This is how I like to categorize spicy food.. 'Spice Spicy', 'Gingery Spicy' and 'Chilly Spicy' 🙂
All I need on my daily diet is a dish with lots of flavor and a hint of spice. However, there are days when I crave for nothing more than a super-spicy delicious homemade meal. Like chilly chicken or tom-yum soup or spicy chicken wings or roasted pepper dipping sauce. These kind of cravings mostly happen during cold winter.. Or when I have cold/fever and the medicines have killed my taste bud.
Yesterday was not one of those days.. I had no cold. Fit and fine, just back from gym. With a glass of juice, I relaxed on the couch and switched on my favorite cooking channel. Barbecue.. aah delicious!! The chef grilled peppers, mashed them and made a sauce.. Trust me, it looked mouthwatering. I was drooling at it and that's when the craving started. Clearly, 'the craving' didn't follow my protocol!
Turns out, neither did I. I made a spicy deep-fried Indian street food popularly known as 'Chili Bhaji' for our snacks on a warm spring evening.
Last weekend, we picked some of these gorgeous humongous Anaheim Peppers. These chilies are very commonly available in India and we eat them in different ways. They are not too spicy and once you fry them, they taste a lot better. If you want to avoid the spice, remove the seeds and just enjoy the texture of the skin.
You can enjoy them as sauce.. or even in curry. But, the best way to enjoy these peppers is by biting into it. Ideally, Chilly Bhaji is either stuffed with mashed potatoes or it is just deep fried with some thick batter coating.
I stuffed it with something different and you will love it. This is one of my friend's recipe and I can't thank her enough for sharing this delicious snack bite. It's super easy to prepare. You can enjoy it with some dips or drinks or evening tea.. Like we did 🙂
Chilly Bhajji / Deep Fried Peppers
Ingredients
- 4 anaheim peppers
- 1 onion
- 1 cup cilantro (finely chopped)
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 tbs ginger paste
- 1 teaspoon tamarind paste
- 1 tbs chickpea flour/besan
- 1 teaspoon cumin powder
- salt
- pepper
- oil
Instructions
- Make a slit on the peppers and remove the seeds slowly if you want to reduce the heat.
- Using a food processor, grate onion, cilantro, garlic and ginger to a coarse paste.
- Then, add tamarind paste, salt, pepper and cumin powder to the onion mixture.
- Brush some oil on the peppers and stuff them with the mixture.
- Bake them at 375 F for about 15 minutes. Just to soften them. This is however optional.
- Take them out of the oven and let them cool down completely
- In the mean time, mix the chickpea flour with some water and make a thick batter.
- In a pan, heat enough oil to deep fry.
- Coat the peppers with the batter nicely.
- Fry them in medium heat for about 2 minutes until it's slight golden brown in color.
- Serve them hot!
Nutrition
Sarah@buttered-up
OH I love "spice spicy" & "chili spicy"! This looks fantastic and it's been bookmarked for future reference already. I would personally eliminate the tamarind paste. Despite living in Southeast Asia for a while now, I still cannot get accustomed to it. My taste buds have tried to make friends and play nice but tamarind really doesn't agree with me. 🙂
Annapet
Wow, I will sure try chili bhajji! I grow Anaheim peppers every year though my season is quite late this time and won't have the peppers for another month.
Thank you for sharing!
Jun
Oh this looks so good. I have never heard of the technique before, roasting then deep-frying. It sounds awesome. I wonder if this can be used for other vegetables as well. Great recipe, Kankana
Ananda Rajashekar
its a rainy day here and lady you made me to crave for ur chilly bhaji 🙂
briarrose
So tasty. My husband would be in pepper heaven with these beauties. 🙂
daksha
Hi! kankana really say mouthwatering....just yumm i like spice food and specially green chili:).
sarah
Oh these are so going to score me some brownie points with my husband! Lovely pictures 🙂
Katrina @ In Katrina's Kitchen
I don't know if I could eat a whole one but I'd love a taste! YUM!
Charissa
Wow...I didn't know such a thing existed...this looks crazy. I wonder if I could take the heat. 🙂
Priya Sreeram
am inviting myself over kankana- looks super hot and yes ur pics have made me forget the protocol of not dropping in unexpected !!
sayantani
Wow you have one gorgeous space here. beautiful write ups, gorgeous clicks and mouth watering recipes...love it.
its been raining cats and dogs here in Kol and these mirchi bhajjis would be just perfect to enjoy that.
thepickyeater | a spoonful of yumm
the images are making me hungryyy !! matching mugs to...wah wah ...kya baat hai 😉 i like frying ajwain leaf with besan too...its nice. something different 🙂
Shabs
Oooooh , on a cold rainy day this would be just perfect ,hmmmmm lemme get to Kerala ,hopefully in a few weeks time.
torviewtoronto
delicious looking crispy snacks perfect for tea time
wizzythestick
Goodness, I'm craving these right now thanks to your photos.
Roxana GreenGirl
There are different cuisines I know that have stuffed peppers.
Mexican use poblano chilies and they stuff them with fresh cheese.
in Eastern Europe you'd find peppers stuffed with feta or farmer's cheese.
I love your version and the photos are stunning.
Thanks Kankana
Tina (PinayInTexas)
Oh my, Kankana! Ryan loves fried stuffed peppers. I'll definitely give this a try.
rebecca
oh wow my hubby would love this
Sneh | Cook Republic
These are gorgeous Kankana. I absolutely love chili bhajis. Have something similar on my blog too. So good with tea on a rainy day!
Tiffany
I love your categories! 😀 These peppers look great!