Stuffed Vegetables Archives

Stuffed raw tomatoes with paneer

Stuffed Raw Tomatoes with Paneer ( cottage cheese ) is a complete party dish to impress your guests at any occasion. I know – these days what guests, what parties – but still, we can give even ourselves a treat to keep spirits high! So cook these stuffed raw tomatoes with paneer (cottage cheese); but if you are not a big fan of paneer then stuff tomatoes with mixed vegetables, followed by cheese, oregano flakes and black pepper.

You might give homemade fresh paneer a try if you are fine with paneer stuffing. Naturally, I have a post on how to prepare Homemade Paneer/Indian Cottage Cheese!! As I used crushed paneer, just add vinegar or lemon juice in hot milk and milk will curdle. Sieve it, use whey for your gravy based dishes or for kneading flour and use paneer for stuffing!

Check out a few more posts for stuffed vegetables in the blog…

Stuffed brinjal/eggplant/aubergines (Bharva baigan)

Stuffed Capsicum (bharva shimla mirch)

Stuffed Brinjals/Eggplant/Aubergine

Stuffed Chilies(Bharva Hari Mirch)

Pyaaz vaale bharva karele

Ingredients :

Small size raw tomatoes 9-10
Crushed paneer 100 gm (reduce or increase as per the size of tomatoes)
Coriander powder 2 tsp
Turmeric powder 1/4 tsp
Asafoetida powder a pinch
Salt as per your taste
Red chili powder 1 tsp
Dry mango powder/lemon juice 1 tsp
Garam masala 1 tsp
Kasuri methi/ chopped green coriander leaves 2 tsp
Oil 4 tbsp

Process:

Wash tomatoes and scoop out the pulp by cutting the top. You can use pulp for preparing gravy by grinding it for gravy based dishes.

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan and add paneer along with all spices. Cook this mixture for five minutes and switch off the gas.

Fill this stuffing in scooped out tomatoes and pour rest of the oil in a pan and place stuffed tomatoes in the pan. If you want, can use the top cut part of tomatoes to cover them, though it is not necessary. I used them as it looks fancy to uncover them before serving!!

Remember, we have to cook tomatoes on sim heat. Sometimes, our gas burner doesn’t give very low heat for slow cooking dishes. If that is the case with your burner, just buy one extra small size pan support and use it. This helps in supplying low heat to the cooking pan.

Tomatoes will slowly start becoming tender. When we cook on sim heat then the pan gets heat only at the center, not around the edges of the pan. Keep shifting the position of tomatoes in the pan for even cooking.

As green raw tomatoes are firm tomatoes, it takes some time for them to become soft on sim heat. Once tomatoes are done, sprinkle some kasuri methi or green coriander leaves for garnishing just before serving and uncover them!!

September 12, 2020

Deeksha Pathak106 Comments

Pyaaz vaale bharva karele

Pyaaz vaale bharva karele, ek katori dahi aur garam – garam parathe bana kar koi khila de…bas, itni choti si ichha poori ho jaaye!!! (bitter gourd stuffed with onions, one bowl of curd along with hot parathe… that is all I ask!) I love pyaaz vaale bharva karele a lot. The only problem is that in Bangalore we don’t get those small sized bitter gourds so easily. This week when I was storing my vegetable deliveries in the fridge, I was pleasantly surprised to see that those small sized bitter gourds were delivered. Usually, once I finish my cooking for the day, I don’t go into the kitchen to cook anything else. But seeing those small sized karela I started chopping the onions. I wanted stuffed bitter gourd for lunch!!

Preparation is not a time consuming process if you are not peeling bitter gourd. Many people peel them and smear with salt and keep it like that for an hour or so and later wash it and continue with the rest of the process. This way a lot of the bitter taste gets washed away and probably those who don’t want to eat karela, might find it interesting to give this method a try.

But my mother never cooked karela by peeling them – so I am also used to cooking them this way. Moreover, as I don’t want all the nutrients to be washed away, I never peel them.

There is one more post in the blog on karela Karele ki Sabzi (bitter gourd)

Some more stuffed vegetables recipes :

Stuffed Chilies(Bharva Hari

Stuffed Green Masala Brinjal

Stuffed brinjal/eggplant/aubergines (Bharva baigan)

Stuffed Capsicum (bharva shimla mirch)

Stuffed Brinjals/Eggplant/Aubergines

Ingredients:

Small size bitter gourd 6
Medium sized onions 2Oil 4 tsp
Coriander powder 2 tbsp
Turmeric powder 1 tsp
Salt as per your taste
Coarsely grounded fennel seeds 1 tbsp
Red chilli powder 1 tsp
Dry mango powder 1+1/2 tsp
Oil 4 tbsp

Process:

Wash and cut bitter gourd vertically with a deep cut.

Chop onions fine.

Heat 2 tsp of oil in a pan and sauté chopped onions till they are transparent.

Add rest of the spices along with the remaining 2 tsp of oil.

Mix everything well and sauté this onion masala for 5 minutes on sim heat.

Switch off heat after five minutes and when masala cools down, fill it into all the bitter gourds.

Add remaining 4 tbsp oil in the pan along with karela. Cover the pan and let bitter gourd cook on sim heat till they become tender from all sides. In between, keep on turning them upside – down for even cooking.

Serve them with hot parathas, rotis or as a side dish for rice.

September 8, 2020September 12, 2020

Deeksha Pathak63 Comments

Stuffed Green Masala Brinjal

What is the difference between Stuffed Green Masala Brinjal and Stuffed brinjal/eggplant/aubergines (Bharva baigan)? Brinjals come in so many varieties and all over the world it is cooked with so many variations that we can just keep experimenting with this vegetable. Stuffed Green Masala Brinjal is cooked with the ingredients of gravy spices but in a slightly different way.

A few months back I had gone to meet my dear friend Veena with my daughter Apoorva. Veena is a wonderful cook and no matter how much she is busy, she never lets me go without having food. So during this visit also we were greeted with elaborate lunch. Among all the dishes that were laid out in front of us, there was one dish which was new for me. Veena told that it is green brinjal and Apoorva couldn’t believe that brinjal could be so good to eat!

I see green brinjals regularly in the market but never thought of trying them. Probably I was content with the variety of purple brinjals. But now after tasting Veena’s dish, I was determined to try them. I noted down the recipe from Veena and now green brinjals are a regular weekly basis vegetable in my kitchen.

Original recipe had fresh coconut and tamarind juice in the gravy masala. I replaced coconut with fresh coriander leaves and dry mango powder instead of tamarind juice. Feel free to use any of these as per your taste.

I have a few more varieties of brinjal dishes in the blog. If you are interested can check them also…

Stuffed brinjal/eggplant/aubergines (Bharva baigan)

Baigan ka bharta (roasted balloon eggplant/brinjal cooked with spices)

Ingredients:

1 onion, 2 tomatoes, 6-7 spicy green chillies, tiny pieces of ginger and green coriander leaves

Spices:

4 tbsp coriander powder, 2 tsp chilli powder, 1/2 tsp turmeric powder, 1/2 tsp clove powder, 2 tsp cinnamon powder,1 tsp dry mango powder or tamarind juice and salt as per your taste.

7-8 tbsp oil

Process:

Wash and dry brinjals and keep them separate.

Chop onions finely and grate tomatoes, red chillies and ginger.

Heat 2 tbsp oil in a heavy bottomed or non stick pan and add chopped onion, ginger and green chilies. Sauté them on medium heat till onions are transparent.

Chop coriander leaves very fine.

Add chopped tomatoes, coriander leaves and all spices, other than dry mango powder.

Let it cook till tomatoes are cooked and add dry mango powder.

Switch the gas off and let it cool down completely. Later, grind everything in paste consistency.

Cut brinjals vertically as shown in the picture below.

Fill in ground masala paste in all brinjals and keep them in a pan. Pour rest of the oil and remaining masala on all brinjals. Cover them and let them cook on sim heat.

Keep on turning them upside-down in between for even cooking.

When brinjals become tender and are cooked completely from all sides, switch off the gas and serve these delicious green stuffed masala brinjals with rice or chapatis.

September 29, 2019September 8, 2020

Deeksha Pathak25 Comments

Stuffed brinjal/eggplant/aubergines (Bharva baigan)

During my childhood, I had seen that most kids used to hate brinjals. On the other hand, I had always liked them and my mother cooks them wonderfully! Brinjal is a very simple vegetable and this quality gives us an opportunity to cook it in many different ways. Stuffed Brinjals/Eggplant/Aubergines and Baigan ka bharta (roasted balloon eggplant/brinjal cooked with spices) are two varieties which I have already posted in the blog. This new recipe of stuffed brinjal or Bharva Banigan is done with thin vertical purple brinjals. I had always liked this variety of brinjals and when my mother used to chop them for dinner, I used to eat one or two pieces raw. Sounds crazy, but I always had this habit of eating a few vegetables raw whenever my mother would be chopping them (there are cows, and then there is me!!).

In my previous stuffed brinjal recipe I had used only spices for stuffing, but here along with spices I have also used onions. Try this recipe – you are sure going to love it.

Ingredients:

Brinjals, finely chopped onion and green chillies, grated ginger

spices; salt, red chilli powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder, garam masala powder, dry mango powder, coarsely ground fennel seeds, asafoetida and oil.

Process:

Wash brinjals and keep them separate.

Finely chop onions and green chillies and grate ginger. You can add garlic too.

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan and add onion, chilly and ginger mix and saute it till onions are transparent.

Reduce heat to sim and add all spices and saute everything for 5 minutes . If required add 1 tbsp oil more, but not more than that.

Cut brinjal vertically and slightly deep with the help of knife and fill in ready onion massala.

Heat 4 tbsp oil in a non stick or heavy bottomed pan and keep all stuffed brinjals in it and cover that. Keep the heat on sim and if available, use extra small burner, so that brinjals can be cooked nicely on sim heat.

In between, keep turning them upside down for even cooking till brinjals are soft from all sides. I like the outer skin of brinjal little bit crisp so I cook them bit more .

Serve these delicious stuffed brinjals as a side dish with rice or roti and enjoy your meal!!

September 29, 2019October 2, 2019

Deeksha Pathak53 Comments

Stuffed Capsicum (bharva shimla mirch)

Stuffed vegetables like Stuffed Capsicum (bharva shimla mirch) add charm to your dinning table! Though preparation takes slightly longer time, but the end result is really really good. Stuffed Capsicum (bharva shimla mirch) can be done with boiled potatoes, paneer, roasted gram flour or simply with some spices of your choice.

From my childhood, I had always liked boiled potatoes filled stuffed capsicum a lot. I have experienced that the taste of capsicum is not much appreciated by everyone, but if you serve it in stuffed form, people really like it. After our marriage, in Chennai Manish and I had invited some of his colleagues at home and I had cooked stuffed capsicum and I remember that everyone liked it a lot!
In Bangalore also my dear friend Padmaja had called me once to her house to cook stuffed capsicum, so that she can see the entire process.

Not exaggerating, but my mother-in-law also very much likes stuffed capsicum prepared by me. Once I packed for her when they were going back to Jaipur from Bangalore and got rave reviews.

So now you have enough reasons to give stuffed capsicum a try……

There is one more post in the blog in the category of stuffed vegetables, you can take a look at Stuffed chillies

Ingredients :

Green Capsicum

Potatoes

Finely chopped green chillies

Oil

Spices: salt, red chilli powder, dry mango powder(amchoor), garam masala, asafoetida(hing) and turmeric powder.

Process :

Boil potatoes in pressure cooker. Never let potatoes become over boiled where they get a big crack in between – this way water seeps in and they become soggy.

Keep boiled potatoes in a strainer so that all water seeps out.

Peel potatoes and once they cool down, add all spices, mash them and mix everything together.

Heat a pan and add 1-2 spoons of oil and add ready mix of boiled potatoes. Keep on turning them upside-down from time to time to avoid potatoes sticking to the pan. Don’t add too much oil here as we just have to roast them lightly for 10 minutes.

Potatoes will stick to the pan as we have added only couple of spoons of oil. To avoid this use small pan support – it’s very helpful in slow cooking.

Once they are done, let them cool down.

Wash and dry capsicum. Always buy vertically shaped small sized capsicum for preparing stuffed capsicum. With vertical shape, it’s easy to deseed them.

To remove seeds, make a vertical cut.

Fill in the prepared potato filling. Don’t stuff too much filling, otherwise while cooking it will start seeping out.

Heat the pan and add 4-5 spoons of oil, spreading all over the pan. Next, place all the stuffed capsicums and cover the pan.

Stuffed capsicum should be cooked on sim heat, so you can use small pan support again.

Keep on turning them upside-down till they are tender from all sides and done.

Serve with roti, plain paratha or rice.

April 22, 2018September 5, 2020

Deeksha Pathak9 Comments

Stuffed Brinjals/Eggplant/Aubergine

Stuffed brinjals/eggplant/aubergine is one of those dishes from brinjal which is loved by all those members of your family who do not like this vegetable a lot. To make family members eat brinjals is a very difficult task. So stuff them with onions, their choice of spices, or roasted gram flour. Personally I love vegetables in stuffed form a lot. Stuffed form just add on glamour in simple veggies! Try lady finger, bitter gourd, tinda or even tomatoes or chilies- all these vegetables tastes fantastic in stuffed form. Slowly I will be posting recipes for all these vegetables with stuffing in the blog. But till then you can check this recipe Stuffed Chilies(Bharva Hari Mirch)

These stuffed eggplant can be served with plain paratha, roti or side dish for rice. This dish will enhance the flavor of your meal!!!
(Pardon the picture quality of ready stuffed brinjals, had guests in the house and I was feeling awkward to take pictures at the right frame.

Ingredients :

Small size brinjals
Oil
Spices : coriander powder, red chilli powder,turmeric powder salt, a pinch of asafoetida (hing), garam masala, dry mango powder (amchoor), grinded fennel seeds(kuti hui sauf)