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.

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.