MIRAPAKAAYA BAJJILU / STUFFED CHILLY FRYS

INGREDIENTS:

1.Green chillys............................10 to 12 big and long.

2.Besan ( gram flour).................1/2 cup.

3.Oil............................................for deep frying.

4.Onion.......................................1 big.

5.Cilantro..........................

STUFFING:

1.Carom seeds (Vaamu / Ajwain)......................................1 t sp.

2.Red chilly powder...................1 t sp.

3.salt................

4.Tamarind pulp.........................1 t sp.

5.Cumin powder..........................1/2 t sp.

6.Coriander powder.....................1/2 t sp.

7.Sugar..........................................1/2 t sp.

8.Aamchur (dry mango powder)....................................1/2 t sp.

METHOD:

1.Take gram flour, put 1/2 t sp. chilly powder and salt for taste. Now add water, prepare a thick paste. Beat it with hand nicely. keep it aside.

2. Clean, wash chillys and wipe them.

3.Mix all the stuffing items nicely. keep it ready for filling.

4.Slit each chilly in length wise.

5.Open the cut and fill the chilly with masala stuffing.

6.Keep oil on the stove heat it.

7.Take each stuffed chilly, dip in the prepared besan/gram flour batter.

8.Drop one chilly after the other in to oil. fry them nicely. take them out.

9.Cut onion in to small pieces. In a plate, place the chilly with cut onion pieces.

10.Decorate them with cut cilantro.

బజ్జీ- Bajji- Fritters

Serves: Three. Preparation time: 40 minutes


Ingredients:

1 cup Bengal gram flour (Bésan, Senagapindi)    
1/4 cup Rice flour (Chával ká átá, Beeyappindi)
1/2 Tsp Garam masala powder
1 Tsp Red Chilli powder or to taste
1 level Tsp Salt or to taste
1/2 Tsp Tsp Cumin seeds (Jheera, Jilakara)
1/2 Tsp Turmeric (Haldi, Pasupu)
2 pinches Asafoetida (Heeng, Inguva)

1 heaped cup vegetables (eg; Potato, Plantain, Ridge gourd)
1/2 cup water
Oil to fry

Method:
1. Wash, peel and thinly slice the vegetable into rounds. Set aside.  
2. Place a cauldron of oil on heat so that it is ready by the time we prepare our Bajji batter/dough.

3. In a bowl, sift together all the flours and spices, make sure that they are evenly mixed.  

4. Add a little over 1/2 cup of water to the bowl, mix well making sure to break up any lumps. You may need to add a little bit more of water to get the right consistency. It should be thinner than Idli batter but slightly thicker than Dosa batter. (This benchmark has already been explained in Idli, also refer to step 6. for further explanation on batter consistency). 
5. The oil must be hot enough to fry. Drop a grain sized amount of dough/batter into the oil to test, if it sinks to the bottom and then rises up foaming, oil is hot enough. 
6. Dip each vegetable round into the batter, the batter covers the vegetable and coats it evenly but is thick enough not to drain away completely, it slowly drips off the vegetable. Drop this coated vegetable round into the oil. Repeat this step until the surface of the oil is full of frying Bajjis. 

7. While the Bajjis are frying, line a plate with blotting paper. Stir the Bajjis to turn them around for even frying. 
8. When the Bajjis are golden brown (around 7 minutes but depends on oil temperature and also what vegetable/how thick the rounds are), pick them out with a slotted ladle and transfer onto the plate lined with blotting paper.  
Serve hot with Tomato ketchup or any chutney. Bajjis are great on their own too. 


Variations:
Bajjis can be made from a variety of vegetables. Potato, Plantain, Ridge gourd, Onions, Capsicum, Chillies (if not hot), Eggplants, Zucchini (Courgette, Summer Squash), Cauliflower.
Optional: You may add half a teaspoon of ginger-garlic paste into the batter/dough.
Professional cooks add a pinch of baking soda, it makes the bajjis come out fluffy. However, they soak up more oil and end up with a higher dose of sodium.

Culture & Health:
Called 'Pakoda' by some, 'Bajji' by others, they say a perfect rainy day activity is to sip hot tea or coffee with piping hot pakodas.
I love the taste of soggy leftover Bajjis on the day after they're made, the vegetable flavour permeates into the fried soggy batter. Others like refried Bajjis, leftover soggy Bajjis come out extra crisp when fried again on the next day.
Bhajji-pav is a favourite street-side food sold by cart-vendors in Mumbai. It consists of a potato bajji jammed between a bun, with green chutney, tamarind chutney and other spices.
I don't want to defame/slander the reputation of such a yummy preparation by starting on its health angle. Let me just say, chickpea flour is a good source of protein, while the vegetable provides vitamins & minerals ;-) :-P
On a serious note, we all know that fried foods do all the bad things possible to our system. The vegetable loses most of its vitamin load in the frying process. This preparation is not recommended for regular consumption, it is not for the health conscious, it is not for those on any kind of dietary restrictions. It is full of oil (empty calories: a no no for diabetics. all that cholesterol: a no go zone for heart patients. all that fat: stresses our dear liver, a complete no entry for those with a problem liver/kidneys) and sodium (so much salt/soda, a no no for high blood pressure candidates, gout candidates, arthritic personalities, those on dialysis... I believe most diseases are exacerbated by sodium intake, so we need to watch out!).
And Baba Ramdevji says besan is very bad for health, so don't even feel good about the protein. :-)

Trivia:
If there is one thing that I remember my mother cooking regularly, it's pakodas and bajjis!!
Warning: This food is highly addictive and difficult to resist. ;-)

పచ్చి మిరపకాయ బజ్జి / Mirchi bajji / Stuffed Green Chilli Snacks

Preparation time : 30 mins
Serves (2-3)


Ingredients

10 big green chillies (can be found in Indian stores)
1 big potato
1 cup besan
1/4cup rice flour
2 1/2 tsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp red chilli powder
1 small onion
pinch of baking soda
salt to taste
1/4 tsp turmeric

Method:

1 Take a green chilli, make a slit lengthwise in the middle, keeping the ends intact. With a knife remove the seeds and make space for stuffing.
2 Boil the potato and peel the skin and mash it, add salt, turmeric and 2tsp.lemon juice,1/4 tsp.red chilli powder and mix them together and make the stuffing.
3 In a bowl take besan, rice flour, pinch of baking soda, salt to taste and 1/2cup water(if needed add little more water), mix them all together into thick batter (more like dosa batter).
4 Stuff the chillies with the stuffing and dip them in the batter and drop them in the hot oil and deep fry them until they get little golden color.
5 Make a slit in the bajjis and garnish them with chopped onions mixed with lemon juice and cilantro

పచ్చి మిరప కాయి పచ్చడి- (Pacchi Mirapakaya Pacchadi)- Green Chilli Chutney

Serves: Fills a 1 lb bottle. Preparation time: 50 minutes including washing/cutting/assembling ingredients/cooking/grinding.

Ingredients:

2.5 tbsp Oil
1 tsp Mustard seeds (Rai, Avalu)
1 level tsp Fenugreek (Methi, Menti) powder
1 level tsp Asafoetida (Heeng, Inguva)
0.5 Kg- Green chillies

2 tsps Salt

4 tbsps cooked tamarind paste
1 heaped tsp Coriander (Dhania) seeds
1 heaped tsp Cumin (Jheera, Jilakara) seeds
1 tsp Turmeric (Haldi, Pasupu)

Method:
1. Wash and destem green chillies (No need to chop them as they will soften in cooking process and ultimately get ground. Indian chillies are best suited for this recipe. If using a large sized cultivar, you can chop them into large chunks.). Set aside.
2. Heat the oil, add the green chillies and fry until they brown.

3. Remove the chillies out of the oil and set aside. In that same oil, add mustard seeds. When they crackle, add fenugreek powder, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, asafoetida, turmeric and salt. Let the preparation cool.
4. Grind the spices & tamarind in the food processor, add the green chillies at the end & grind on pulse.
5. Bottle into a clean dry glass container and refrigerate. Takes upto four days for the flavours to blend in. 
I noticed that this chutney has a long shelf life if placed in the refrigerator, since chillies are highly alkaline.
It takes upto 4 days for the spices-chillies-tamarind-salt to marinate so that the flavours blend in, the pacchadi doesn't taste as nice when freshly made.
It is very yummy when eaten with fresh hot rice & ghee. It can also accompany upma, idli, dosa, pesarattu, anything as per our taste.

Precautions/Warnings/Variations:

1. The amount of spice to be added depends on how strong the green chillies are. The above are only estimates, very hot chillies may need more salt/tamarind/fenugreek/cumin/coriander, milder chillies may need less salt/tamarind. This is because these spices+chillies marinate & help to bring down the fieriness of the chillies.

2. If you don't have coriander & cumin seeds, you can use coriander & cumin powder.
3. If you don't have fenugreek powder: Roast fenugreek seeds until they are black-brown. Cool and powder. Add this pre-roasted powder to the recipe along with green chillies.
4. If you're making a huge quantity to store for longer time, more oil should be added so that there is a 'pickling' effect.
5. The last three ingredients (coriander, cumin and turmeric) are not traditional, I add them out of my own taste.
6. According to the traditional recipe, tamarind+salt paste is boiled separately and added to the cooled green chillies preparation just before grinding. I cooked the two together since that saves me space & time.
7. Do not taste much of it while preparing, it can cause severe acidity within seconds, and don't think this to be a dumb suggestion :-D


Useful Tip/Tricks:
It is an awesome spread for grilled sandwiches & savory snacks. It can be used as a ready-to-add spice sauce while preparing other dishes, half a spoon of this chutney lends awesome flavour.

Trivia:
I learnt this recipe from my mom-in-law (Indira aunty). Fiery green chilli pacchadi is truly the queen of all pacchadis.