What can I do with bitter green peppers?

If you find the green bell pepper in that traffic-light pack just a bit too bitter, our panel of cooks have a few good ideas for you

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Supermarket packs of peppers always include a green one – nasty, bitter things that I only use in minestrone. What else can I do with them?
Mel, Evesham, Worcestershire
This is all too familiar to Luis Gonzalez-Castro, founder of London-based Cuban supper club Cocina Cuca, who “doesn’t love their raw, bitter flavour, either”. That said, green peppers have always featured in his family’s cooking, so Gonzalez-Castro has “learned to appreciate them” – and you can, too, Mel! The road to recovery might start with aji relleno, a favourite of Gonzalez-Castro’s father: “He cuts the tops off a few peppers, gently coats in olive oil, then fills with picadillo [a mix of mince, herbs, raisins and olives].” Into the oven they go and, “oddly, the results are astounding. The peppers soften in the steam and, together with the sweetness of the raisins and saltiness of the olives, the bitterness evaporates.”

Another who suggests that Mel should, er, get stuffed is Maunika Gowardhan, pepper enthusiast and author of recently published Tandoori Home Cooking: “My mother would do this with spicy, crushed potatoes, and it’s so good,” she says. First heat some oil in a pan, “stir in asafoetida, cumin seeds, green chillies, ground coriander, chilli powder, and turmeric, then add [boiled and] crushed potatoes and season.” You’ll also want some mango powder “for tang” and chopped coriander, before piling the lot into halved green peppers brushed with oil and grilling them. “They still have some bite when you cut into them, but you get this lovely, charred flavour.”

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