Zunka is a besan dominated side dish. I understand this can be prepared with out any vegetable ie. besan fried along with spices. Capcisum, methi and cabbage are the common veggies used in the preparation. I learnt this dish from my husband's periamma/aunt. I don't remember if she told any particular name to this. She had visited us and I had planned methi dal to serve with rotis. Periamma is a great cook and she enjoys preparing for the visisting relatives or friends. Knowing my interest in learning new recipes, she taught me this. She mentioned capsicum can be used in place of methi. Later when I started blogging, I got to know that it is a popular marathi dish and is called Zunka. And saw few recipes where cabbage is cooked the same way.
Besan is the main ingredient and the flavor is enhanced with the addition of red chilli powder, cumin and the veggie added. Its a quite an easy dish and gets done very quickly. Here is I how I make it.
You need
- Capsicum - 2 nos, big
- Besan/Kadalamavu - 1/2 cup
- Oil - 2 tblspn
- Cumin - 1 tspn
- Turmeric - 1/4 tspn
- Red chilli powder - 1/4 tspn
- Hing - 1/4 tspn
- Salt to taste
Method
Wash and dice the capsicum into cubes. Take besan in a bowl. Add turmeric,red chilli powder, hing and 1/4 tspn of salt. Mix well. Keep it aside.
Heat a kadai with 2 tablespoon of oil. When hot, add cumin. When the seeds starts browning, add the chopped capsicum. Add salt, just enough for the capsicum. We have added some salt to the besan mix. Saute till it is half cooked. Add the besan mix in parts. After each addition, keep stirring so that the besan gets cooked and not turn lumpy. After the last addition, continue to saute for 5 minutes. Make sure the besan doesn't get burnt. Remove and serve as a side dish for roti.
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