Stuffed and baked capsicum (green bell peppers) - desi-style

Yesterday I made these stuffed capsicum (green bell peppers), and they turned out pretty yummy, so I thought I'd post the photo here.

These are perfect when you have guests for lunch and you want to make something that looks fantastic, but is really quite easy to execute. And they're baked, and have very little fat/oil, so it's guilt-free too.

Before and after baking

For the base:
3 or 4 bell peppers, sliced in half, and the inside scooped out

For the stuffing: 

• Boiled potatoes (about 2 large potatoes)
• Cottage cheese (we made it at home, but you can buy it at the store) - as much as you like, but around one-third the amount of potatoes is good.
• Green chillies - 1 chilli, sliced into tiny, tiny, bits
• Fresh coriander - a handful, including stems, again sliced into tiny bits
• Cumin powder, Coriander power, Red chilli powder - to taste (I used about half tea-spoon of each)
• Amchur (dried mango) powder - half tea-spoon
• Salt - to taste

I've seen recipes with more ingredients in the stuffing - typically, ginger and onions. Some recipes have peas. There are no rules, you can pretty much experiment with whatever you like.

How to make (easy-peasy):

Crumble the cottage cheese, potatoes, add all the stuff above to it, then pack it inside the bell pepper. There's no need to pack super-tight. Put some oil or butter or ghee on top of the stuffing (I didn't do it). Pre-heat oven at 180 C, and bake for 15-20 minutes or until the skin of the pepper becomes wrinkly, the way it is in this photo. Serve immediately, when it is hot.

You can garnish with coriander or sprinkle chaat masala before serving. Also towards the end of the baking, you can sprinkle cheese on top and melt it if you like. We ate it with triangle-shaped parathas, dal spiced with jeera, garlic and red chillies, kachumer (salad of cucumber, onion, tomatoes), rice, yoghurt and pickle.