Quick Capsicum with Home-Style Roti ~ From Sukham Ayu

April 6, 2009 at 12:09 am · Filed under cats, Cooking, indian cuisine

my rendition of quick capsicum with home-style roti ~ from Sukham Ayu

I wanted to illustrate the ease of Ayurvedic cooking as presented by
the authors of Sukham Ayu. As always, their generosity of spirit shines through;
Pratibha and Jigyasa graciously agreed to let me reprint a recipe here.

Many thanks, ladies!

I chose this green pepper curry because it uses ingredients easily found just about anywhere. Indeed, many recipes in the book call for standard items found in most Indian kitchens — although I was surprised to learn that cow’s milk is hard to come by in India. I have encountered only one unfamiliar ingredient: brahmi leaves.

According to the authors, capsicum is recommended for kapha and vata doshas due to its slightly pungent quality. The original recipe calls for roasted sorghum or green gram flour. Using the helpful and comprehensive food guide at the end of the book, I adapted it to suit my taste by substituting roasted besan (bengal gram flour). I remembered that from Indira’s Bell Pepper Zunka way back when; and more recently from my experiments with bell pepper pakoda. I know I am repeating myself, but there *is* something special about bell pepper and besan. I was glad to learn they’re both good for my prakriti — constitution.

Enough of my rambling — on to the food 🙂

Quick Capsicum with Basic Home-Style Roti
recipes from Sukham Ayu ~ Cooking at Home with Ayurvedic Insights

The home-style rotis are basic indeed — whole wheat flour and water, with a drop of ghee to moisten the hands while kneading. I won’t repeat the instructions as I am sure they’re fairly universal, as rotis go. The proportion of whole wheat flour to water is approx. 2:1.

I made them for practice 🙂 Also, they taste great with the nutty capsicum curry.

the first roti ~ affectionately known as ‘the blob’

As you can see, I need plenty of practice!

at last, slightly round ~ and puffing up!

OK, now that I finally made a semi-round roti, we can cook peppers —
and this time, I will type verbatim:

The Peppers

Green capsicum ~ 4 medium-sized
Spring onions (with leaves) ~ 1 bunch
Sorghum or green gram flour ~ 2 TB
Coriander powder ~ 2 tsp
Cumin powder ~ 1 tsp
Red chilli powder ~ 1 tsp
Coriander leaves ~ to garnish
Powdered rock salt ~ to taste

The Tempering

Cow’s ghee ~ 1 TB
Mustard seeds ~ 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder ~ a pinch
Asafoetida powder ~ a pinch

1. Chop the capsicums into 1 inch squares and the spring onion bunch finely.

2. Dry roast the flour over low flame for 1-2 minutes until the aroma rises. Set aside.

3. For the tempering, heat ghee in a wok. Add the mustard and as it splutters, add the turmeric and asafoetida powders. Immediately, toss in the spring onions and capsicums, reduce flame and saute for 2-3 minutes.

4. Sprinkle the roasted flour over the vegetable. Add coriander, cumin and chilli powders along with salt. Stir well, cover and cook for another 2-3 minutes.

Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve fresh with Roti and any Dal from this collection.

~~ You may substitute capsicum with fenugreek or spinach leaves ~~

To learn more about Ayurveda, visit KARE.

To learn more about Sukham Ayu, visit Pritya.

Recipes in this post are copyright by and courtesy of
Jigyasa Giri and Pratibha Jain

Next up, ISG’s no-ferment oats ‘n grits dosas!
Yes, ISG, I finally got some steel-cut oats 🙂

And last but not least, can’t resist leaving you with this…

daisy-in-a-box ~ ah, springtime sundays…

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