Capsicum paneer rice is Indian style fried rice with paneer and bell peppers. It is a filling meal with some raita on the side. Great for lunch boxes and to use up leftover rice.
After posting one biryani & one pulao recipe, for the last day of the marathon it is a rice dish that falls under the other rice varieties category. Here, rice is fully cooked, seasoned and/or tempered with spices to enhance the flavor. Capsicum paneer fried rice Indian style is one such flavorful rice variety.
Plan was to prepare tawa style pulao. Tawa pulao is a popular street food from Mumbai. It is prepared sautéing vegetables and rice in a frying pan with pav bhaji masala.
Tawa is griddle or a frying pan and pav bhaji is another popular street food from Mumbai. When I realized I was out of pav bhaji masala. Hence decided to make a simple Indian style fried rice that I usually make, with addition of some paneer and bell pepper cubes.
Tempering is called poni or popu or talimpu in Telugu and annam is rice. Poni or popu annam is something I make very often with left over rice or when I am out of vegetables and no leftover curries. Addition of omelet pieces makes it a one filling and comforting one pan meal.
Bell pepper paneer fried rice is similar to poni annam but with addition of tomato as well for added flavor. Store bought fried paneer comes in very handy in this preparation and eliminates an additional step of frying the paneer separately. These fried paneer cubes are very convenient when making paneer curries and rice.
Capsicum Paneer Fried Rice Recipe
Total Time: excludes the time to cook rice
Capsicum Paneer Fried Rice
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups uncooked Rice
- 1 medium sized or 1 c cup diced Capsicum ~ Bell Pepper
- 2 ½ – 3 tbsp Oil I used 3 tbsps.
- 2 – 4 Cardamoms
- 2 Cloves
- ½ tsp Shah Jeera
- Cinnamon small piece
- 1/3 cup sliced Onion
- 4 Green Chilies
- 1 tbsp Ginger Garlic paste
- 1 ½ tsp Coriander Powder
- Turmeric
- 1 ½ tsp Salt adjust to taste
- 1 tsp Chili Powder
- ½ cup Vine Tomato (small tomato)
- 1 cup 1 cup Fried Paneer Cubes (approx. 115 – 165 grams)
- Cilantro
Instructions
- Cook rice and let it cool. I cooked white rice couple of hours before preparing bell pepper paneer rice and let it cool. If one is in a rush, once the rice is cooked, transfer it into a wide dish and let it cool or uncover the rice cooker and let the rice cool.. Leftover rice also works for this preparation.
- Prepare vegetables by slicing the onions, cutting the bell peppers into small cubes, chopping tomatoes, slitting green chilies into two and chopping cilantro for garnish.
- Heat oil in a pan, add cardamom, cloves, caraway seeds, cinnamon and let them pop. Add onion and sauté until translucent.
- Add green chilies, ginger garlic and sauté until raw ginger smell goes away.
- Add chili powder, coriander powder, salt, turmeric and mix well.
- Add tomatoes, paneer, mix well, cover and cook for couple of minutes.
- Add bell peppers, mix well, cover and cook for another 2 minutes or until tomatoes are soft and mushy.
- Remove the cover and continue to cook until juices from the tomato evaporate. Also, make sure bell peppers are not over cooked. Once the bell peppers are added, don’t cook more than 3-5 minutes. I like crunchy peppers than the mushy ones.
- Add rice and stir well. Taste the rice and adjust reasoning accordingly. Sauté for 3-4 minutes, sprinkle cilantro and serve hot.
Notes
- Pav bhaji masala might spice up the rice a little. I have not tried and would certainly like to try it the next time I prepare this rice.
- I used whole garam masala (cardamom, cloves, cinnamon) when tempering and I felt instead, had a powdered the spices and sprinkled it, the rice could have been even more flavorful. If making a powder of the spices, 1 clove 1 cardamom & cinnamon should suffice or sprinkle little garam masala of your choice
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Apu says
Looks delicious!
Apu @ Annarasa
Mireille says
this looks so good…been loving paneer with rice recently
Pavani says
Yummy looking rice dish. Quick and easy to make too.
Kalyani says
totally yummy dish there.. I loved the bowl there – is that another sort of ramekin with handles ? Its soo cute.. btw, am linking my Day 3 dish with paneer-bell pepper to your event now, Usha !
Kalyani
MySpicyKitchen says
Kalyani, the bowl is a casserole, a serveware that is oven safe. It is not a ramekin. Thanks for liking the bowl. It is indeed very cute.
vimitha says
Nice flavorful rice. Happy to follow u. Do check out my page when u find time
Jayanthi says
Looks awesome. Bell pepper and paneer are super combo and in rice its one pot meal thats sure to be liked by everyone.
Srivalli says
Seriously tempting bowl of rice usha. I love how much a simple task as this can do to a rice. Nice to know you get fried paneer and agree that it’s quite convenient to add dishes directly. Enjoyed your BM posts, with such lovely pictures to accompany!
Priya says
Omg, you are killing me with your wonderful rice, love this combo in anything as anything..Drooling rite now here.
PJ says
I love paneer and bell pepper.This dish looks so delicious.Bookmarked…
Divya Prakash says
Rice looks delicious.. Very inviting..
preeti says
Awesome rice spl with bell pepper and paneer
suchitra says
ummm inviting!!!! looks so yummy…
Pradnya says
what a beautiful bowl of rice…looks perfect
Cool Lassie says
What a colorful, flavorful rice. Looks fantastic!
harini says
very colorful rice with drool worthy pictures.