Instant Capsicum paruppusli

Name: capsicum curry with a twist
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 10 min
Ingredients: 2 nos capsicum; 1 tsp mustard seeds; a pinch asafodita; few curry leaves; 1/4 tsp turmeric powder; 1 tsp refined oil; 2.5 tbsp roasted channa dal/ pottu kadalai; 4 nos dried red chilli (round); 3 tbsp shredded coconut

Published December 11, 2017 · Updated March 28, 2018

I don’t remember me ever being a finicky child wrt food growing up. I remember my bro being one :). He could never eat spicy food and he would sit with his plate of food for ages. My mom was always happy with me on this regard since I was a quick eater and would anything that went on my plate. I moved away from home after 12th and I came home once a month for a weekend. Though, I was never a fussy eater, I clearly had my favourites. Till date if you ask me which food of my mother’s I would die eating I will consistently name these few – her murungakkai/ onion vethakozhambu & kutti urula kizhangu curry (small potato curry), her arachuvitta venkaya sambhar (onion sambhar with freshly ground spices), her kunukku (I am going to get to document that soon yayyyy!), her potato stew, her style of vegetable pulao, her arisi upma, her avial & my top favorite – her more kali/ koozhu. I am already drooling as I am typing this out. Hence, whenever I went home for those 2 days of a month, my mom always made sure she made my favorites (well, I always insisted she made those even when she would come up something different). I am boring that way. I can go on a repeat mode of certain dishes forever quite literally. Anyways, it looks like I have forgotten about the other dishes that she makes primarily cos it doesn’t occupy the last 15 years of my memory anymore :). Hence, whenever my MIL makes a certain dish, it feels like I am having it for the first time and when I tell my mom about it, she says I have eaten a version of it as a kid. This is one such dish. I have no memories of having eaten something as simple yet elevated dish as this. This might sound too fancy and too exaggerated for an ordinary capsicum curry but that’s the thing – this is no ordinary capsicum curry. This is the curry that gives you the taste of a capsicum paruppu usli but a dish that you can prepare in 15 minutes in total. Now, who’s not going to like that combo!! I am such a sucker for this recipe. I so badly wanted to document it that, despite my MIL having made a batch of paruppu usli and snuck it in the freezer for me to use while she was in chennai for a few days, I still went ahead and made this recipe. Call me mad if you want, but judge me after you try this dish out! 🙂

capsicum curry with a twist

Prep Time

5 mins

Cook Time

10 mins

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: Indian

Servings: 2 persons

Ingredients

2 nos capsicum
1 tsp mustard seeds
a pinch asafodita
few curry leaves
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp refined oil

To grind

2.5 tbsp roasted channa dal/ pottu kadalai
4 nos dried red chilli (round)
3 tbsp shredded coconut

Instructions

In a mixer, grind together the roasted channa dal/ pottu kadali & dried red chillies to a fine powder.
To this, add shredded coconut and grind. Set the ground powder aside. This is your flavour bomb.
In a pan/ kadai, heat some oil & add mustard seeds.
Once the mustard seeds start to splutter, add curry leaves, asafodita & turmeric powder.
Toss in the chopped capsicum and saute for a few minutes. Do not add any extra water.
Once the capsicum is cooked (the colour of the capsicum will change), toss in the ground powder.
Mix well and turn off the heat.
Enjoy this on the side of sambhar rice or just plain dal rice. Drooool.

Recipe Notes

Ensure that the capsicum is dry (no water) before you add the flavour powder.
There is no need any water to this recipe since the natural water will get released when you cook capsicum. Keep the flame in medium while cooking.

Stepwise pictures

For the podi/ powder