Zucchini Capsicum Makhanwala

It's already time for Z. I asked Nupur what happens when we complete the 26 letters of the alphabet and she said she's not thought about it. Sad as I am to see this event come to an end, I had to make something special to bid the A-Z of Indian vegetables adieu.

Z is for Zucchini Capsicum Makhanwala and this is my entry to Nupur's A-Z of Indian Vegetables. This dish could easily have qualified for X as well because I'd eaten Zucchini so many times, but had never bothered to eat it. On our trip to Manali last week, we saw Zucchinis at the local market that were bigger than the bottle gourds in that area. My dish, however, used a reasonably small yellow Zucchini.

Ingredients:

1 tbsp Oil (Or ½ tbsp butter and ½ tbsp Oil)

1 Onion, ground to a fine paste

1 Zucchini, sliced

1/2 each of Green, Yellow and Red Capsicum

¼ cup Tomato Puree

¾ cup Slim Milk

½ tsp Turmeric Powder

1 tsp Chilli Powder

1 tsp Kasuri Methi

1 tsp Sugar

Salt to taste

Heat the oil. Add the onion paste and fry for a few minutes. Add the turmeric and chilli powder and fry for another minute. Add the chopped capsicum and zucchini slices and fry for 4-5 minutes. Add the tomato puree and salt. Mix well and cook until the mixture bubbles. Add the milk and bring to a boil while stirring. Add the kasuri methi and sugar. Cook for 5 minutes. Garnish this with coriander leaves if you wish and enjoy with rotis.


I absolutely love the taste of kasuri methi in this dish and consider the absence of it in any makhanwala to be a sign of disrespect. We eat capsicum at least once a week if not more often. S and I both like the flavour it imparts to any dish. Here, the pairing of some sweet capsicum with a normal green one seemed to go very well with the Zucchini and the flavours were rather well blended.