This one comes courtesy of my friend who is from Hyderabad. I always knew of the love of hot and spicy down south, but I never quite knew of how chillies were actually prepared or their versatility. This is a great compliment to your afternoon tea and coffee. Or, if caffeinated beverages aren't your thing, then this is perfectly fine by itself.
So, this dish, by very nature, is supposed to be hot, but if you scrape the seeds out, the kick drops significantly. This dish also affords a great deal of creativity - you can stuff the chillies with whatever you wish to - onions and coriander leaves are just one of the many options at your disposal. Traditionally, no condiment is served along with these chillies. But a bit of tomato ketchup or mint chutney wouldn't hurt to balance the heat.
Before I walk you through the ingredients and steps, here are some relevant metrics for the recipe.
Difficulty - Easy.
Prep time - 30 minutes.
Cooking time - around 10 minutes.
Servings - around 4.
Ingredients
Green chillies or Jalapenos - 8 large ones
Roasted Gram Dal - 2tsbp
Red Chilli powder - 2tbsp
Cumin powder - 1tsp
Carom seeds/Ajwain - 1 tsp
Chat Masala powder - 1tsp
Asafoetida - a pinch
Gram flour/Besan - 1 cup
Rice flour - 1/3 cup
Baking powder - 0.5 tsp
Salt - To taste
Cooking oil - for deep frying
Onion - 1 large, finely chopped
Coriander leaves - for garnishing
The Process
Wash the chillies and cut them along the middle. Deseed them and keep them aside. Be sure to wash your hands afterwards.
Combine the roasted Chana Dal, 1tbsp red chilli powder, cumin seeds, carom seeds, Chat masala, asafoetida and grind them in a mixer. Add 2 tablespoons of water to make a smooth mixture.
Stuff this mixture into each of the hollow chillies.
Move on to make the batter by mixing all the ingredients- gram flour, rice flour, 1tbsp red chilli powder, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Add half a cup of water to smoothen the thick batter.
Heat a wok with oil for deep frying. Check if the oil is hot by dropping a little amount of batter into the oil. If the batter rises quickly, then it is hot enough.
Coat the green chillies evenly with the batter. Carefully drop the chillies into the hot oil and fry. Turn the chillies after 30 seconds so that it has an even brown colour all over.
Take the chillies out of the oil. Pat down the excess oil with a paper towel.
Mix the onion and coriander leaves and add them on top as a garnish.
That's it; your Masala Mirapakaya Bajji are ready—Bon appetite. As always, I'd love to hear what you have to say in the comments down below. See you in the next one.