 tsp
• Red Chilli Powder, ½ tsp
• Turmeric powder, ¼ tsp
• Chaat Masala or Aamchur/Dried Mango Powder, ½ tsp
• Salt, to taste
• Oil, 1-2 tsp

Pulse the peanuts, sesame seeds and coconut in a mixer/blender/food processor a few times –as coarse or as fine as you’d like. Mix with rest of the stuffing ingredients in a bowl.

Option C

• Roasted Peanuts, crushed to a coarse powder, ¼ cup
• Roasted Besan/ Gram flour, 2 tbsp
• Onion, very finely chopped, 2 tbsp
• Turmeric powder, ¼ tsp
• Coriander Powder, 1 tsp
• Red Chilli Powder, ½ tsp
• Saunf Powder/ Fennel Seeds Powder, ½ tsp
• Salt, to taste
• Lime/Lemon juice, 1-2 tsp or Aamchur/Dried Mango Powder, ½ tsp
• Oil, 1-2 tsp

Pulse the peanuts in a mixer/blender/food processor a few times. Mix with rest of the stuffing ingredients in a bowl.

Option D

• Roasted Besan/Gram flour, ¼ cup
• Turmeric powder, ¼ tsp
• Coriander Powder, 1 tsp
• Red Chilli Powder, ½ tsp
• Saunf Powder/ Fennel Seeds Powder, ½ tsp
• Hing/Asafoetida, 1/8 tsp
• Salt, to taste
• Lime/Lemon juice, 1-2 tsp or Aamchur/Dried Mango Powder, ½ tsp
• Salt, to taste
• Oil, 1-2 tsp

Mix all the stuffing ingredients in a bowl.

Notes:

• You can add Sugar, ¼ to ½ tsp to all four options if you want, I never add.

• For Option A and B – I keep the stuffing quite coarse.(this is how I grind mine for A)

• For Option C – I grind the peanuts to a fairly fine powder.

• If doing the final cooking in a pan over hob, stuffing ground to a fairly fine powder works better.

• If allergic to peanuts, use roasted cashews instead.

Instructions:

Wash the peppers and trim the stems.

With a knife make one long slit along the length of the peppers –from under the stem to about half an inch above the tail end. Please make sure that you don’t slit all the way to the end or cut through to the other side. Remove the seeds and membrane.

Pry open the slit gently and fill it with the stuffing, one teaspoon at a time –spread the filling evenly throughout the pepper. Push the pepper closed and keep aside.

Try with one pepper first – if it breaks while stuffing, keep the peppers in hot water for about ten minutes to soften and then it will be easier to stuff them without breaking.

Once all the peppers are stuffed, wipe them clean with a kitchen towel from outside to wipe away any stuffing which may have stuck to the skin outside. This will prevent the stuffing from burning and turning bitter.

Cooking options:

If using Oven:

Line up the peppers on a baking sheet.

Spray or drizzle oil all the peppers and bake at 180C for 10-12 minutes (around 15 minutes if you like them a little charred like we do).

If using Microwave:

Keep all the peppers in a microwave safe bowl. Cover with a lid and microwave for around 4 minutes.

After the initial 4 minutes, microwave for additional 2-3 minutes checking to see if done to your liking after every minute.

If cooking in a Pan:

Heat the oil in a pan/skillet on medium heat.

Lay the peppers flat in the pan. Cook covered for about a minute.

Remove cover and roll over the peppers to cook on the other side.

Repeat till the skin of the peppers looks wrinkled and cooked all over.

Cooking time for any option you choose will vary according to the kind of peppers you use and what you need to use them for, so keep an eye on them. If you are serving them as a appetizers, bake for a slightly shorter time as peppers will not hold their shape if baked for long.

Sprinkle some lime juice on top. Serve as an appetizer or as a side with rotis/paranthas.

Potol Posto...seasons don't matter!

Potol Posto (Parwal with Khus Khus / Pointed Gourd with Poppy Seed Paste)…it’s officially autumn, so what am I doing cooking a summer vegetable in a typical summer prep…seasons don’t matter when you are away from home and cravings strike…seasons also don’t matter when your weekly visits to the Indian Food market reduce to monthly visits and then dwindle down to quarterly, you grab what you see, pack 10 bags full of grocery and come back home skipping because you just found gold…seasons especially don’t matter when someone tells you that Indian food needs a million ingredients to taste nice...well, then you just have to prove them wrong, don’t you?😊

(The next few recipes on the blog will be simple Indian food recipes using 5 ingredients or less – typical home cooking and not what you see in restaurants or curry houses…so stick around!)

Potol Posto (Parwal with Khus Khus / Pointed Gourd with Poppy Seed Paste)

Ingredients:

• Potol/Parwal/Pointed gourd, 8- 10 pieces
• Posto/Khus Khus/ White Poppy seeds, ¼ cup
• Green chillies, 3-4
• Kalo Jeera/Kalonji/Nigella seeds, ½ tsp
• Onion, finely sliced, 1 medium size *refer to notes
• Salt, to taste
• Oil, 2 tbsp (preferably Mustard Oil, or else any white oil of your choice- Peanut/Sunflower/RiceBran/Vegetable/Canola/Rapeseed Oil) 

Optional Ingredients:*refer to notes

• Turmeric powder, ¼ tsp + 1/8 tsp
• Red chili powder, ½ tsp for heat or Kashmiri Red Chilli Powder, ½ tsp for colour
• Sugar, ½ tsp or to taste

Instructions:

If you have a wet grinder: Soak posto in ½ cup of hot water for half an hour. Grind into a nice white paste with 1 green chilli and some salt.

OR

If you have a dry spice grinder: Dry grind the posto and then mix with water to make a thick wet paste.

Wash and pat dry the potols. Scrape the skin off, cut off the ends and peel off the skin in alternate strips.

Now you can either slice the potols lengthways into 2 or 4 slices each or simply make long slits on both ends.

Toss them with a little salt and ¼ tsp turmeric powder, if using and keep aside 

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan and on medium high heat, fry the potols until lightly browned on all sides. Remove with a slotted spoon and keep aside.

In the same pan, add the balance 1 tbsp oil. When the oil is hot, add nigella seeds and let them splutter.

Add in the sliced onions and 2-3 green chillies slit through. Sauté till the onions change colour to light brown.

Add salt and the remaining turmeric powder, chilli powder & kashmiri chilli powder, if using. Stir to mix well.

Reduce the heat and add the posto paste. Sauté and stir well for 3– 4 minutes till raw smell of posto goes.

Add the fried potols and stir gently to mix with onion and posto paste.  

Add half a cup of warm water and sugar, if using.

Cover and cook till the potols are fully cooked and almost all the water has dried up. The gravy should coat the potols nicely and should not be runny.

Serve with plain rice…heaven!! 

Notes:

• Remember, salt is added in three stages – first while making posto paste, then while frying potols and then finally with the onions. Adjust quantity needed accordingly.

• I like the texture onion gives to the gravy, you can skip if you want. 

• In my husband’s family, turmeric is usually never used with posto (it interferes with the flavour). If you want to use turmeric to get some colour, I have specified when to add should you choose to use it. 

• The green chillies used in the posto paste and then with the onions mean there is normally no need to add red chilli powder for heat. I have specified above when to add in, in case you choose to.

• We don’t add Kashmiri Red Chilli powder to keep the posto gravy colour. I have specified above when to add in, if you want to add it for colour.

• Normally a little sugar is almost always added to posto dishes. I prefer to skip. 

Lemon Butter Pasta with Artichoke...eyes, hearts and habits!

Lemon Butter Pasta with Artichoke…every time I promise myself that I will cut down on carbs, something pulls me in…a picture here, an ingredient there…and off I go reaching for rice, bread or pasta (or all three together!!)…I call it the “Greedy Eyes” syndrome…this time it was the artichokes…they were not on my shopping list – far from it, they were not even on my mind zone…but once I saw these, I convinced myself that I will buy these for a nice Mediterranean salad…oh boy, was I fooling myself...by the time I reached home, the only thing on my mind was a buttery lemony pasta with these hearts for my heart...old habits die hard!! 😊

Lemon Butter Pasta with Artichoke

Ingredients:

• Pasta of your choice, 450gms
• Artichoke Hearts, marinated in oil*, 250gms ( *I used fresh grilled artichokes bought from Waitrose, if using jarred/canned- ensure you use the ones marinated in oil and not in brine)
• Shallot, finely chopped/minced, 1 small to medium
• Garlic, peeled and minced/crushed, 2
• Parsley leaves, finely chopped, 2 tbsp
• Thyme leaves, finely chopped, ½ tbsp
• Lemon juice, from 1 lemon
• Lemon zest, from 1 lemon
• Stock of your choice, ½ cup (or just use pasta water)
• Salt, to taste
• Pepper, to taste
• Chilli flakes, to taste
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 2 tbsp (if using jarred/canned artichokes, use the oil from the jar)
• Butter, 2-3 tbsp
• Parmesan, shavings, to serve

Instructions:

Bring a large pan of heavily salted water to the boil.  Cook the pasta according to package instructions or until al dente (reserve about a cup of pasta water for sauce)

(** Please don’t wait for pasta to cook before starting on the sauce. Start the sauce when you put the water to boil**)

Meanwhile, heat a large fry pan/skillet over medium high heat and add extra virgin olive oil.

Add the shallots, garlic and chilli flakes to the pan. Sauté together for a couple of minutes till the shallots soften.

Add the artichokes, lemon zest and thyme. Toss through and sauté for about 5 minutes to let the artichokes colour a little.

Stir in half of the parsley.

Lower the heat; add the butter, lemon juice and ½ cup of the stock/pasta water to the pan.

Season with salt and pepper and let the sauce simmer on low heat till the pasta is ready.

When the pasta is cooked, drain and toss it in the pan with the sauce and remaining parsley.

If the pasta seems too dry, add the reserved pasta water 1 tablespoon at a time, to loosen it a bit.

Add additional salt, pepper, and lemon to taste, if desired.

Finish with some Parmesan and/or parsley to serve.