Recipe - Hyderabadi Style Mirchi Bajji(Mirchi Pakora)

Stuffed chillies fritter

Summary:

The name of mirchi bajji brings the memories of Hyderabad and the "chat bandars". Mirchi bajji's (mirchi ke pakore) are not only very famous among the Andhra crowd but also famous all over India. Specially during winter, this makes a very good snack to go with tea/coffee.

We live in the Midwest and it is hard to find the indian green chillies to make mirchi bajji's. I generally use "Anaheim peppers". I could not find the fresh looking anaheim peppers in the store Yesterday. So I went ahead and bought the hot yellow pepper/hungarian wax pepper, which are medium hot. Hot yellow pepper is closely related to mild banana pepper.

Mirchi bajji is my husband's favorite snack. I made these, yesterday for valentines day. I took photos at every step, while making mirchi bajji's. He was so impressed and suggested that I should start blogging, as I enjoy cooking. I should say, he is the inspiration for my blogging. And have put it in action the very next day....

Ingredients for the filling:

• Besan (bengal gram flour) - 3 tablespoons (optional)
  

• Sesame seeds - 3 tablespoons
• Coriander powder - 1 tablespoon
• Ajwain (carom seeds or vaamu)- 3 teaspoons
• Amchoor (dry mango powder) - 2 tablespoon OR
• Tamarind pulp (small lemon size tamarind) - 2 tablespoons
• Salt - 1/2 teaspoon

Grind them all in a blender/mix them well - make a paste adding very little water(if you are using Dry mangao powder).

Chillies/Mirchi stuffing preparation:

Wash and dry 10 green chillies (Anaheim peppers). Make a vertical slit in the middle of chilli, stuff the chillies with the filling you prepared above and set them aside. Tip: Remove the white stalk in the middle and the seeds, if you are using the Indian green chillies.

Batter preparation to dip stuffed chillies:

• Besan (gram flour) - 1 and 1/2 cups
• Rice flour - 2 tablespoons (optional) gives crispness to the mirchi bajji.
• Ajwain (carom seeds or vaamu) - ½ tsp each
• Red chilly power - 1 teaspoon.
• Salt according to taste - approximately - 3/4 teaspoon.
• Water 1 cup approximately.

Mix them in a wide bowl so that when you dip the chillies they are easy to dip. Prepare medium thick batter consistency slowly adding water to it(do not add water all at once).

Deep-Frying:

Take 3 cups of oil in a skillet for frying the fritters/mirchi bajji's. Heat the oil at medium-high temperature. Dip the chilli one at a time in the batter so that all the sides of the chilly are well coated with the batter and gently drop the chilli in the skillet and deep fry until golden.

Remove them on to a paper towel covered plate to soak the excess oil and let it cool a minute or two. Slit the prepared bajji's and stuff them with chopped onions.

Serve with some lime juice sprinkled and finely sliced onions,chaat masala and salt to taste.

Preparation time:30 -45 minutes

# Servings 4

Tips:

For Tamarind pulp:

Take 5 small stalks of tamarind add less than 1/4 of water and microwave it for 2- 3 minutes. the water will decrease to half of the original quantity. Let it cool and then mash the tamarind pulp with a spoon and filter it.