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
Junia @ Mis Pensamientos
wow, my parents would love this! they eat hot peppers diced up with their korean food!! great recipe! 🙂
Joyti
Yum! Those look and sound really great. I am a spicy food lover myself.
Ameena
My father - who can eat a green chili straight up - would totally love this! I am a bit on weaker side so I think I migh need to steer clear of these. But they look fantastic!
The Mistress of Spices
These look great! We don't get anaheim peppers here but another similar-looking type that is common in Morocco. They are quite spicy though, so I wonder if they'll work for this. I'll certainly try!
yummychunklet
Looks great, but I'll stay away from peppers. I can only take a bit of heat at a time. Great post!
Priti
Oh my this looks so crispy n perfect and tempting .....drooling
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Oh my goodness...those are awesome! We have something similar...we stuff them with feta or ricotta. 🙂
Priya
SImply irresistible, i can easily have these fritters anytime without any hesitation,fabulous bhajjis..
Plateful
You know I get cravings for spicy spicy food very often too...and I so looove spicy snacks with a hot cup of chai, aha! Now I feel like taking a bite out of your tempting bajjis. The stuffing idea sounds so good, can't wait to try this new twist to the mirch bajji!
Hey for reducing shadows in pics, use reflectors -- a white foam board, aluminium foil or even a small mirror. Honestly, my biggest challenge while shooting with plenty of day light is harsh shadows. I still need a lot of improvement in this area 🙂
Radhika @ foodfor7stages
Drool.... Love the stuffing that has gone into this spicy mirchi bhajjis. Can I get these chilies in U.S?
Kankana Saxena
Thanks Radhika 🙂 I usually buy them from Indian store and I have also seen them in mexican stores.
Xiaolu @ 6 Bittersweets
Wow that looks like it really packs a punch -- I'd love to try some!
Nami @ Just One Cookbook
Your spice food category is very helpful! I never thought or heard that category! I can eat "spice spicy" food and my husband love "chilly spicy" food. He'd love this! Beautiful pictures Kankana!
Manu
I love Indian tea snacks! I love the idea of pairing something savory (and spicy) with hot tea! It is so unusual to me and soooo delicious!!! These bhajjis look so crunchy and tempting! Great idea Kankana!
Manju
niiice!! I was debating between a potato bhajji or coconut pulao for my next post and decided on the coconut pulao (will be up in a minute on Mirch Masala). I can never have enough of bhajjis and pakodas, whatever the weather is! 🙂
Raji
Barsaat, ek cup garam chai aur yeh lazzatdar bhajji mil jaye toh kya kehna...but nevertheless rains are always not necessary to enjoy these..even in the hot and humid climate here I would not mind eating these...nice recipe Kankana and beautiful pictures.
aipi
I soooooooooo want to grab that plate right now ~ my all time favorite 🙂
US Masala
Heather @girlichef
Oh my goodness, these look absolutely amazing! Gorgeous photos.
Krithi
Love the color play in the pictures.. Your shots are super-professional... Love the chilli bajjis with tea.. mm ..nostalgic..
http://krithiskitchen.blogspot.com
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karishma
really an innovative way to make this....not only is the stuffing different but the baking bit is also intriguing.....will be trying this for sure....thanks kankana
karishma
wow....really innovative recreation of the humble chilly bhaji. Liked the different stuffing and the baking part. Something new that i cant wait to try....thanks, kankana..