Cooking Pleasures: Tri Color Bell Pepper Fried Rice & Bell Pepper Chutney

HI Friends,

I changed my blog to beta version today. I found some changes in comments. Like, those who have chaged to beta version, there names are not shown and converted as Anonymous. Iam sorry about that. So, my request is please do mention your name when you leave a comment. So that I will know you and can reply back. This thing, to say,I really found strange. Can any body say the reason why?? Thank You:-))

Coming to today's post, Iam here with two recipes at a time. Bellpepper FriedRice & Bellpepper Chutney. Though, both are prepared at different times (I mean day too!!). But thought of posting at a time, togeather, since both are co-related with there names starting with same vegetable i.e., Bell Pepper:-) To say about fried rice, I had to beg my brother "Ravi" for this recipe. After reading this recipe, you may think do any body really need to beg for this?? Answer is "Even I thought the same thing after he told me the recipe":-)). It such an easy, yet, very delicious recipe. I should say, Instant Fried Rice. But I thank him for such an easy and wonderful recipe. He actually cooked this fried rice with peas and beans as vegetables along with bell peppers, for my son's cradle cermony. Each and every guest of ours enjoyed a lot:-) Next is Bell Pepper Chutney. I read many post on Red Bell Pepper Chutney. I found all of them very intresting. Since I had above three bell peppers (tri color) in store, which are actually bought to prepare fried rice, with left over ones, I went and prepared the chutney. It is really good as our fellow blogger and dear friend Indira of "Mahanandi" said (in her words) "Red Bell Pepper chutney goes well with any break fast dishes like idli, dosa, upma, rice or chapathis". Here is her version of Red Bell Pepper Chutney. Though my version is completely different from her's, I was much inspired by her recipe to prepare this chutney. Thank You Indira:-) Iam also sending thease recipe's for Kalyn's Kitchen most happening event "Holiday Cooking With Herbs".

With not much delay here I go with both recipes.....

Bell Pepper Fried Rice
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Ingredients:
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3 small sized bell peppers different colors( I took green, orange & red: used 1 small green pepper;1/2 of each orange & red bell pepprs. Since they both were big)

2 Cups Basmati rice (or long rice)

1 Medium sized white onion

2 Green chillies

1 tsp Cumin seeds

2 tsp soya sauce (or even less if you don'nt like the sauce taste and flavour)

Oil for cooking (1 Tbsp or 3tsp)

1 to 1/2 tsp Freshly grated pepper(or as per your taste)

Salt (as per taste)

Method:
-----------

Rinse rice in cold water only once (to avoid them from breaking).

Cook in pressure cooker with 1:2 ratio (i.e., if 1 cup rice then 2 cups water).

Cook rice with 1/2 tsp cumin seeds in it and 1 to 1/2 tsp oil(for rice grains to be separate from each other)

After rice is cooked, allow it to cool in a wide plate.

Mean while, cut bell peppers into thin & long pieces & don'nt forget to deseed them.

Cut onion also into thin & long pieces. Cut green chillies into small pieces. keep all of them a side.

Take a wide non_stick pan(because, in non stick when you fry any vegetables, on high heat , they take less oil), heat oil, add another 1/2 tsp cumin seeds and fry till they start spluttering.

Now, add green chillies and fry for 2 seconds. Add all three bell peppers and fry till they become little soft yet little crunchy too. This is very important here, to enjoy their flavours while eating fried rice:-)

First fry them for 2 min with open lid. Then cover the lid and allow to cook for 2 to 3 more minutes.

Once they are cooked as desired, add salt and pepper. Mix well and fry with open lid for couple of minutes.

Now add soya sauce and mix well. Finally, add rice bit by bit (i.e., in small portions) and mix well with other ingredients. Use some wooden spectula to avoid rice from breaking.

Fry for 2 to 3 minutes with open lid and serve hot.

Note:

You can add peas & beans(if fresh vegetables cook them before and keep aside). They really make dish more rich. Also you can add soya granules (soaked in warm water for 1/2 hr and add to the dish with other vegetables). I cooked only with bell peppers, to know there flavour more and enjoy them. It was very good with oit adding any other begetables too:-) Also, if using fresh pepper, then add carefully, since fresh pepper will be more spicy than others.

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Bell Pepper Chutney:
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Ingredients:
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2 small size green bell pepper

1/2 of orange and 1/2 of red bell peppers of medium sized

2 tsp chenna dal

2 tsp urad dal

1 lime size tamarind

1 big stem curry leaves

1 tsp cumin seeds

4 to 5 red dry red chillies

3 tsp oil

salt to taste

Fresh cilantro to garnish

Method:
---------

Before proceeding, wash and soak tamarind in warm water till other preparations are done.

Cut bell peppers into roughly small cubes. Do not de-seed them.

Heat oil, in a wide and little depth pan, add cumin seeds and fry till they start spluttering. Add channa dal and urad dal and fry till they change into light brown.

Now break and add dry red chillies and fry till they start changing color into dark. And add curry leaves and fry for few seconds.

Now add all cut bell peppers and fry till they become little soft.

Finally add soaked tamarind and fry for 1 minute and remove from heat.

Allow the contents to cool and grind them bit by bit with desired salt in a food processor into a fine paste.

Finally garnish with fresh cilantro. Enjoy with chapathis, hot plain rice, idli, dosa etc.

Labels: bell pepper, bell pepper chutney, bell pepper fried rice, chutney, pickel, rice

Posted by Meena Kandlakuti on Tuesday, December 19, 2006 at 12:54 PM | Permalink

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Welcome to Beta!!:)

Both dishes look fabulous.I particularly liked the Bell Pepper chutney.Thanks for the recipes Meena.I love it.

Posted by FH | December 19, 2006 3:33 PM

Both dishes are colorful
The chutney is a must try I have never had it before
Maybe you should think of sending them for Kalyn's Kitchen's Holiday Herb Blogging. The bell peppers truly bring out the Christmas color

Posted by Bong Mom | December 19, 2006 4:53 PM

Hi Meena,
Both rice and chutney looks colourful.Nice treat. Thanks for sharing.

Posted by Menu Today | December 19, 2006 4:54 PM

Thank You Asha,
even I liked chutney a lot...do give a try..Iam sure u will love it
when u actually cook:-))

Thank You Sandeepa,
thanks for notifyng me of another event.actually I keep track of thease events very rarely.I will try to send it for sure.Yeah, its a nice idea as a christmas treat:-))

Posted by Meena Kandlakuti | December 19, 2006 8:04 PM

Thank You MT,
nice to hear that you like them:-))

Posted by Meena Kandlakuti | December 19, 2006 8:05 PM

Hi Meena
Different and colorful dish ! Thanks for sharing!

Posted by Anonymous | December 20, 2006 8:51 AM

Thank You Lakshmiammal,

for dropping by:-)) happy Holidays

Posted by Meena Kandlakuti | December 20, 2006 9:18 AM

Meena
Both the dishes look great! I am going to try the rice recipe.

I have tried chutney before, instead of frying the bellpeppers, I have grilled them and there certainly was a difference in taste..it had a nice smoky flavor to it.

Posted by KA | December 20, 2006 11:23 AM

Hi Meena,
i love this chutney, but i used to add roasted peanut powder to it, i'll try your version next time. Thanks for sharing it.
and the rice looks so delicious.

Posted by Lakshmi | December 20, 2006 1:13 PM

for some reasons my comment couldn't appear, although it did seem gone through that time.
Oh yes I remember Indira's red pepper chutney. Yours looks so good, I've already bookmarked it! I'm a novice in Indian cooking, sometimes I see some people puree the chutney but some don't... so in what case I should grind it Meena? Thanks in advance :D

Gattina

Posted by Anonymous | December 20, 2006 3:18 PM

Both dishes look lovely. The rice is nice and colorful. I really like tamarind, but I don't think I've had chutney like this. Sounds good.

Posted by Anonymous | December 20, 2006 4:37 PM

They look great great! especially the chutney! I love bell peppers..they are pretty, aren't they?

Happy holidays!

Posted by Mrs. K | December 20, 2006 8:30 PM

Hi gattina,
thank you for dropping by here.
Well to answer your question; why chutneys are in different forms like paste some times not? Answer is chutneys from India are in different forms , since in India, there are different religion people and from different places. Every one has there own practice of doing chutneys. Chutneys are two types, one; freshly grounded chutney on some stone which are made on daily bases. And another one; are cooked one. Like by cooking some vege's like tomatoes, which are cooked first and then tempered with some seasoning. I hope I could give you the appropriate answer to an extent. But I should thank you gattina, because your question really made me to think:-)) that actually helped me to peep in to my country's ages of cooking.Thank you dear and happy holidays and merry christmas.

Posted by Meena Kandlakuti | December 20, 2006 11:19 PM

Thank You Kalyn for taking time and reading my post.Well if u get time try this chutney. A chutney with out tamarind for indian festivals are said to be " A festival with out any colors":-))
looking forward for the round up..meanwhile enjoy and happy holidays:-)

Posted by Meena Kandlakuti | December 20, 2006 11:23 PM

Thank you RP,
yes bell peppers are very pretty. Well I have catched them for a while in my camera, ofcourse are always in my blog from now onwards, but were well in chutney when grinded into paste;-)...Enjoy and happy holiday.

Posted by Meena Kandlakuti | December 20, 2006 11:25 PM

Meena,
thank you so much to explain the detail so clearly. A lot of time I'm so amased by your cooking but lack of knowledge, you're really a big help!

Posted by Gattina Cheung | December 21, 2006 11:48 AM

Meena:
I loved your chutney recipe.Will try it next time I get bellpeppers and the rice looks great too
Thanks
seema

Posted by Seema Bhat | December 21, 2006 12:46 PM

I love the bell pepper chutney.
will try it.

happy holidays
-jj

Posted by Anonymous | December 22, 2006 3:12 PM

Thank you Seema:-))

Thank You JJ,
I jsut had a look into your blog.U ghave got some good recipes.Great job in progress..:-)All the best and kepp coming here.Happy holidays:-))

Posted by Meena Kandlakuti | December 22, 2006 10:50 PM

Rice and chutney .. both look delicious !

Posted by Krithika | December 23, 2006 6:18 AM

wishing you and your family a great xmas and a fab new year...have fun okay

Posted by Anonymous | December 24, 2006 9:19 PM

Thank you Krithika,
Happy holidays and enjoy !

Thank You Dilip UK,
thanks for ur wishes and I wish the same for ur family and near and dear.Enjoy holidays:-)

Posted by Meena Kandlakuti | December 24, 2006 11:04 PM

HI Meena
Have a Wonderful NewYear and Happy Holidays!

Posted by indianadoc | December 29, 2006 5:26 AM

Wishing peace, health, and happiness in 2007 and always. Happy New year to you and your family !

Posted by Anonymous | December 31, 2006 1:54 PM

Here's Wishing you a very Happy New Year. May God bless you and your family with all the
happy things in this coming year.

Cheers, Nidhi.

Posted by Nidhi | January 01, 2007 1:03 PM