Milagai bajji / Mirapakaya bajjilu / Fritters with green chilli peppers

 

Do you love the smell of green chilli peppers? I do. I just love the smell and these bajjis are  an excellent way to enjoy their warmth and flavour. My first meeting with chilli bajjis was during our school trip to Ooty. Everywhere you can see small vendors selling them hot, hot and for that cold ooty climate they make an excellent snack. Recently, during our India visit we had fresh, very hot green chillies direct from the farm.  They looked very tempting. So me and my mom-in-law made some bajjis with it. I noticed that my mom-in-law made a very quick and easy filling just with garam masala. They tasted very good. So I would like to share her method with you all.

 

Ingredients :

Green chilli peppers (less hot variety)- 6 nos

Garam masala- any garam masala of your choice, chat masala will also be too good- 1 tspn

Besan or gram dhal flour- 1 cup

Rice flour- 1/4 cup

Red chilli powder- 1/2 tspn

Baking soda- 1/8 tspn (optional)

Asafoetida- few pinches

Salt to taste

Oil for deep frying

Method :

Mix besan, rice flour, red chilli powder, asafoetida, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Now add water to make a thick paste. The consistency of the batter should be similar to idly batter. Wash the green chillies. Wipe them with a clean cloth. Make slit on each chillies as shown in picture. Now mix the garam masala of your choice with little salt. Apply this mixture into the slit as a thin coating. Then dip individual chillies into the batter and and deep fry them in hot oil. Very tasty bajjis will be ready.

Taste enhancing tips for this recipe : Batter consistency is important. It should be thick enough to coat the chilli peppers uniformly. I love if the chillies are a bit hot. Try this garam masala stuffing, it tastes really good. But the garam masala mixed with salt should be applied only as a thin coat, do not stuff it. If you use a hot variety chilli try removing its seeds and try soaking them in salted water for 8 hours . This will help to reduce their hotness.  Happy cooking !!! and have a wonderful weekend ahead!!!

Actually there are several types of filling used for making milagai bajji. Some people use ajwain seeds containing filling, some use seasame seeds and some use onions but for me the bajjis taste very good without any filling because I feel the fillings mentioned above overpower the real taste and flavour of chilli peppers. The filling my mom-in-law used was perfect. It did not overpower the real chilli pepper taste.Hope you will also like it too :)

Vengaya bajji / Onion bajji / Fritters with onion

 

Very tasty and aromatic snack. Can be prepared in no time. When we go to Rajender's native and visit our friends and relatives there, this was the main snack item they serve us. Enjoying their talk, sitting with a plate of vengaya bajji in hand and a cup of hot tea - that is what is called as heaven on earth :). This is a perfect dish for onion lovers.

 

Ingredients :

Onions- 2 nos

Bengal gram flour- 1 cup

Rice flour- 1/4 cup

Chilli powder- 1 tspn

Green chillies-3 nos (optional)

Egg- 1 no (optional)

Asafoetida- few pinches

Salt to taste

Oil for deep frying

Method :

Cut onions as shown in picture. Mix the gram flour and rice flour with onions nicely with your hand. The flour should coat all the onion pieces. If you are using egg, break the egg open and mix with onions and flour mixture at this stage. Now add water little by little to get a consistency which is not so watery and not too thick. Actually it should be close to the thicker side but not too dry. Mix in chilli powder, asafoetida and enough salt. Now heat oil in a pan and fry the prepared batter containing onions in batches. Tasty, tasty snack will be ready in a jiffy.

Taste enhancing tips for this recipe : Bajji should be soft and not that crispy as pakodas. You can adjust the crispiness by varying the amount of water. The final mixture should not be very dry. It shoould not be too watery too. Adding egg imparts that extra softness. Do not forget asafoetida. If you are allergic to besan you can use moong dhal flour. The taste of bajjis made with moong dhal flour will be a bit different but it will not compromise the taste. Enjoy the pakoda with a glass of hot tea on a cold day for that extra effect :). Happy cooking !!!