The seductive red color of the bell pepper.
Red bell pepper is a vegetable that rarely catches my attention except for this one time. I have never cooked red bell pepper or any other colored bell pepper in my life before this one moment. However, in restaurants or cafes, I have never eaten a menu that used the ingredient bell pepper in it.
There's just one thing that really escapes my mind. I never thought that the taste of red bell pepper is sweet. Previously, when I tried the food menu at a restaurant, I only tasted menus that used green bell pepper. So, from the green pepper, my thoughts kept one statement all types of bell pepper taste neither sweet nor slightly bitter, and of course, a little spicy if without seeds.
I never thought I would use bell pepper in my dishes. Because besides the price of bell pepper which is quite expensive, I only focus on using hot chili peppers in most types of my cooking. But now the story is of course different. Several times I passed a seller who arranged red bell peppers beautifully. I was tempted by that too. Once passed, not interested. But several times I passed the same path several times, I was also interested in that red bell pepper. Looks like it was fate that was made for me and the red bell pepper that day.
It so happened that when I was shopping at that time I was bored with the vegetables that I usually eat. I want to find variations from other ingredients. So, red bell pepper was knocking on my mind to make a new menu at that time.
So, I bought a red bell pepper for 1 Dollar. I'm so excited to cook red bell pepper for the first time. I'm thinking of combining red bell pepper with green beans.
Before I actually cooked this combination, I did a little experimentation on the internet. I'm looking for evidence of whether there has ever been a recipe that combines red bell pepper with green beans of course. The result of my little experimentation is that there has never been a recipe that makes a combination like the one I'm going to do. So, without thinking much, I'll try my version.
I made this menu for lunch. So, it's not a complicated dish. I'm just going to stir-fry red bell pepper with green beans which I will serve with rice later. But if this dish is going to be served with mashed potatoes, that's fine.
If you have versions of several combinations of ingredients that you think are tastier, you can give your opinion in the comments column later. I hope you guys like my variation of the red bell pepper this time around, which of course surprised me with the results the first time around.
The Ingredients
- a red bell pepper
- 250 grams of green beans
- 3 cloves of red onions
- 3-5 small cloves of garlic
- ginger the size of a thumb
- two pinches of salt or according to your taste
- a pinch of sugar
- enough cooking oil
- Enough sesame seeds for serving
Cooking Instructions
Prepare green beans and red bell pepper.
Prepare the red bell pepper. Initially cut into two parts. Then remove the seeds. Then cut into small pieces with an elongated shape.
For green beans, I only removed the right and left parts. I don't cut them into smaller sizes. But if you cut the green beans into smaller pieces, that's fine and won't change the overall taste of the dish.
Don't forget to thinly slice garlic, red onion, and ginger.
Blanch green beans.
Boil water sprinkled with salt to taste. Then blanch the green beans for a few minutes. I used 3 minutes.
Soak green beans in iced water.
After the green beans are blanched, prepare ice water. Then add the green beans to the ice water. If you skip this step, no problem. I just want the green beans to be nice in color.
Cook garlic.
Heat cooking oil. Then cook garlic first until they smell good. Use only low heat so that the garlic doesn't burn easily.
Adding onion and ginger.
Add slices of ginger, followed by slices of red onion. Stir them until they look caramelized with oil. They would make a lovely good taste with oil.
Adding red bell pepper.
Add the red bell pepper. Keep stirring. Cook until half-cooked.
Adding blanched green beans.
Drain the green beans that were soaked earlier in the ice water after blanching, then add to the onion and red bell pepper mixture. Keep stirring them. Just add a few tablespoons of water to avoid them getting burnt. Cook the green beans for about 3 minutes or adjust to your taste level of doneness.
Then sprinkle them with salt. Cook them for a while. Keep an eye on them so the red bell pepper doesn't get soggy in texture because it's overcooked.
Remove them when the taste has been corrected, also their texture is to your liking. I prefer the texture of vegetables that are still crunchy.
Serving.
Serve them with rice or mashed potatoes. I added a sprinkle of sesame seeds. On the rice, I also sprinkle chili powder for extra spiciness.
How about the taste?
I got a surprise! Red bell pepper has a sweet taste that makes the whole dish a pleasure to eat. For those who don't like vegetables, there's no need to be afraid to try the red bell pepper because the sweet taste is quite helpful.
I will definitely buy red bell pepper again when stock is available in the market. Well, fresh and good red bell pepper is not always available in the market. It takes time to wait, and also find the right one in the market.
My partner can finish this dish for lunch. I'm proud to be able to introduce him to a new type of ingredients that are also rich in nutrients (which he can eat deliciously).
We are veggie lovers and I have no regrets at all about bringing red bell pepper into my beloved kitchen. Well, do you like red bell pepper?
Thank you for reading my blog and reblog if you want my blog this time worthy of reading by others.
Best Regards,
Anggrek Lestari
Anggrek Lestari is an Indonesian fiction writer who has published two major books. Now She is a full-time content creator. She has a goal to share life, poem, and food content that makes others happy and can get inspiration.
Contact Person: authoranggreklestari@gmail.com
Discord: anggreklestari#3009