It was a lazy drowsy Sunday being cloudy and so was I, drowsy and lousy, to cook :). I was worried as we had a defective Gas cylinder (Yes, we hardly have a handful of piped gas connections in Pune and I am not a lucky person to enjoy the uninterrupted supply) lying in front of the eyes waiting to be replaced from the agency (Do I need to mention our sufferings because of gas agencies?). I was all prepared of exploiting this chance of taking the break from kitchen for a while. But Mahi should get her good dose of home cooked food. And eating out was not in my mood that time. And to my sheer surprise, came the agency guy (unexpectedly) to replace the cylinder. I still had some time in hand to cook lunch. And the saviors were plain rice and daal fry. But how about the vegetable/subjee? And impromptu came to my mind was “Capsicum diced in Roasted besan”.

Capsicums, don’t really sound yummy and tasty, Do they???  And, many of you guys may not like the bland, neutral, slightly unappealing taste. Well, my hubby, Romesh never liked it too. But it’s a forgotten history. I often cook this fast subjee for him now.

Going back to my memory lanes, 4 years back, when I was working in Hyderabad, and was staying in a rented flat with roomies (and not to mention, enjoying my reckless bachelorhood infinitely  🙂 ), one of my roomies, prepared this 1 & it was a big hit. I live the history now, at least once a fortnight.

Capsicum with besan (gram flour)

Serves: 3-4 people

Time: 30 mins

You need:

• Capsicum – 250 grams (4 pieces of medium size)
• Besan (gram flour) – ½ cup
• Sesame seeds (til) – 1 tsp
• Fennel seeds (saunf) – 1 tsp
• Salt- per taste
• Turmeric – ½ tsp
• Black pepper – ½ tsp
• Aamchoor (dry mango powder) – ½ tsp
• Oil – 2-3 Tbsp

How to:

1. Roast the besan till it is light brown.
2. Wash, deseed and cut capsicum into small rectangular pieces.
3. Heat oil and add sesame seeds and fennel seeds into it. We are taking a little more than usually needed as the besan needs more oil, else it will stick to the pan.
4. Add capsicum and salt, pepper and turmeric and mix.
5. Cook covered until capsicum is translucent
6. Add aamchoor and mix thoroughly.
7. Add besan and keep mixing until it just blends well in the capsicum and is not dry. If it is dry, sprinkle some water to mix well.
8. Cook for some 7-8 minutes and keep stirring so that besan does not stick.
9. Done.
10. Relish with rice and daal fry. Blissful!!

Parting Notes:

I added a red chili to give the green color, a zing. 😛