Stuffed Capsicum (Stuffed Peppers)

Hello, boys and girls!

Welcome to cooking with Varun. Let's start this off with a lame (Hindi) joke shall we? If an apparel store had a blowout sale on t-shirts and not on headgear, kya tshirt ki keemat cap-se-kam hogi? If you understand Hindi, please don't leave. I'll stop making jokes, I swear (maybe). If you don't understand Hindi, lucky you! 

While we're on the topic of caps and t-shirts, I'm taken back years and years ago to when I was fresh out of school and often sported a backwards cap with a tuft of hair poking out. Not my best look, I'll admit, but I was more excited about going to junior college not having to wear a uniform everyday, and the fact that I didn't need to crop my hair as short as freshly mowed grass, which is the rule with most convent schools in India. College was great; after a lifetime of studying in boys-only schools, I finally got the chance to interact with the fairer sex. Also, I didn't have to be stuck in a classroom all day, so I spent a lot of time at the basketball court, or throwing about a frisbee on the college ground. One time, my friends and I came across a little envelope of passport sized photographs that some other kid had accidentally dropped on the basketball court by the pavilion. We didn't recognize the face on the picture so returning them got a little difficult. After looking around to see if we could spot the person in question with no luck, one of the more mischievous of our number suggested we play a little prank on the as yet unidentified owner. We got a blank sheet of paper (probably ripped from the stock provided in one of the files provided for practical work) and proceeded to fashion a 'Missing Person' poster. I can't recall the exact words we wrote on it but there definitely was a bit about giving the kid his own room and how much his parents loved him. To make it look official, we used a heavy soled boot to make what resembled a seal or rubber stamp on the bottom right corner. Once we had a poster ready, we had copies made (which made our dusty seal look infinitely more official) and glued a picture on each poster. We then walked around the campus sticking our posters next to the many notice boards, using chewing gum as an adhesive. After we were done, we popped over to the guy selling nimbu paani (lemonade) across the road, and congratulated ourselves on our cleverness as we chugged down glasses of the definitely unhygienic, but unquestionably delicious drink.

For those wondering, we did eventually see the owner of the pictures but since we hung out in different circles, he never found out that we were the ones responsible for making him a very minor celebrity. 

Coming back to food (having exhausted my cap connection), here's the recipe!

For my Stuffed Capsicum/Peppers, you will need the following:

Capsicum (peppers)	2-3
Onion	1
Potatoes	4 (medium - large)
Garlic cloves	3-4
Green chillies	2-3
Mustard seeds	3 tsp
Haldi (turmeric) powder	1 tsp
Red chilli powder	2 tsp
Salt	to taste
Oil

Prep:

1. Boil the potatoes. (4 whistles in the pressure cooker should do it.)
2. Let the potatoes cool.
3. Peel and roughly mash them.
4. Chop 3 chillies.
5. Peel, smoosh, and chop the garlic cloves.
6. Halve the capsicums (green peppers), and take the seeds out.
7. Thinly slice the onion.

Method:

1. Turn on the gas.
2. Bung a pan on.
3. Splash in some oil.
4. Count to 20.
5. Bounce in the mustard seeds.
6. Roll in the chopped chillies.
7. Toss in the garlic.
8. Pop in the onion.
9. Cook for a minute.
10. Add in the haldi and the red chilli powder.
11. Wait a couple of minutes until the masalas are cooked.
12. Add in the (almost) mashed potatoes.
13. Mix well until the potatoes are a uniform sunset yellow.
14. Add salt to taste.
15. Cook for a couple of minutes.
16. Turn the gas off.
17. Wait 5 minutes until the potatoes cool a little.
18. Fetch your halved capsicum.
19. Grab a spoon.
20. Spoon in the potatoes until the capsicum is full.
21. Smoothen the top.
22. Repeat steps 20 and 21 until all capsicums are stuffed.
23. Turn on the gas.
24. Bung a non-stick pan on.
25. Drizzle in some oil.
26. Pop in your capsicum, back down.
27. Cook until the back of the capsicum becomes a nice brown.
28. Flip the capsicum over so it's stuffing side down.
29. Cook for 2-3 minutes until the potatoes go crispy.
30. Turn the gas off.
31. Gently scrape off the  bit of potato stuck to the pan.
32. Fight with your roommate/partner over who gets to eat the crispy goodness.
33. Serve.
34. Stuff face.
35. Bask in the glory of your successfully executed dish.

Tip: If you want your capsicum cooked a little more but are worried about over-browning it, just pop a lid on for a 2-3 minutes on each side.

And remember, overeating is a myth. A full tummy is a happy tummy!