Like most people around the world, Indians too love fried food. Not only do they love fried food, they love spicy fried food. One such group of popular Indian snacks/appetizers are fritters and fried vegetables. We dip all kinds of vegetables in a spicy batter and fry them . I have previously posted recipes for cauliflower bajo and fried breadfruit. Along similar lines is another extremely popular snack/ appetizer: batter fried green chillies or mirchi bhajias as they fondly call it back home. This is very popular in Maharashtra and Goa, where they put it in a bun/roll with additional chutney( usually cilantro) and eat it. Mmmm Yum! Can you imagine eating hot chilli peppers??? Well, there are several tricks to get rid of the heat of the chilli pepper. Not all chilli peppers are hot. You can use the sweet long green chilli pepper in this recipe too. You see, while my husband loves this snack, I am not too crazy about it. I never have been, not even when I was younger. I don't like anything too spicy.I rarely make it and when I do make it, I do everything I can to cut the heat. Then too, I may eat just the outer batter coating or just a tini wini bit. One of the ways to cut the heat is by deseeding the peppers. Another trick is to soak it in a solution of vinegar for a few minutes before soaking it in batter. This generally kills the heat. Apart from that, this is a very easy snack to make. You dip it in the batter and deep fry it.
Servings: 2-4
Ingredients:
Long green chilli peppers: 6-8 in number.
Chick-pea flour( besan): 1/2 cup
Hing( asofoetida): a pinch if using powder, 1/4 tsp if using solution.
Cumin ( jeera) powder: 1/8 th tsp
Salt: to taste
Water: 1/4 cup ( enough to make a thick batter)
Oil: for frying( I used coconut oil)
Method:
Wash the chilli pepper, make a slit on the side and deseed the pepper gently without cutting it into two. Do not remove the crown/ stem of the chilli pepper. The chilli peppers I had were really long and I had to cut them into two so that they could fit in the wok that I was frying them in.
If the chilli pepper is the spicy( hot) kind, soak it in a solution of vinegar and salt for 5-10 minutes.
In a small bowl, mix together the chickpea flour, hing( asofoetida), cumin powder, salt and water and make a thick batter.
Heat oil in a kadai/ frying pan to 400 deg F. You could also use a deep fryer if you have one.
Dip each chilli pepper in the above batter until it is completely coated and drop it gently into the hot oil. Drop one chilli pepper at a time.
Do not overcrowd the pan. Overcrowding results in poor quality of the end product. Fry until the outer batter turns a nice golden brown, about 2 minutes on each side on medium flame.
Remove with a slotted spoon onto a plate lined with paper towels so as to soak the excess oil.
Serve hot with some dinner rolls/ burger buns or with a cup of tea,for a quick snack or as a side-dish for lunch/dinner.
Enjoy! I am bringing this fiery dish to Fiesta Friday's Anniversary Block party! The block party is being celebrated for 2 whole weeks with this week being Appetizers and drinks and next week being the main course! This week is being co-hosted by the very talented bloggers : Hilda@Along the grapevine and Julianna@ Foodie On Board
Cooking made easy:
Another way to reduce the heat of the chilli pepper is to soak it in buttermilk for 10- 15 mins.You could batter fry other vegetables like potato/sweet potato/ eggplant/ bell pepper slices in this fashion.Tip for healthy living:
Avoid reusing fried oil.This has deleterious effects on life due to the free radicals that are formed during the reheating of the oil.The free radicals attach themselves to the healthy cells in the body and can be carcinogenic.There are other toxins that are also formed that can cause a variety of health issues in the human body.
Food for thought:
Believe and act as if it were impossible to fail. Charles Kettering
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