MIRCHI BAJJI

Mirchi Bajji

On a cold rainy day when your appetite stimulates you to eat something hot and spicy, the only thing that comes to mind is the mirchi bajji or onion pakodi. This famous street food can be made at home. The spicy green chilies are stuffed with ajwain, tamarind sauce and then are dipped in besan batter and deep fried to make the mouthwatering and melting mirch bajjis. The bajjis that are made in exhibitions in India make me crave for more. Mirch bajjis as long as 8 inches can be had in exhibitions. When I was a kid I used to go to the exhibition to enjoy eating the long mirch bajjis and the gaint papads.
Coming to the making of these bajjis, choosing the green chilies plays a vital role. The chilies should be long and fat. The ones which are thin will be very spicy, so choose the fat ones.  The stuffing can be different types. In my place ajwain and tamarind juice are used. Alternatively peanuts and coconut can be used. If the green chilies are very fat you can go for the potato stuffing. Well if the mirchi is very mild the bajji tastes awesome without stuffing also. Here I came with a procedure to make tastier and mouthwatering mirchi bajji.
INGREDIENTS 

• Mirch                            6-7
• Oil                                for deep frying

For the batter

• Besan                                1 cup
• Rice flour                           2 Tsp
• Water                                to make the batter
• Salt                                    to taste
• Cooking soda                     a pinch
• Turmeric                            a pinch
• Hot oil                               2 Tsp

For the stuffing inside the mirchi

• Ajwain                                a tsp
• Tamarind juice                    1 Tsp
• Sugar                                  a pinch(optional)
• Onion                                 2 Tsp

For the stuffing inside the Bajji

• Onion                                  1 small(finely chopped)
• Cilantro                               5-6 sprigs(finely chopped)
• Lemon juice                        1 tsp

PROCEDURE
Take the green chilies, wash them and make a slit on one side, so that they can be opened. See that you don't run the knife all way through or underneath. Remove the white vein from the centre of the chilies and wash the chilies again. If possible put the chilies in salt water for a minute and use them. Now mix two table spoons of finely chopped onions, ajwain, sugar, tamarind juice. Take a small portion of mixture and stuff it into the chilies. Leave the chilies for half an hour or more.
To prepare the batter mix in all the dry ingredients and add a couple of tablespoons of hot oil into the dry ingredients. Mix the oil well. The whole flour mixture should be mixed well with oil. This makes the bajjis to be smooth and they melt in your mouth. You can even skip the cooking soda if your are health conscious. Now slowly add the water and mix well. The batter should neither be too thick or too watery. The consistency should be some what like the home made dosa batter consistency. Do not leave the batter for a long time, as the bajjis will absorb more oil if the batter is left for a longer time. Make the bajjis as soon as the batter is prepared.
Heat oil in pan. Choose a pan which is deep enough and fill it with oil until half of the pan. Take each of the stuffed mirchi and dip it inside the batter so that entire chilly is coated with the batter. If you feel that the batter is thin and you cannot coat the chilly, add more of the besan. Gently drop 2-3 coated chilies into the hot oil at a time. Fry the bajjis for 1 minute on a medium high flame. When the desired color is reached take them onto a paper napkin to remove excess oil. Serve these with any sauce or chutney or serve with the onions stuffing.   

Mirchi Bajji

Mix in the finely chopped onion, cilantro, lemon juice. Slit the mirchi bajji and stuff a spoonful of the mixture inside each bajji. Sprinkle a little bit of salt and chilly powder. Serve these mouthwatering onion stuffed mirchi bajjis as it is or with any sauce.
TIPS

• The stuffing inside the chilies can be any thing of your choice. Try the coconut and peanut powder stuffing or the potato stuffing for a different taste.
• The tamarind juice used reduces the spiciness of the chilies.
• The rice flour makes the bajjis crisp and the cooking soda makes them puff up.
• Keep the flame medium high as the bajjis absorb more oil at low temperature.
• The oil in the pan should be more so that the bajjis has place to puff up. If the oil level is low you will end up with flat bajjis.
• For a different variation try the mirchi bajji chat.

                       Cut the mirchi bajji into cubes. Add boiled and cubed potato, chopped onions, chopped tomato, chopped cilantro, a spoonful of lemon juice, salt and red chilly powder. Mix all of these well and serve with a drizzle of sweet and sour chutney on the top.

Mirchi Bajji