For the Recipe video of Phepho Mirch check this youtube link:
Or scroll down to reach text recipe (that you can even print) and video of “how to make Phepho Mirch”!
Phepho Mirch (plural= Phepha Mirch-a) is a delicious Sindhi style preparation. It could be had as a side dish with Dal, rice and Roti. The stuffing is a popular Sindhi style mix, often used for stuffing whole vegetables.
Coming to AlifBe series, we are now at the 34th Consonant in Arabic Sindhi script and it is ڦ in Sindhi, फ in Devanagari and ‘Ph’, as in photo/phone, in Roman Sindhi.
You can check the video of “how to write ڦ in Sindhi” on my You Tube channel –Sindhi Rasoi Official
And a corresponding Sindhi dish is Phepho Mirch.
Phepho in Sindhi means flabby (पिलपिला) and Mirch means chilli/pepper. The dish Phepho mirch refers to stuffed pepper/chilli which, post cooking, turns soft.
Mostly Capsicum (Bell pepper/Shimla mirch) is used to make this but one can use any variety of thicker chillies, like the one used for making Mirchi pakora (Chilli fritters) or Bhavnagri mirchi etc.
And while it may sound like a regular Bharwan mirchi (stuffed capsicum), the stuffing used here is different.
The stuffing here is made from grated onions and pounded coriander, chillies, ginger garlic etc. It is a typical Sindhi style stuffing where potatoes are not used . You can use the same stuffing in bitter gourds as well as in apple gourds!
You can use raw stuffing as discussed here
- Capsicum 250 gm
- Onions 3
- Chillies 2
- Garlic 4-5 cloves
- Ginger 1 inch piece
- Coriander leaves chopped, 1 small bunch
- Turmeric powder ½ tbsp
- Coriander powder 2 tbsp
- Amchoor powder ½ tbsp (optional)
- Asafoetida two pinches
- Garam masala powder ½ tbsp (optional)
- Salt as per taste
- Oil 3 tbsp (1+2)
- Pleased note: You can stuff bellpeppers with raw stuffing. But here I am sharing the recipe where the stuffing is precooked since bell peppers (capsicum) take less time to cook as compared to the stuffing.
- Using a mortar and pestle, pound ginger, garlic, chillies and coriander leaves, till coarse.
- Peel and grate the onions.
- Remove seeds from each capsicum to make it hollow so that it could be stuffed well. Make sure that the mouth of the Capsicum is not too wide or the stuffing may fall out while cooking.
- In a pan, heat 1 tbsp oil and add asafoetida.
- Add grated onions and saute well till lill pinkish.
- Add the pounded mix.
- Add salt, turmeric powder, coriander powder and amchoor, if using.
- Mix well and cook on medium flame till the rawness of onions and garlic is gone (10-12 minutes)
- Stuff this mixture in hollowed bell peppers and press the stuffing well using back of the spoon.
- In a pan, heat 2 tbsp oil and place the stuffed peppers
- TIP: If the peppers are uneven from the closed end, just slice off the edges, so that the peppers would stand vertical in the pan.
- Cook on high heat for a minute and then lower the flame.Cover the pan.
- Cook for 12-15 minutes, flipping sides once or twice so that peppers cook well from all the sides.
- If you like crunchier peppers, cook for lesser time.
- Towards the end cook the peppers without the lid else these may ooze out moisture later. Also you can closely monitor the charring of the capsicum.
- Serve hot with rotis/phulkas. I like these as a side dish with dal and rice.
Recipe video of Phepho Mirch i.e Sindhi style Stuffed Capsicum/bell pepper/Shimla mirch:
