BELL PEPPER ZUNKA RECIPE ~Capsicum Zunka ~ Bell Pepper Stir Fry with Besan

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Zunka anyone ?? What on earth could this be? Obviously for anyone like me with no Hindi or Marathi background will make eyes roll all over! I don’t know about others but that was my thought when I first heard this name from a colleague who brought this beautiful dish for a potluck. It was so colourful and I couldn’t resist my temptation to explore it. Zunka is a humble Maharashtrian dish… almost a staple there, simply meaning stir-fry, smeared with besan, a quicker version of Usili or Pithali, often made with just onions. A simple authentic version includes onion, besan, chili powder and tempering with mustard and cumin. This can be made in minutes and goes as a great side for chapati or roti. But my craving never stopped for the colorful zunka… quickly checked out the recipe from my colleague Mrs. Smita Annigeri, who readily agreed to share. My version though not too authentic has all those aspects plus some odd inclusions to please my family’s taste.

Ingredients
Onion	1 medium size (chopped into big pieces) or (about 1/2 cup)
Red Capsicum / Bell Pepper	1 medium size (chopped into big pieces) or (about 1/2 cup)
Green Capsicum / Bell Pepper	1 medium size (chopped into big pieces) or (about 1/2 cup)
Yellow or Orange Capsicum / Bell Pepper	1 medium size (chopped into big pieces) or (about 1/2 cup)
Ginger	1 Tablespoon (crushed or finely minced)
Garlic	4 Cloves (crushed or finely minced)
Mustard seeds	1/2 teaspoon
Cumin seeds	1/2 teaspoon
Bengal Gram flour / Kadalai Maavu / Gram flour / Besan flour	4 Tablespoons
Turmeric powder	1/4 teaspoon
Red Chili Powder	3/4 teaspoon
Dhania / Coriander powder / Malli thool	1 teaspoon
Salt	1 teaspoon (or as needed)
Sugar	1 generous pinch
Oil	3 Tablespoons

Roughly chop the onions and coloured peppers… almost size of a scrabble board checkers. Just slightly into big chunks than small, they shrink a bit while sauteing.

Using a kadai, lightly dry toast/roast the gram flour/ Besan / Kadalai Maavu to just wake up the flavour. This step is not essential but you will notice slight added flavour in your final dish.

Now heat oil in kadai, preferably non-stick or heavy bottomed aluminum pan, as you need to scrape quite a bit to avoid burning. Temper with mustard and cumin seeds. Add ginger & garlic and saute for a minute. Add the chopped onions and bell peppers / capsicum with a pinch of sugar. Saute for few minutes over medium flame, cook until slightly tender but firm. Do not cook them till death, we need good colour, firmness & crunch to the veggies.

Now bring the flame down to low, slowly add the besan flour, red chili powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder and salt. No water necessary, the water from salt and the veggies should help to curl up the Besan flour. Keep stirring and scrapping until it forms small lumps and eventually curl up like small beads. Saute until the mixture turns like a dry stir-fry with all the besan flour rolled into tiny beads. The consistency should resemble like puttu 😉 , something like thick usili mix. Keep sauteing for 3 to 4 minutes and switch off. One friend also suggested adding few drops of lemon juice at the end, but was making the dish little sour, so.. you be the best judge. Here is a closer look for you…..

Serve hot with chapati / roti / paratha. I’ve tried this with sambar, rasam and curd rice too – they compliment well!

Notes

Serve 3- 4 adults.
Ginger & Garlic is optional.
You can choose any veggie of your choice and follow the recipe. Try Broccoli, cauliflower, Simla michi, Banana peppers, Asparagus…
You may choose to use ginger garlic paste, then use about 1 Tablespoon of it.
Adjust red chili powder depending on your taste.
You can make with colored peppers/ capsicum or just stick to one color, choice is yours!
Sugar is added to keep the capsicum color intact.