Bharwa Shimla Mirch - Bell Peppers stuffed with Spiced Potatoes
Green Bell Peppers stuffed with a spiced potato filling. A delicious North Indian vegetarian side dish.
Ingredients
- 4 small/ medium Green bell pepper/ capsicum
- 2-3 medium boiled potatoes
- 1 medium red onion finely chopped
- 1-2 green chilies finely chopped
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- ½ tsp fennel seeds/ saunf (coarsely crushed)
- 1 tbsp coriander powder
- ½ tsp red chili powder
- ¼ tsp garam masala powder
- ¼ tsp dried mango powder/ amchur
- ¼ cup finely chopped coriander leaves
- salt (to taste)
- 3-4 tbsp neutral oil (I mostly used avocado oil)
Instructions
- Boil the potatoes, peel and mash them while slighlty warm. Keep aside.
- Take washed and dried green bell pepper/ capsicums. Slice across the top most part uniformly. Gently remove the seeds so that the inside is clean and hollow.
- Heat 1-2 tbsp oil in a pan. Add cumin seeds and let them sizzle. Add the chopped onions and green chilies. Saute them till light golden and add coarsely crushed saunf/ fennel seeds and saute for another minute.
- Add the mashed potatoes, along with the coriander, chili powder, amchur and garam masala. Mix well and add the salt. Keep stirring this mixture until everything mixes well. I usually like to keep mixing until there is a light golden sear on the potatoes as well.
- Add in the chopped coriander leaves, mix and remove from the flame.
- Now is the time to assemble. Take 1 bell pepper and add some spiced potato mix. Stuff it all the way and pat using a spoon so that the mixture is tightly packed. Repeat the same for all the bell peppers.
- In a wide and heavy bottomed pan, heat 2 tablespoon oil. Assemble the stuffed bell peppers and close the lid. Keep the flame low to medium.
- After about 3-5 minutes, turn the bell peppers so that the other side gets cooked and browned slightly. Cover the lid again. Repeat the same every now and then so that the skin of the bell peppers gets cooked all over. The flame should be low always else the skin will burn very easily.
- Towards the end, turn all the bell peppers so that the open part with the potato mixture faces down and gets a nice golden sear as well. Thats our favorite part !
- Once done, remove very carefully from the pan taking care of the stuffing.
- Serve hot along with ghee rotis/ parathas. It is so good with dal-rice and rajma-chawal as well.