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Dinamita

Long chillies deseeded, stuffed with cheese and rolled in a wrapper that must be sealed properly.

Pork. Not vegetarian — contains cheddar whose rennet the source does not name, pork.

Ingredients

Method

  1. SEAL IT OR IT EMPTIES ITSELF INTO THE OIL. Melted cheese finds any gap, and a split roll means a pan of burning cheese and a hollow wrapper. So: flour and water worked to a thick paste, a smear along the final edge AND along both tucked ends, pressed firmly, and the finished roll rested 10 minutes seam down before it goes anywhere near heat.
  2. Slit each chilli down one side only, from below the stem to the tip, and scrape the seeds and the pale ribs out with the handle of a teaspoon. Keep the chilli in one piece -- halved, it cannot hold anything.
  3. Taste a scrap of one. They vary enormously, and if they are fierce, a 10-minute soak in salted water takes the edge off without making them soggy.
  4. Season the pork with the salt and pepper and push a little into each chilli first, then the cheese baton on top of it. Pork underneath keeps the cheese off the wrapper, and cheese against the wrapper is what makes it split.
  5. Lay a wrapper as a diamond, chilli across the lower third with the stem poking out of one side, fold the bottom up over it, fold the sides in, and roll tight.
  6. Paste the last edge and both ends, press, and rest seam down.
  7. Oil to 170C -- lower than most frying, because the pork inside needs 4 minutes and a hotter pan browns the wrapper in 2.
  8. Fry 4 to 5 minutes, turning, until deep gold and firm. Six at a time at most.
  9. Drain on a rack and eat within 10 minutes, while the cheese is still molten.

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 Philippines · All recipes