Fiiiiiirrrrrrre!

Back in the 80′s and 90′s, when I used to live in the great city of Chennai, in India, we did everything Americans are now trying to do in the name of going Green. The vegetables we bought were  locally grown, organic (because farmers found pesticides expensive at that time), and we patronized small farmers. I am not going to pretend that we did this consciously out of some concern for the planet. No, we patronized the small farmers because that’s what was available to us. One benefit from doing this, which, I only realized after moving to the US and shopping in large grocery stores, was that the vegetables were succulent, fresh, very very tasty and enticing.

But one of the fallouts of doing so was that I had never at that time, seen some vegetables that are usually available in other parts of the world. For instance, I had not seen an avocado, a red, organge or yellow pepper (green peppers were available), a tomatillo, and all those multitude of greens and pumpkins that are available in the US.

So, when I moved to the US and saw a red pepper for the first time, and looked at the price (which was three times the price of a green pepper), I wondered what it was about a red pepper that made it so pricey. And then, it dawned on me when I tasted slivers of it smothered in a guacamole dip at a friend’s place.

Fresh red peppers taste crunchy, juicy, and delectable. Along with taste, red peppers are packed with nutrients – Vitamin C, A, carotenoids and anti-oxidants. And so, started my quest for adapting Indian recipes to use red pepper.

I made a brown rice venn pongal the other day – (I know, I know, it is an oxymoron because the word “venn” in tamil means white! But you’ll see tomorrow what I mean by Brown rice venn pongal.) The brown rice pongal is a totally satisfying, filling, guilt-free rice dish. The flavors are subtle but definitely bland. So I rooted through my fridge to look for something to make an accompaniment to go with the bland brown rice pongal and hit upon the Red Pepper Gotsu.

Here it is, for your pleasure, with my compliments. As usual, I have cut down on the oil and this too, is made with just 1 tsp oil.

Try it and let me know how you like it. But be warned, this dish can be fiery – it is meant to be eaten with a bland main dish. You can, of course, tone it down to suit your taste, but I will provide the recipe as I made it.

Here’s what you need:
Red peppers – 2 (chopped)
Red onion – 1 large (sliced thin)
Orange Habanero peppers – 2  (cut fine) – (cut this out if you would like to tone this down in spice)
Ginger – 1″ piece (grated fine)
Salt -  tsp
Red chili powder – 1 tsp (reduce this if you want to tone this down)
Black mustard seeds – 1 tsp
Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
Tamarind paste – 1/2 tsp
Olive oil – 1 tsp
Water – 1/2 cup

Heat olive oil in a pan. When the oil is hot, place the mustard seeds. Wait until the seeds crackle and add the habanero peppers and grated ginger. Stir fry for a minute until the habaneros are fried crisp. Now add the slivered onions. Fry for a minute. Add the red peppers and stir fry for another minute.  Dissolve the tamarind paste in water and add it to the pan. Add salt, red chili powder and cook on high for 3-4 minutes.

Remove from fire and serve with brown rice pongal.

Check back tomorrow for the sumptuous  Brown rice pongal recipe!

Absolutely nutty :)

When I was a tween, one of my favorite pastimes was to spend hot summer afternoons, perching precariously in the crook of the guava tree in the backyard, reading Enid Blyton books.

I was fascinated by one of Enid Blyton’s characters, Kiki, the talking parrot, who would always squawk, “Shut the door and wipe your feet!”. And when I read the sentence where she tells a guy called Bill, “Bill, pay the bill!”, my 10 year old wildly runaway imagination would picture the scene of a grown-up being told to pay the bill by a parrot.  I would laugh so uproariously at the thought that I invariably fell out of the guava tree at that juncture. But that’s not all I liked about Kiki. What I admired the most was that her loyalty could not be bought even when she was offered her favorite food – a handful of nuts.

Nuts were not just Kiki’s favorite food, they also are mine! So, when a cousin came to visit from Canada and showed me this Peanut chutney recipe, I was thrilled. It tastes just fantastic and the very best thing about this recipe is that it has absolutely no oil – zero, zilch! The only fat in this chutney comes from the nuts themselves, which, as we all know is healthy fat.

Here’s the what you will need:
1 cup raw peanuts
3 dry red chili
1 tsp salt

Heat a non-stick pan and toast the red chili until they start puffing up. Now add the peanuts and toast for about 5 minutes until peanuts are roasted well. Remove from fire and cool. Place the nuts and red chili in a blender along with half cup water and salt and blend until smooth. Add more water, depending on the consistency you would like.

Serve with Pesarattu (recipe provided on December 7, under the name “Green Revolution”)

More tomorrow – Check back for Red pepper Gotsu recipe – hot off the stove!