Bharela Marcha or stuffed chili peppers are mine & my husband’s one of the favorite Gujarati side dish. It’s mildly spicy chili pepper like Anaheim chili stuffed with roasted & seasoned chick pea flour. It’s a simple dish but extremely tasty.My mom had given me this recipe 6 years back while I was studying. I still have this email that my dad had written & my mummy must be probably dictating to him the procedure on how to make it. It’s such a sweet email where my dad has tried his level best to convert my mom’s Gujarati into appropriate English translations 
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Let’s get started
Ingredients
6 Long Anaheim Chilies
2 tbsp + 1/2 tbsp of oil - You can use more oil if you prefer but I like to use as little as the dish requires. Of course I use enough so that I don’t compromise on the taste and the texture.
pinch of hing
1/2 cup Besan (Chick pea flour)
3 tbsp of roasted & crushed peanut powder
1 tbsp of coriander powder
1 tsp of cumin powder
1/2 tsp of tumeric
1 tsp of chili powder
1 tsp of garam masala
1/2 tsp amchur/dry mango powder (optional)
1.5 tsp salt (to taste)
1 tsp of sugar (to taste)
Steps
1. Dry roast the chickpea flour (besan) on low heat for about 10 minutes till you smell nice aroma from it. Constantly keep mixing the flour to ensure even roasting.
2. Take it off the flame & rest it for some time to cool.
3. After it’s cooled, add the roasted peanut powder, all the dry spices & rub in 1.5-2 tbsp of oil. Mix everything well & adjust the salt as per your taste.
4. Slit the chilies lengthwise just from one side leaving the stem intact and de-seed it.
5. Fill in around 1 heaping tbsp of besan mixture in the slit chili carefully & nicely pack it.
6. Take a wide mouth pan such that all the chilies can fit into the pan. Heat 1/2 tbsp of oil in the pan & add pinch of hing once it is hot.
7. Nicely arrange all the stuffed chilies in the pan, so that all of them are in direct contact with the pan. Sprinkle remaining stuffing mixture (if any) on the chilies.
8. Reduce the heat to low & let it cook for about 20 minutes with the lid closed. Make sure you turn the chilies once every 5-6 minutes for even cooking. Sprinkle few drops of water if you think it’s drying out. But make sure to just put few drops otherwise your chilies will become soggy.
Enjoy this with Dal Bhaat (gujarati dal & Rice) . It tastes great just with Roti & curd.
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September 23rd, 2008 at
Mingle, I still remember this recipe when you used to make them in USC days..I absolutely love it..definitely going to try it.