Most Indian curries involve a little extra cooking of the vegetables – we like to keep the crunch for salads; curries are soft to the bite. With capsicum tomato sauté I make a departure from that general rule – here the tomato slices retain their shape, the capsicum remains a bright green (or yellow/red, depending on your choice of pepper).

This is a frequent weekday dinner dish for me, and not just for its ease of chopping and cooking – nothing perks one up at the end of a stress-filled workday as a vibrantly colored curry. :-)

Capsicum tomato sauté pairs well with flatbread spiced Indian style, both  visually as well as gustatorily [ha, I have been looking for a chance to use this word :-)]. That you also get the dish to the dining table in a really short time is an added bonus.

You Need:

• Capsicum (bell peppers) – 2 (use a mix of red, green or yellow. I’ve used green)
• Tomatoes – 2 (pick firm ones)
• Onions – 2
• Ginger – 1/2 inch stick
• Garlic – 2 cloves
• Green chilly – 1
• Salt – to taste
• Coriander powder – 1 teaspoon
• Turmeric powder – a pinch
• Nigella seeds – 1/2 teaspoon
• Olive oil – 2 teaspoons
• Coriander leaves – for garnishing

How To:

Peel onions, ginger and garlic and grind along with green chilly into paste.

Core, top and slice capsicum into strips of about 3/4cm. Slice tomatoes into similar-sized pieces.

Heat olive oil in a non-stick pan. When hot, add nigella seeds and let them sizzle. After 20 seconds, add onion-ginger-garlic-chilly paste. Cook on medium heat for 5 minutes, move the paste around whenever it begins to stick to the pan.

At this stage the onion-ginger-garlic-chilly paste would have turned light golden. Add turmeric powder, coriander powder, salt and mix well. Allow to cook another 2 minutes, stirring regularly. Sprinkle a few drops of water if it begins to turn too dry.

Toss in capsicum and tomato slices into the pan. Sauté on high flame, stirring continuously, for 4-5 minutes or till done as you like it.

Garnish with freshly chopped coriander leaves. Serve hot with parathas.

The post Capsicum Tomato Saute appeared first on The Steaming Pot.

An instant stir fry, using a vegan, gluten-free red chilli paste from the Thai Kitchen. Easy to make, tastes great and ultra-flexible, this is a godsend for days when you have little bits of many vegetables and don’t know what to do with them.

You Need:

• Mushrooms – 250grams
• Red bell pepper – 1
• Green bell pepper – 1
• Carrots – 1
• Onions – 1
• Olive oil – 2 teaspoons
• Salt – to taste
• Thai kitchen red chili paste – 1 heaped tablespoon

How To:

Cut the bell peppers into 1.5 inch long strips. (Need help with coring and deseeding the bell peppers? Look up this nice tutorial.)

Cut the mushrooms into halves.

Scrape the carrots and cut them into 1.5 inch long sticks, similar in shape to the bell peppers.

Cut the onions length-wise.

Heat a teaspoon each of olive oil in two non-stick pans. Keep the flame on medium-high for both. In pan no.1, fry the mushroom halves with a pinch of salt till they release all their water. In pan no.2, add the vegetables in this order with a gap of a min or two between each – onions, carrots, red and green bell peppers. Remember, unlike in Indian curries the onions don’t have to becomes rust-brown and the vegetables don’t have to turn absolutely soft. A little crunch is good.

Add some salt to pan no.2, stir and then add the Thai red chili paste and mushrooms. Cook together for three minutes, tossing occasionally.

Serve immediately with rice.

Notes:

Vary the veggies! Baby corn, broccoli, cauliflower – all taste great in this stir fry.

The post Thai Stir Fry Vegetables appeared first on The Steaming Pot.

This recipe has been contributed by a dear friend from college, for days when you want to allow yourself a little snack-time indulgence.

These mouth-watering pan-fried spring rolls go very well with coriander chutney.

You Need:

• Mushroom – 4 big ones
• Tomatoes – 1 Medium size
• Capsicum – 1 Small
• Onion – 1 Big
• Ginger – 1/2 teaspoon, finely chopped
• Garlic – 2 cloves, finely chopped
• Green Chili – 1 small, finely chopped
• Oil – 2 tablespoons
• Cheese Spread – 1 Tablespoon
• Oregano – 1 teaspoon
• Chilli flakes – half teaspoon
• Maida (All Purpose Flour)- 100 gms
• Salt – to taste
• Pepper – to taste

How To:

Preparing the filling:

A) Cut all the vegetables into very small squares, about 0.5cm * 0.5 cm.

B) Heat a teaspoon of oil in a frying pan or kadai, add chopped ginger, garlic and green chillies to the oil. Stir till the garlic begins to turn color.

C) Add the cut onion, tomatoes, capsicum and mushroom and stir fry for 10 mins, then mix in salt & pepper.

D) Add the cheese to it along with the oregano and chili flakes.

E) Stir keeping the stove on till the cheese melts and is mixed properly with the vegetables.

Preparing the roll:

A) Add a pinch of salt and a few drops of oil to maida and mix it well.

B) Then add water and knead to make the dough. The dough should not be very soft, keep it harder than you would for chapatis.

C) Make small balls from the dough and roll them to make medium-sized tortillas (5 cm in diameter).

D) Put 2 tablespoons of ready filling in the center of the tortilla
and spread it longitudinally.

E) Fold the tortilla from all the four sides to cover the filling.

F) In a non-stick pan, heat a little oil. Shallow fry the rolls till they turn golden-brown. Turn them over and cook both sides to the same color.

Serve with tomato sauce or coriander chutney.

The post Spring Rolls appeared first on The Steaming Pot.

Olives and tomatoes, my two favorites, go into this dish in generous doses. Needless to say this is one of my best-loved meals.

You Need:

• Pasta (fusilli) – 2 cups
• Tomatoes – 4
• Capsicum (green bell pepper) – 1 large
• Garlic – 4 pods, minced
• Salt – to taste
• Oil – a few drops for boiling the pasta, another few drops for frying the garlic
• Oregano – 1 teaspoon
• Chilli flakes – to taste
• Black whole olives – as many as you like

How To:

Four steps:

A. Boiling the pasta

Add a pinch of salt and a few drops of oil to a pot of water (5-6 cups), and bring to a boil. Lower heat, tip the pasta in, stir and let it roll till the pasta is cooked. Depending on the thickness of pasta the time could be approximately 8-12 minutes but you’ll have to pierce with a fork and check.

When the pasta is done, let cold water run over it (so that it doesn’t cook any further) and drain and keep ready for further use.

B. Roasting the capsicum

I had it from good authority (aka Sanjeev Kapoor‘s cookery show Khana Khazana) that capsicum when roasted acquires a sweet sort of flavor. Today was the first time I tried it; it did taste great.

Place the whole capsicum directly on the fire, as you do with eggplant for making baingan bharta (recipe to follow soon!). Turn around till all sides are charred. Cool, remove the thin skin. Slit it, deseed and chop into thin pieces.

C. Making the sauce

Take the tomatoes in a blender and puree.

Heat oil in a non-stick pan, add the minced garlic. When the garlic begins to turn brown add the tomato puree and salt, lower heat, cover and let it cook nice and slow. Stir occasionally. When the color turns a rich red, thick in texture, your sauce is ready.

D. Putting it all together

Into the pasta sauce, add the capsicum slices, boiled pasta and toss. Adjust salt if needed. Allow it to cook for another 3-4 minutes.

Sprinkle the oregano and chilli flakes, add the olives, mix and serve.

Tips:

You can easily work on the steps above in parallel: have the sauce cooking or the capsicum roasting while the pasta boils. As with chapati-making, don’t let the four parts make you think it’s complicated – trust me it isn’t!

The post Tomato Olive Capsicum Pasta appeared first on The Steaming Pot.

This lovely concoction of colors and flavours is surprisingly easy to cook. Goes very well with chapatis.

You Need:

• Fresh paneer – 250 grams, cubed
• Onions – 2, coarsely chopped
• Tomatoes – 3-4, chopped
• Capsicum (bell pepper, green) – 1, chopped
• Dhania (coriander) powder – 1 teaspoon
• Mirch (red chilli) powder – to taste
• Haldi (turmeric) powder – 1/2 teaspoon
• Kalonji (nigella seeds) – 1/2 teaspoon
• Salt to taste
• Oil – 1 teaspoon

How To:

Heat the oil a non-stick pan. Add nigella seeds and let it splutter for a couple of seconds.

Add chopped onions and saute till translucent. Add tomatoes, lower heat, add the dry spices with salt. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, till the tomatoes become brown and mushy.

Add the chopped capsicum. Do NOT cover any more, if you do that the capsicum will not retain its green color. Cook uncovered for a couple of minutes.

Add paneer cubes. Stir and cook uncovered for a further couple of minutes.

Serve hot with chapatis or parathas.

Notes:

• I didn’t use anything other than kalonji (nigella seeds) for the tadka as I wanted the kalonji taste to stand out. Kalonji and paneer make great companions.
• The freshness of paneer is important. I got mine from Mothers Dairy, the date of packing was the same day. If you can make paneer at home, nothing like it!

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