Khoya Capsicum | Mawa Capsicum (Green Bell Pepper in khoya gravy)

“Khoya Capsicum or Mawa capsicum” is a rich and creamy dish which uses khoya as a curry base along with capsicum and carrots. I made this dish as I am a capsicum lover and thought of making a rich dish which could also be served to guests at a party.

For those who don’t know what is khoya, it is a dairy product widely used in South Asian cuisine of India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan. It is made of either dried whole milk or milk thickened by heating in an open iron pan. (source: Wikipedia). Generally many indian sweets use khoya or mawa as main ingredient and you can easily make the khoya at home. For this recipe, I used leftover residue of ghee /clarified butter which I made at home.

Serves: 4

Preparation time: 10 mins.

Cooking time: 20-25 mins.

Ingredients:

2 cups capsicum cubed

1 medium sized carrot (chopped)

1 ½ cups tomato (finely chopped)

1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste

½ tsp cumin seeds

1 green chili (optional)

1 cup khoya / mawa

salt as required

2 tbsp ghee /clarified butter

½ teaspoon turmeric powder

½ teaspoon coriander powder

½ tsp red chilli powder

1 tsp garam masala powder

1 bay leaf

2 cloves

2 black cardamoms

2 green cardamoms

2 tablespoon fresh cream

Mint leaves for garnish

  

Directions:

1. Chop the capsicum in cubes and also, finely chop tomatoes.
2. In a pan which is medium hot, add in cumin seeds, as it splutters, add in ginger garlic paste and green chillies, saute until raw smell goes off.
3. Fry for few seconds, and add in tomatoes. Keep the flame medium and stir occasionally until the tomatoes are soft and mushy.
4. In a blender, add tomato paste which you just cooked and grind everything together to get a smooth paste.
5. Heat ghee in a pan and once hot, add in cumin seeds and whole spices :bay leaf, green and black cardamom, cloves. Saute for a minute .
6. Pour in the mixture prepared in step 4 into the pan.
7. Add in salt, turmeric powder, red chilli powder, garam masala, coriander powder. Stir and cook for 3-4 mins.
8. Now, add in capsicum and carrots and simmer on low flame and let it cook.
9. You can add in water if the gravy is too thick and adjust the consistency as per your needs. Cook until the curry boils up and keep on low flame for another 2-3 mins.
10. Now, add in crumbled khoya into the dish. Let cook until curry boils and again simmer for 2 minutes.
11. Turn off the heat and garnish with fresh cream and serve hot with parathas, rotis or rice.

Tips:

• Add different colored bell peppers to get nice colorful dish.
• You can also add sweet corn to the dish and it tastes delicious.
• You can add milk instead of water for more creamy and rich gravy.