Stuffed Bell Pepper with potato crumble

I recently saw a pic of a stuffed bell pepper on FB on my friends page. I asked her what it was stuffed with and she said " Potato Podimas" ( aka potato crumble) ! I was very intrigued by that and could not wait to try it.

To my limited knowledge, i have seen bell peppers stuffed with rice, cheese and all kinds of things which did not catch my attention. This one surely did! I did some online search and found that majority of them cooked the bell pepper on a tawa. I wanted to bake it and see. So, here I am with a recipe for stuffed bell peppers, baked and cooked on a tawa. I liked both versions and the tawa ones have a little smokier flavor.

You can add garlic, paneeer, carrots, green chiili to the stuffing as per your taste.

These stuffed peppers are so wholesome as a meal themselves. it also depends on the size of the bell pepper. Our whole family liked it and let us get to the recipe!


Get Ready:

• 3 bell pepper ( i used green and orange)
• 3 large potatoes, cooked, peeled and crumbled
• 1/2 large onion chopped
• 1/4 cup frozen peas
• 3 tbsp oil
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
• 1/2 tsp coriander powder
• chopped cilantro
• salt to taste.

Go:

To make the potato stuffing:

• Peel and crumble the cooked potatoes and set aside

• In a pan add 1 tbsp of oil and when hot add the cumin seeds
•  when they crackle, add the onions and saute till they are translucent.

• Add the green peas and saute for 1-2 mins

• Add the crumbled potatoes, salt , red chilli powder, turmeric powder and coriander powder and fold the mall well.

• If it gets too try sprinkle a little water, reduce the heat and cook on medium flame till all the spices get incorporated in the potato.
• Check your spice level and if needed add chilli powder or garam masala as per taste.
• Finally add the cilantro, turn the heat off and set aside to cool a little

The stuffing is ready.

To stuff the bell pepper.

• Wash and dry the bell peppers.
• With a sharp knife, remove the pith of the pepper and dump the seeds inside. You will just have a whole on the top of the pepper.

• the other method is to cut off the top of the pepper like a lid and set aside. remove some of the white fibers and seeds from the inside of the bell pepper.

• Apply a little salt to the inside of the bell pepper and this enhances the flavor.
• The peppers are ready to be stuffed.

• With a spoon stuff the potato podimas inside the peppers pressing down.

To bake them:

• Pre heat an oven to 300 degree C
• Line a baking tray with foil and spray with cooking spray
• Apply oil to the outer surface of the bell pepper
• Bake for 30 -40 mins depending on your oven till the bell peppers is soft and and cooked.
• Make sure to flip them over in between so all sides are cooked well.

To Pan cook

• In a tawa, add 1 tbsp pf oil.

• Place the stuffed pepper in the pan, cover and cook for 3 mins on low to medium flame. 
• Flip them around 360 degrees every 2-3 mins till  all sides are cooked well. If you like a little charred taste, Uncover and cook longer if you want it crispy.

• Turn the heat off till all sides are cooked.

Serve hot with rice or as a one pot meal!

In my picture, the one on the plate is the tawa cooked one and the other two with the yellow bell pepper is oven cooked.