Mirchi bada

A stuffed chilli fried once with the potato and then battered and fried again.

Vegan.

Ingredients

• 6 banana peppers, or large mild green chillies
• 500 g potatoes, boiled and crushed
• 2 teaspoons cumin seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon asafoetida
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 teaspoon amchur, dried mango powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 200 g gram flour
• 1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• about 180 ml water
• oil for deep frying

Method

1. THE CHILLI IS FRIED ONCE WITH THE POTATO AND THEN BATTERED AND FRIED AGAIN, which is an odd instruction until you have eaten one, and its article is explicit about the order: INITIALLY, THE GREEN CHILLI IS FRIED ALONGSIDE THE POTATOES AND SPICES, AND SUBSEQUENTLY, IT IS DEEP-FRIED WITH A LAYER OF GRAM FLOUR COATING. Two fryings. The first one cooks the chilli through and takes the rawness out of it; the second only sets the batter.
2. WHICH IS WHY IT IS NOT A PAKORA. A pakora's vegetable goes into the batter raw and cooks inside it. Here the chilli is a cooked, stuffed thing before the batter is anywhere near it.
3. THE PEPPER IS A MILD ONE AND THE ARTICLE NAMES TWO. BANANA PEPPER AND BHAVNAGRI CHILLIES ARE USED TO MAKE MIRCHI BADA. Both are large and thin-walled and barely hot; a bird's eye chilli would make the dish uneatable.
4. SLIT THEM DOWN ONE SIDE AND SCRAPE THE SEEDS OUT, LEAVING THE STALK ON. Its article's word is HALVING, and the hinge is more useful: a chilli slit on one side holds its filling and still looks like a chilli.
5. THE FILLING IS POTATO AND SPICE, AND IT GOES IN AT THE FIRST FRYING. Cumin and asafoetida in oil, the crushed potato, the ground spices, the amchur and the salt, with the slit chillies in the same pan -- which is what the article means by fried alongside. Eight minutes, turning the chillies, until they blister and go limp.
6. STUFF THEM WHILE EVERYTHING IS WARM AND THEN LET THEM GO COLD. Press the filling in firmly and close the slit. Cold, they hold their shape in the batter.
7. THE BATTER IS GRAM FLOUR, THICK ENOUGH TO HIDE THE CHILLI. Two hundred grams with the soda and enough water to make a coating batter. Dip each one, let the excess run off, and lower it in.
8. SECOND FRYING, HOT AND SHORT. Three or four minutes at a proper heat until golden brown. Its article serves them hot with mint and tamarind chutney, or with ketchup, and notes they are eaten most in the rainy season.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under India · All recipes