Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Mirchi Bhaji /Batter-fried Chillies (A Special Farmaish)



My hubby although a food lover doesn't frequently request (read that as pester) me to make any particular kinds of food . He loves everything I make and eats it with gusto. So once in a while when he has a craving for something it's simply impossible to ignore. Then even if it is a deep-fried item like bhajis (which I normally completely avoid making) I oblige.
His craving was for Moong dal bhajis which we all know are simply irresistible. So I made them. Now anytime we speak about foods like bhajis or batata wadas my hubby always tells me " Aai always fries a couple of chilli bhajis in the last remaining batter and they are simply awesome . They give a kind of kick to the whole batch of bhajis. " So I too fried a couple of them dipped in the same moong dal batter. And although I simply could not bring myself to eat any, hubby dear definitely ate them with great relish. Just watching him eat them gave me immense satisfaction. He even asked me to pack some in his lunch box the next day.

For the Moong Dal Bhajis I used:
1.5 cup yellow moong dal, soaked in water for 2 to 3 hrs,
4 tblspn semolina,
2 green chillies,
1 tblspn saunf powder (powdered fennel seeds)
1 tblspn ajwain,
1/2 tspn turmeric powder,
1/2 tspn sugar,
1/2 tspn baking soda,
a nice generous handful of fresh coriander chopped,
salt as per taste.
Oil for frying
Procedure:
1. Blend the soaked moong dal , chillies, and all the spice powders to a not very smooth paste. Its nice to have a coarse textured batter for the bhajis.
2. Add to the batter salt ,sugar, baking soda, semolina and the chopped coriander and give it a good stir. Add a lilttle water if the batter is too thick.
3.Heat the oil in a kadhai and drop teaspoonfuls of batter in the oil and deep fry. Remove bhajis on a kitchen towel to drain off the excess oil . Serve hot with ketchup.
4. For the Mirchi bhajis take whole green chillies (as many as you want).
5. Slit them vertically and deseed them. Dip each chilli in the batter and immediately drop into the hot oil. The batter tends to slide off the chilli so hold the chilli horizontally . The bhaji looks very pretty with some of the green chilli peeping out of the fried batter.
6. Serve the chilli bhajis with a cool minty yogurt dip and not with any chutney or sauce.
7 Prepare the dip by adding some chopped mint to a bowl of yogurt and a pinch each of salt and sugar. It soothes the pallete.
Well enjoy and let me know how you liked it.

9 comments:

Suganya said...

YUM! YUM!....This is the second mirchi bhaji i am seeing today in the blogs....It reminds me abt chennai beach....Mouth watering one..

Manasi said...

Zanzanit!!! mast ahe!!

Padmaja said...

hey Anu
I never made with moong dal, i usually use gram flour. I will definitely try u'r version as they look amazing!!

Meeta K. Wolff said...

Looks awesome, Anu!! I, like Padmaja have often made this with Gram flour, so it'll be interesting to make your version. Thanks for your lovely comment on my blog too. Huge hug!

Dori said...

It took me a long time (it feels like) to learn how to make these without the batter falling apart and floating away in the oil...now that I finally can do it I will have to try yours!

Latha Narasimhan said...

Moongdal bhajjis? must be tasting great. Thanks for the recipe anu.

Padma said...

Ohh la la! that looks so appetizing...I want one...moongdal batter must be tasting crunchy than besan flour, right!

Shubha Ravikoti said...

liked ur blog alot... very very nice.... there are sooooo many events happeneing in all the blogs alltogether... can u guide me of a way to keep track of all the events at once??.... loved this event... would love to take part in the next event..... by the way iam a new blogger...:)..thanx....do guide me please

Isingcakes said...

Hi Anupama,
I never ever loved cooking. Recently, I had a long summer holiday to myself, when I had actually nothing to do. I just sat surfing the net. Tried a few dishes to improvise my cooking.To my amazement, I realised that I could cook. My mum will be amazed to know about my transformation...I will never like cooking to Aj kahitari vegle karun baghuyat..:). Anyways, mihi Punyachi ahe. I came across your blog last week. Tujhya blog varun agdi mastani chi chav athavli, Vaishalitli SPDP!! Aha!! Just love it. I had a Satyanarayan Puja at my place. I made the lovely moog bhajis and also made mirchi bhajis. Mehun jevayla alele Mukherjee dampatya ekdum fida ga!!!