Stuffed Bell Peppers (Capsicums) is a popular dish to make. Stuffed vegetables is fun and delicious lunch or dinner to make. Capsicums or bell peppers are easy to stuff because of it’s shape. In India, bell peppers are commonly stuffed with boiled potatoes, veggies, paneer (Indian cottage cheese) or a mix of combination of these.
Stuffed Vegetables:
During our recent vacation to Izmir, Turkey, we had a dish called ‘Biber Dolma’. It was a bell pepper stuffed with rice, nuts and tomatoes. In fact, dolma is a stuffed vegetable dish that has so many variations across the Middle East, Turkey, the Balkans, and Central Asia. Although the word ‘dolma’ itself is of Turkish origin, dolma has been part of Middle Eastern cuisine for centuries and found in Arabic cookbooks pre-ottoman era.Iraqi dolma is another famous dish made of vegetables, stuffed with rice and vegetables and cooked in a tomato broth. There are so many versions of dolma. One dolma recipe which I liked online and tried was https://www.cearaskitchen.com/vegan-stuffed-peppers/
Stuffing vegetables is common in many cuisines around the world. The stuffing can be made of rice, quinoa, cheese, potatoes, meats, egg or paneer as in this recipe.
In Southeast Asia, especially India, the most commonly vegetables used for stuffing are okra (ladyfingers), bittergourd (karela, baby eggplant (brinjal). One of my favourite dish is stuffed eggplants in a spicy gravy https://relishdelish.ca/recipes/baingan-masala-stuffed-baby-eggplants-in-a-spicy-gravy/
Paneer Stuffed Bell Peppers (Capsicums) dish with paneer and a whole lot of Indian spices is loved by all in my family.
Ingredients
Instructions
- Cut off the top part of the peppers and scoop out the seeds and membrane.
- Put a large pot of water for boiling and place the bell peppers on a steamer. Steam for 10 minutes. Remove and keep aside.
- When it cools, brush the bell peppers inside and outside with some melted butter or olive oil.
- Finely chop the top part of the bell peppers, discarding the stem. Grate paneer. Finely chop onion, green chillies, ginger, garlic and tomatoes.
- Melt a tsp. of butter in a pan and add the onions, peppers, green chillies, ginger and garlic. Fry for about 4 to 5 minutes until onions turn soft and brown. Add grated paneer and saute for 2 minutes. Add copped tomatoes, salt, chilli pd., turmeric, cumin pd., coriander pd., garam masala and tomato ketchup. Cook about 5 minutes until everything is well mixed and turn off fire. Add chopped cilantro and mix well. Let the filling cool.
- Stuff the bell peppers with paneer filling.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Brush a little oil in an oven safe glass dish. Place the peppers and drizzle the rest of the oil/melted butter all over the stuffed peppers.
- Loosely cover the baking dish with foil and bake about 15 to 20 minutes.
- Then, uncover and bake for 5 minutes. Serve stuffed bell peppers on its own or with some Indian flat bread, such as roti, nan or paratha.