Sweet Peppers stuffed with Cheese and Spring Onions in Sauce Afghan

From Classic Indian Vegetarian Cooking, Julie Sahni, Doubleday, 1987.

The last element of my Indian meal needed 2 capsicums (peppers) to be cut in half and the seeds and the membranes taken out.

There were two fillings to be made. There was a mixture of paneer crumbled, finely chopped spring onions, a red chilli finely chopped, some chopped coriander and a tablespoon of flour. These were well mixed and they were ready.

The second filling was made from mashed potato. A pinch of cumin seeds was fried for a few seconds in hot fat and then some grated ginger was added for a short time before the mashed potato was added and stirred in. This was fried until it started to become brown. The heat was turned off and a squeeze of lemon juice was added with some salt. The mixture was left to cool.

To stuff the capsicums, firstly the cheese mixture was placed into the halves. This was then topped with the potato which was tightly packed in and then smoothed over.

A pan had some oil heated in it and the capsicums were placed in it potato side down. These were fried until the potato had browned. They were then turned over and cooked for a few minutes more on the other side. When the capsicums seemed cooked but were still retaining a bit of crunch they were ready. They were served with Sauce Afghan.

This was made by frying chopped onion in a saucepan until it had softened. I then added a chopped red chilli, a chopped garlic clove, 2 chopped tomatoes, ½ teaspoon of ground cumin and the same amount of ground fennel, 5 tablespoons of yoghurt and salt to taste. This was cooked gently for about half an hour. It needed watching to make sure it did not burn and occasionally some water was added to stop it sticking to the pan. When it was ready a little more water was added to bring it up to 300ml.

I quite enjoyed this. With the courgette koftas and the cucumber and paneer salad it made a nicely balanced spicy meal.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔

As some of these books may be out of print if anyone would like a particular recipe, email me (alfcooksvege@ozemail.com.au) and I’ll send a version. Of course, the whole book would be better; it’s loaded with other goodies.