Name: Besan Wali Shimla Mirch
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 25 min
Yield: 2 servings
Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients: 2 Green Bell Pepper, medium, deseeded and cut into small squares; 3 tbsp Gram Flour, besan; 1 tsp Cumin Seeds; ¼ tsp Asafoetida; ¼ tsp Ground Turmeric; ½ tsp Red Chilli Powder; 1 tsp Ground Coriander; ½ tsp Dried Mango Powder, amchur; 2 tbsp Cooking Oil; ¾ tsp Salt, to taste

25 mintotal

Prep 10 min · Cook 15 min

Serves: 2
Difficulty: Easy
Spice: Mild

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Method

Set a dry frying pan over low heat. Add the besan (gram flour) and dry-roast it for 3-4 minutes, stirring constantly, until the raw flour darkens a shade and smells deeply nutty and toasted. Tip it onto a plate straight away so it stops cooking.
3–4 min
Wipe the pan clean, add the cooking oil, and raise the heat to a medium setting. Pitch in the cumin seeds and allow the hot fat to crackle them.
Drop in the hing (asafoetida) immediately followed by the cubed capsicum pieces. Sauté the peppers rapidly on medium heat for 3-4 minutes. The goal is to lightly blister the skin and soften the flesh while fiercely protecting its internal, watery crunch.
3–4 min
Turn the heat down low. Season the softening peppers with turmeric, red chilli powder, coriander powder and salt. Toss everything together so the spices stick to the blistered surfaces.
Scatter the roasted besan evenly over the spiced capsicum. Mix it in well with a spatula. The dry flour takes up the moisture the peppers are giving out and binds to it straight away.
Cap the pan with a tight lid and leave it undisturbed on low heat for 3-4 minutes. The trapped internal steam will penetrate the besan crust, cooking it fully and cementing it to the vegetables.
3–4 min
Remove the lid. Dust the sabzi with the dry mango powder (amchur). Spike the heat to high and toss the pan vigorously for 1 final minute to dry out the crust and achieve a brittle, crumbly finish.
Turn off the heat and serve it piping hot.

How to tell it's done

An uncompromisingly dry, heavily textured preparation where the capsicum chunks yield a resistant, watery crunch against the teeth, heavily armored in a savory, powdery, deeply toasted gram flour coating.

Nutrition

Per serving, from 2 servings.

187kcal

Where the calories come from

Protein3.3 g7%
Carbohydrate12 g24%
Fat14.9 g69%

Sugars: 3.9 g
Saturated fat: 2.3 g
Fibre: 3.7 g
Sodium: 884 mg
Potassium: 328 mg
Calcium: 34 mg
Iron: 1.9 mg

Estimated by calculation from the ingredient list, using USDA FoodData Central. Not a laboratory analysis.

Getting it right

Tip

The preliminary dry-roasting of the besan is the absolute linchpin of this recipe. Skipping this step forces the raw flour to absorb the pepper's moisture immediately, transforming the dish into a gummy, unpalatable paste instead of delivering the desired nutty, crumbly shell.

What to serve it with

Quick to make and a lunchbox regular. Serve it with hot, puffed phulkas, or as a dry side to a wet dal.

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Ingredients