Capsicum - Peas Rice & A Me-Me

I wanted to participate in Pooja's VOTW . I prepared a dish, took pictures and could not draft the recipe for green peas week because of the time constraints. Last week, we celebrated our eleventh wedding anniversary and also did lot of shopping - packing sort of things for my husband's visit to India. Now I have plenty of time, though it is difficult to sit alone at home feeling vacant. I had many food pictures on my computer which needed drafting. So, I thought this is the right time to do it.

I am posting a recipe for Capsicum rice today. One of my classmates, during my college days used to bring some rice dishes which were prepared using vangi bhath powder. Capsicum rice used to be one of them. Her mom used to fry capsicum, potatoes and green peas together and add vangi bhath powder and rice to it. I omitted potatoes in the dish. This is a very simple preparation and less time consuming.

Ingredients needed:

Rice - 1 cup

Chopped capsicum - 1 cup

Green peas (fresh or frozen) - 1/2 cup

Vangibhath powder - 2 Tbsp

Salt - As needed

Oil - 2 Tbsp

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Curry leaves - A few

Cashews - 1 tbsp (optional)

Preparation:

Cook the rice.

Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds, cashews and curry leaves. When mustard seeds start to splutter, add capsicum and green peas. Stir it, cover with a lid and lower the heat. Keep stirring in between till the capsicum pieces become tender.

Then add the vangibhath powder, salt and fry it for a couple of minutes on low flame. Add the rice and mix well till all the rice is well coated with the cooked masala. Adjust the salt and powder if needed. Turn off the stove and let it sit for 10 minutes.

Serve hot.

Note:

If using frozen peas, add them almost at the end.

Any one colored peppers can be used. I used all colored peppers just to give color to the dish.

Store bought MTR vangibhath powder also works fine. You can reduce / increase the quantity of vangibhath powder used according to your taste preferences.

Pooja also tagged me for '5 things you don't know about me'.

Thank you Pooja for tagging me. This is the first time a fellow blogger tagged me for this kind of thing. Since, it is a food blog, I am going to talk more about food.

1. I never dreamt that I would own a food blog. My mom have no idea about my blog yet. She would be shocked to see this. Why? I never prepared a complete meal (or for that matter a decent meal.) until I landed in USA. By that time, I was 25, I was married a little over three years and my son was an infant. Before leaving India, My mom and I jokingly even predicted my son would be the only kid on the face of the earth who will never know what good food is. I hurriedly filled a book with my mom's recipes. I had no idea what quantities of ingredients went in what recipes. My mom who never used measurements in her cooking had hard time explaining me. But once I landed here and started cooking, I enjoyed it. I even started cooking from the recipes that were on websites which caught my attention. I went on experimenting and learnt through my mistakes. Now, I love to cook especially for people like my husband, who enjoy it and unfazed by my constant experimentation (& the final product which lands up as food on his plate).

2. I enjoy teaching. I worked and volunteered as a teacher in the same schools in which I studied. It was fun working with some of the people who used to be my teachers. I taught high school kids. Now, when my daughter starts going to school full time, I want to work again with little kids who are developmentally delayed.

3. I enjoy reading anything that I can lay my hands upon. I am least bothered about the subject of the book as long as it sustains my interest. Books have been my greatest friends all through my life. When we were in India, I would not spare even the old newspapers used to pack groceries. Now, I take a trip to library atleast a couple of times in a month.

4. I was a picky eater till my kids were born. You would not have wanted me on your guest list, if you have known me a decade ago. I used to eat only a few selected veggies even though my mom cooked deliciously using all varieties of vegetables. Now to be a good role model to my kids, I started eating all most all vegetables. (Note that I said all most. I have still some reservations and am skeptical when it comes to new foods.) My MIL even to this day believes that I don't eat anything.

5. I hate to even smell garlic. But I love coconut in anything and everything. God has enjoyed playing a big practical joke on me. I wound up with a man who loves to eat garlic and loves to hate coconut. I cook garlic dishes exclusively for him.

After I started writing this, I realised that I can go on and on. It was only 5 things. So, I think I need to stop here.

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