Time: Preparation: 5 minutes
Cooking : 40-45 minutes (Pressure cooking potatoes 7-8 mins; Grill 15 mins; saute 5 minutes (deep fry for 20 minutes if not grilled); Gravy and finishing 15 mins)
Preparation: Set the potatoes (for the stuffing) to boil. You could use a pressure cooker as you need them soft and mashable. If the bell peppers are large, then you need more potato (approx 50 gms per capsicum )
Slice the onions, tomatoes and green chillies.
Mince the ginger and coriander leaves.
Select small bell peppers – green capsicum, yellow, red, orange peppers or a mix of available coloured ones, preferably of similar size, and as far as possible with not too many bulges and odd corners. Those with a bit of stalk on them would add to the presentation of the dish.
Wash and clean well, set aside to drain and dry.
To make the stuffing:
Peel and mash the cooked potatoes, ensuring there are no lumps. Reserve 2 tablespoons of mash for the gravy.
Add a little salt (there will be some salt in the gravy, but you need some for the peppers)
Slice onions, mince coriander leaves and green chilies. Reserve about a quarter of the onion and coriander leaves for the gravy and garnish, and add the remaining onion, coriander and green chilli slices to the mashed potato. Mix it all well together. Your stuffing is now ready.
Divide the stuffing into small portions according to the number of bell peppers used and their size. Larger ones would need more stuffing.
Carefully cut away the tops of each, keeping the top and stalk intact to use as a lid later on.
Deseed.
Lightly coat each capsicum with oil, using a light spray or daub with oil using your fingertip.
Proceed to fill each capsicum with as much potato mash as it can hold. Do it gently using a small spoon and take care not to damage or tear the capsicum while stuffing.
Replace the tops of each to fit snugly into the capsicum. If you have toothpicks handy, use them to clip the top to the stuffed pepper.
Grill the stuffed capsicum for about 15 minutes - The skin starts changing colour and peeling, becomes soft and the peppers shrink a little. Take them off the grill before it begins to scald and burn.
Optional: Heat a little oil in the frying pan and sauté the grilled stuffed peppers. Keep turning them as they fry so that all sides are evenly cooked, taking care while turning them over so that the stuffing doesn’t fall out. You may choose to skip this step and add the stuffed grilled capsicum to the gravy as in instructions below.