10 January 2014

Colorful Capsicum stir fry-Andhra style

 
bell-pepper-fry

 My mother dear hardly used to make capsicum recipes . I hated it anyways . For me when I was small ,I used to think this capsicum ,especially with those seeds as the biggest chubbiest chilli of the world which has got the weird magical power to change my tongue to toe "RED"and would leave me to realize the true value of water . I guess I carried this misconception about this chubby bell shaped pepper for a long time .Needless to say,I was it's worst critic somehow .There was no chance of me becoming it's fan no matter how yummy a dish made with it called itself to be.
 
bell-pepper-fry

Until one day after coming to US, I saw capsicums in different colors,the red one I pretended I didn't see .Rest the yellow and orange ones were singing like the old Hindi song ,"Piya tuuuuuu whoops Manju tuuuuu,abb to aaaja......" and I hate to admit but I was kinda falling for them . I liked them but didn't love them yet.

However,one day,one of my hubby's friend invited us for dinner and his wife made this capsicum stir-fry but I didn't realize it was capsicum and thank God I didn't otherwise I wouldn't have even tasted it.I just loved that stir-fry and I asked her which vegetable it was..suddenly her expression changed as if I've asked about an alien vegetable :P...whoops my bad..at times ,I give people tough times :P...to which she said it was a "Capsicum" stir-fry and her mom-in-law taught her the recipe .

I noted it down from her in my ghajini memory and I made it one day but hardly remembered the exact recipe, so,modified the recipe to suit our palate and my hubby loved it so did I.However, to boost my so called self-encouragement I made a colorful capsicum stir fry with green,red,yellow and orange capsicums ...Those colors ,that crunchy spciy taste surely won my heart ,swept my feet off the ground or swept my tongue out of my mouth :D and I "finally" ,totally fell in love with capsicums since then.

By the way did you know that ,"Green capsicums are actually unripened red or yellow capsicum". (I didn't ....(Courtesy:Sunnycoastkids.com)

Capsicum Stir fry


Green Capsicum,chopped - 1 cup
Red Capsicum,chopped - 1 cup
Yellow Capsicum,chopped - 1 cup
Orange Capsicum,chopped - 1 cup
Onion,chopped - 1 cup (optional)
Green chilli,chopped - 4-5 (optional)
Roasted Chana Dal powder -1 tablespoon
Roasted Peanut powder - 1 teaspoon (optional)
Red chili powder - 1 teaspoon
Turmeric powder - 1/4 teaspoon
Dessicated coconut powder - 1 tablespoon
Salt to taste
Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon
Cumin seeds - 1 teaspoon
Curry leaves - a stalk
Oil - 1-2 tablespoon

Method:


  • Heat oil in a pan .Splutter the mustard seeds followed by cumin seeds and curry leaves in medium-low flame.
  • Add the chopped onions and green chillies until onions become transparent.
  • Add the chopped capsicums ,fry until done.
  • Add the roasted chana dal and peanut powders,chili powder,turmeric powder and coconut powder and stir for a few minutes.
  • Colorful spicy capsicum fry is ready.

 Eat,Love,Live well,