Capsicum Rice

I was really tired of preparing the same dishes like pulao, bisibelebath, vangibath etc for the lunch box. Not that I dont like them, its just that sometimes we crave for a different taste.

There were different colored bell peppers lying in the fridge. So I decided to make capsicum rice. I don't know the actual recipe, so I decided to make it in my own way. The recipe is fairly simple. I mixed ground spices to fried capsicum giving it a nice flavor and stirred it with cooked rice. You can also fry onions along with capsicum.

This recipe is off to Chaitra's RiceFeast event.

Here is the recipe. Hope you all will like it.

Ingredients:
Capsicum - 1 cup
Rice - 1 cup
Salt
Mustard - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - 5-6
Turmeric - a pinch
Oil - 4-5 tbsp

Masala:
Dry roast the below ingredients except tomato and ginger separately. Grind them to a fine paste together with tomato and ginger.


Coriander seeds - 1 tbsp
Coconut scrapped - 3-4 tbsp
Fennel/Saunf/Sombu - 1 tsp
Tamarind - small piece
Groundnuts - 1 tbsp
Sesame seeds - 1 tsp
Channa dal/Gram dal - 1 tsp
Jeera - 1 tsp
Ginger - small piece
Toamto - 1 medium sized
Asafoetida - a pinch

Method:
Cook rice such that each grains are separate. Keep is aside.
Heat gingely oil in a pan. When it is hot add the mustard and when it splutters add the curry leaves and bell peppers and saute till the bell peppers are fried properly. Add salt and turmeric. Then add chopped tomato and saute till the they are cooked. Then add the ground masala and fry.
Finaly add cooked rice and mix well. Garnish with coriander leaves.

Note: If you are using normal rice (not basmati) then cool the rice before mixing. This will prevent the rice being mashed in the process of mixing.

Preparation time: About 30 mins
Serves: 4 people