Indian Stuffed Green Bell Peppers

Bell pepper is one hell of a versatile vegetable to work with! The hollow interiors of stuffed peppers will tempt you to fill them up with delicious stuffing and create a stunner.

Every cuisine has version of stuffed green peppers and Indian cuisine is not an exception. The Indians love to stuff them up with spicy filling.

The elements of the filling range from rice, beans, lentil, potatoes, cottage cheese and meat. Though you might find them in other cuisine too but it is the use of spices which gives an Indian touch to these stuffed green peppers.

Bell peppers are known as "simla mirch" in India and "bharwa" means "stuffed" - hence "bharwa simla mirch" is the name given to this dish in India.

A mixture of cottage cheese and potatoes is one of the most common filling for green peppers. The creaminess of the cottage cheese is perfectly complimented by the piquancy of Indian spices while a hint of dry mango powder gives it a tangy twist.

Sometimes, these stuffed green bell peppers are dipped in equally spicy gravy to bring out the best in them. Hence bring the taste of India on plate with these stuffed peppers and relish the Indian flavours.

Yield: 4 Servings

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes

Ingredients:

4 green bell peppers200 gm cottage cheese, grated1/2 cup cheese3 medium potatoes, mashedFew sprigs of fresh cilantro1" ginger, chopped1 onion, chopped12-15 raisinsA handful of cashews1 tsp garam masala1 tsp cumin powder1 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper2 tsp dry mango powder (amchur)Salt to taste3 green chillies, chopped2 tbsp oil

Directions:

Warm up your oven to 400 degrees F.Slice the top of each bell pepper and scoop out the seeds.Combine the mashed potatoes, raisins, cashew nuts, cottage cheese, cilantro, spices and salt in a bowl and keep aside.Saute the onions in oil over medium heat until they become soft and translucent.Add the green chillies and ginger, continue to cook for some time.Stir in the cottage cheese mixture and cook for another couple of minutes.Stuff portions of the cooked filling inside each bell pepper.Top each of them with the grated cheese and arrange them on baking dish.Bake the bell peppers for 15 minutes and serve hot.

Useful Tip: You can boil the bell peppers before filling them up so that they can absorb the flavours of the stuffing while baking.

Want to try different cuisine or variation of this stunning dish? You can find unique stuffed peppers recipe collection by Sharon Hunter http://www.stuffedbellpeppers.net/.

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