Simla Mirch/Capsicum/Bell pepper curry

Another of my favourite vegetable is capsicum aka bell pepper. I love all 3 colours of it. Pleasantly all 3 have a different and unique taste. The red one is a little sour, yellow one little sweet, and green needs to be blended in cooking for taste. This is a very easy recipe using all 3 colours. I love decorating my dining table with bell peppers. A bowl with all 3 colours in it makes the table look on fire!! smokinggggggggggggggggggg!

Well, I use olive oil for this dish. Thing about olive oil, even though it’s a late starter in India, it’s catching up real fast. If you are still unaware, olive oil is supposedly better than the regular vegetable oil we use. Not just health, olive oil brings a different flavour to the dish. Since it’s not so popular in India kitchens yet, if you have guests arriving, cook your regular dish in olive oil and you will notice an obvious difference in taste! No sweat :)

Serves 4-5 people.

Ingredients:

1. Olive oil: 5-6 tea spoons.
2. Tempering/tiragamota/popu
3. Finely chopped green chillies: 3-4
4. Finely chopped onions: 1 big
5. Finely chopped garlic cloves: 4-5
6. Finely sliced Capsicum (red, yellow and green): 2 each and deseeded.
7. Salt to taste
8. Everest/MDH sabzi or curry powder: 2 teaspoons (optional, this gives colour)
9. One small glass water

Preparation:

1. Add olive oil to the non stick pan.
2. Add tempering.
3. Add garlic and green chillies and fry for 2 minutes.
4. Add onion and fry for 3 minutes
5. Add curry powder and fry for another 2 minutes.
6. Add water.
7. Add the red and yellow capsicum slices and cook/saute for 5 minutes. (Red and yellow capsicum take longer to cook compared to green capsicum.)
8. Add green capsicum slices and cook until the dish is tender.
9. Garnish with coriander.

This curry is not about spice but about different flavours in one dish. It’s very easy to make,especially if you have guests, its a sure bet for an instant hit.

Improvisation: You may add cream for gravy and cook with more spices. You may add mushrooms. 

Susmita

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Beerakaya pottu pacchadi – Ridge gourd’s skin chutney

 

I love beerakaya or beerakaya pottu pacchadi. Plus this vegetable is one of the easiest to work with, needs almost no oil, and cooks fast. It’s skin is not a waste and is just as tasty too. You don’t have to buy ridge gourd just to peel the skin and make chutney out of it. Whenever you peel save the skin.

Do not refrigerate it. Best way is to wrap it tightly with a newspaper and put it in a corner in the kitchen. Add more to it whenever you peel the skin. This recipe will give you measures for 4-5 beerakaya skin. You can make instant pacchadi with the skin of 1 beerakaya also.

Ingredients:

1. Beerakaya pottu: skin of 4-5 ridge gourds
2. Green chillies: 7
3. Tomatoes: 3
4. Salt to taste
5. Garlic: 3-4 cloves
6. Ginger: 1 teaspoon full of pieces
7. Lemon rind: 1/2 tea spoon (optional)
8. Lemon juice: 1 table spoon (optional)

Preparation:

1. Heat 3-4 tea spoons of oil in the pan.
2. Fry ginger and garlic pieces for a minute.
3. Add beerakaya pottu and fry for 5 minutes.
4. Toss all the other ingredients barring lemon juice into the pan and cover with lid.
5. In medium flame let the ingredients cook for 10 – 15 minutes.
6. Cool all for a while.
7. Once cool transfer the ingredients into the blender.
8. Blend until you get a smooth consistency. Add little water for moisture and easy blending.
9. Add lemon juice in the end and mix with a spoon.

Your pacchadi is ready.

Susmita

Kobbari pacchadi - Coconut chutney

I love kobbari (coconut) pacchadi (chutney). Especially when Mom makes it. There's something about coconut that melts my heart. Kobbari is a common ingredient found in South Indian homes. South Indians use coconut in most of their dishes. There are many sweets which are made out of coconut as the base. Coconuts are also offered to God and its water is a favourite drink especially during summers.

So I had a lot of coconut at home. Well, typically after a festival most homes end up having a stock of coconut. If you notice, the couple of weeks post a festival always sees a rush of coconut based curries, chutneys, rasams, and sweets.

I had never made kobbari pacchadi before. But have seen it being made since my childhood. So I told myself, it can't be anymore difficult that making pudina (mint leaves) or beerakaya (ridge gourd) pacchadi.

Here is the most common recipe for kobbari pacchadi which will serve 4:
Ingredients:

Kobbari Pacchadi

1. Coconut: 2
2. Green chillies: 4-5 (more if you like it hot)
3. Salt to taste
4. Tomato: 3 regular size
5. Turmeric: 2-3 pinches (this adds yellow colour to the pacchadi)
6. Tempering at the end

Preparation:

1. Add 2-3 tea spoons of oil to you non stick pan.
2. Add green chillies and tomato into the pan and cover.
3. Let it cook for 5-10 minutes.
4. Remove from stove and cool.
5. In your blender add the cooled chillies, tomatoes, pieces of coconut, and salt to taste.
6. Add some water and blend for a few minutes.
7. Blend at all levels for a few seconds each.
8. Remove the cover of the blender and add turmeric.
9. Blend once again repeating steps 5 and 6.
10. Add more salt if needed.
11. Add tempering to the pacchadi and take it into a bowl.

Your typical telugu style kobbari pacchadi is ready. This will hardly take you 15 minutes.

Susmita

Every critic wants a dish

Have you been subjected to constant criticism of the dishes you make? It can be anything. Something as simple as dal to a complicated home ground spices dish. I mean, what is it with some people?? Why do they feel they have the authority to comment on anything you make?

Well I've had to go through this experience of having every dish of mine commented on by someone. One day I lost it and said "make your own dish". The comments died instantly. It's not exactly what I intended for, but I wasn't complaining anymore :D

I once made semiya payasam and was told that it wasn't payasam at all because there's no saggu biyyam (sabu daana) in it. Only later did the person say that it tasted good. If someone is going to be highly critical,   they better have a degree like a doctor, I say.

Then again you have the kinds who will not utter a word and will leave you scratching your head not knowing the outcome of your hard work. And those who will please you even if your dog won't smell it.

Have you had any distasteful experiences with criticism of your dishes? Let me know.

Susmita