Bell Pepper Chutney - a very amenable side kick

Work has been busy and I am not finding as much time as I would love to spend on the blog. Also since DD has another 2 weeks of Summer vacations, right now the priority for any non-working hours is to spend time with her. I am cooking and taking pictures, it is just that I haven't sat down to write about them.

By now, you all know I am a chutney gal and love them in all forms and shapes. If you love chutneys as much as I do, I guarantee that you will have your own variations of whipping up a new chutney every day, actually I made something like that today with a blend of two of my favorite chutneys and it turned out a keeper. But more on that later just because I didn't expect it to be blog worthy and hence didn't take pictures :-(. All chutneys essentially have some kind of base or ingredient to give them volume such as fried dal or nuts or vegetable peels or vegetables, then there are flavoring agents like coconut, tomatoes or onions and add ons such as ginger, mustard, coriander or fenugreek. And then the usual suspects - salt, tamarind/lemon, chilies(red/green), jaggery/sugar, if you achieve balance of these you end up with a perfect chutney no matter what you have put into them. Amma yesterday was mentioning a 'gaddi chutney' or chutney made with hay that had a King licking his fingers and brought riches to the poor old lady who served him the chutney. She just couldn't remember which place in Andhra Pradesh had that story after its name :-). As you keep experimenting, you will find many that work great together and some that do not.

Here is an easy bell pepper chutney with some roasted peanuts to give it body. BH bought me an electric grill recently and made me the happiest of the wives in the world. Blogging has its advantages when BH notices what you cook and actually works on the subtle hints you drop about gadgets that are (needed) wanted in the kitchen. Although I could have gone to the store and bought one myself, there is no fun in that as much when he gets it for me, don't you agree ;-). So, I dropped generous hints and was one happy camper to get the grill home. I have been roasting a lot of stuff on it and will post the recipes one by one.

Back to the bell pepper chutney, in the 'pre-grill' era, I used to put the slices of bell pepper in my regular oven and bake them at 350F until it turned brown on both sides. So, you can very well do this with a conventional oven or if you don't have one, no need to fret. Heat a flat pan (preferably cast iron), smear a drop or two of cooking oil on the bell pepper slices and arrange them in a single layer in the pan. Let it turn brown on one side before turning it over. Do not keep stirring but keep on eye on it to prevent burning. The idea is to roast the bell pepper and if you can get a smoky flavor (which you will with the grill or the cast iron pan), it adds to the flavor.

So choose any of the methods above and get to cook up a delicious chutney that goes well with idli, dose or rice. Added bonus, this chutney hardly uses any oil.

What do you need to make Bell Pepper Chutney? 
2 sweet bell peppers (red, orange or yellow)
2 Tblsp peanuts
1/2 Tsp crushed jaggery/brown sugar
1 Tsp salt (adjust to taste)
1 dry red chili (optional)
1/2 of a small red onion
1X1 inch tamarind piece

How do you make Bell Pepper Chutney?

• Wash, pat dry the bell peppers, cut them in half, remove the seeds.
• Slit lengthwise and make 4 pieces from each bell pepper. 
• Cut the onions into wide pieces. 
• Heat a grill, coat the bell pepper and onion pieces with a couple of drops of oil, arrange them on the grill and let it roast until they are tender and cooked well. 
• My grill took about 40 minutes on high setting. 

• Heat a pan, roast the peanuts and red chili (if using) until peanuts start to pop and show small black spots on the skin. The raw smell should go away completely. 

• Let everything cool down to room temperature. 
• Take the roasted pepper, onion, peanuts, chili, tamarind, salt & jaggery and blend it in your blender. Start with the pulse mode to break the ingredients down and then run it full speed. I like to stop it just before reaching a smooth paste. Add water only if absolutely necessary. 

• Enjoy with idli, dose or plain rice. 

Notes: 

• Use the sweet bell peppers for this recipe and not the green ones, as they alter the texture and taste greatly.
• Do not chop bell pepper or onions into small pieces, wider cuts ensure uniform roasting without letting them burn. 
• You may remove the husk of the roasted peanuts but I like to put them in anyway. 
• If you are using the conventional oven, turn the pieces over half way through and switch to broil mode for not more than 2 minutes at the end just to get the charred flavor. 
• As always it is important to let the ingredients cool down before grinding them. 
• Pulsing the ingredients breaks them down and also adds moisture from the onions and bell peppers to make the grinder work smoothly. Do this before adding any water. 
• The bell peppers and the red onions make this chutney mild, so addition of jaggery is optional.

Bell pepper dry curry with besan and a vent session

I promise I have a recipe today but I just to vent a little bit before I get to the recipe. Thanks for bearing with me, feel free to jump ahead or scroll down to get to the recipe directly :-).

It has been a busy couple of weeks with travel involved and I have spent less time on the blog than I would like to. For a natural home bird like me, travel is not something I enjoy very much. I love to go to places and see sights but the journey itself is what puts me off. I love to go driving but hate air travels, India trip is different though which I look forward to all the time in spite of the long flights. So when I have to travel, I am not a very happy camper. Two weeks back, when we all went to the east for DD's music program, I grumped and squirmed the entire 5 hours on the flight back making BH & DD sitting either side of me go bonkers. But then I had to travel alone for work last week and had only myself to complain to on the journey.

The trip itself was great, lot of work got done, met with my team and had a great time working in the familiar surroundings again while BH & DD did a wonderful job of taking care of home, school, sports practice, other activities and everything else. After a long work week, I headed back on Friday evening to leave the hotel room behind but was bummed when I missed my connection and had to stay overnight in a yet another unfamiliar city. The airlines did nothing to ease the distressed customer except for shoving a 800 number in my face and tell me to get a hotel room for the night. Though I was booked for a late afternoon flight the next day, I was adamant on getting in on one of those earlier flights, so I reached the airport early in the morning, established myself at the gate, kept talking to those agents and made sure my stand by status was well respected and recognized :-). Finally, they put me on an earlier flight to get rid of me. Reached home to be received by yells and shrieks and tight hugs and long licks (Flora) and all the travel sickness and tiredness vanished just like that :-), Great to be home again. Looking back at the additional time and the delay, it is just another character building experience.

To top it all, BH had cooked a wonderful lunch of menthya soppina anna and he said he just followed instructions from here, what more can I ask for? I cleaned the plate completely to wash away a week of eating bread and salads and such..This morning, I logged in to see inquiries and comments left by my blog visitors which just made my day completely, Thank you all.. Weather outside is beautiful, birds are chirping, our small vegetable garden is looking good. Life is good.

Whether you read through my vent session above or hopped directly to the recipe area, here is something that will not disappoint you. A yummy, quick to put together side dish for your rotis or rice. It is a dry curry and goes well with a plain rasam.

What do you need to make Bell Pepper Palya?
2 green peppers - deseeded and cut into bite size pieces.
1/2 medium sized onion - cut into thin long strips
2 heaped Tblsp of besan/gram flour/chick pea flour
1 Tsp salt (adjust to taste)
1 Tsp red chili powder
1 Tblsp cooking oil
1 Tsp mustard seeds
1 Tsp chana dal/kadle bele
1/2 Tsp asafoetida
4-5 curry leaves

How do you make Bell Pepper Palya? 

• Heat a heavy bottom pan on medium heat and dry roast the besan frequently stirring. 
• Besan roasts and gives a wonderful aroma and turns slightly pink, switch off. Keep the roasted flour aside.
• Heat the oil in the same pan, add mustard, asafoetida and chana dal, roast till mustard crackles, add curry leaves. 
• Add the thin onion slices and fry for a couple of minutes until they become soft.

• Mix in the chopped bell pepper pieces, add salt and mix in. 
• Cover and cook on medium heat for 3-4 minutes. 

• Add the roasted besan, red chili powder and cook uncovered for 5-6 minutes until besan cooks and gets incorporated well. 

• Switch off and serve warm with rice or rotis. 

Notes: 

• You can mix & match bell peppers of different colors but I prefer the green ones for this recipe as they do not turn mushy when cooked. 
• You can skip roasting the besan initially but it will take longer for it completely cook and renders the bell pepper very soft.

Carrot-bell pepper soup for a rainy evening dinner

When the weather is cloudy and it is a little chilly indoors, I crave for something hot and spicy. It is also true on days when work day has been longer and busy and you realize it is dinner time but not much is ready in the name of dinner. We enjoy our bread & soup days without any of the aforementioned excuses also since we are a soup loving family :-).

I made this delicious carrot-bell pepper soup yesterday and took cue from Veggie Belly's tip for flavoring it with mint, thank you Sala. It was very flavorful and we slurped it with bread topped with grapefruit chutney.

What do you need to make Carrot-bell pepper soup?
4 large carrots - washed, peeled and cut into bite size pieces
1 small yellow baby bell pepper - this adds a sweetish peppery flavor, you can use red colored ones also
1 cup milk
10 mint leaves
1 tsp ground pepper + some for garnish
1.5 tsp salt
1 tsp butter
1 cup water

How do you make carrot-bell pepper soup?

1. Heat the butter, fry carrots and bell pepper for a minute, add water and cook until soft, alternatively cook carrots in a pressure cooker.
2. In the mean time, heat the milk on low heat, add mint leaves and let it come to a boil.
3. Switch off the stove, take the mint leaves out and preserve the flavored milk.
4. Once cooked carrots & pepper have cooled, take them to the blender, add the flavored milk and blend it till smooth.
5. Bring the blended mixture to a rolling boil in a soup pot, season with salt & pepper, add water if the consistency is thick. I didn't need any additional water.

Variation:

1. You can add a 1/4 red onion and 1 tomato instead of the bell pepper for a different flavor. grape tomatoes give a nice red hue to the soup. 
2. Add 1/2 tsp of amchoor (dry mango) powder while boiling the soup if you like your soup to have a little punch.