Mirchi Vada

Many varieties of chilies ( mirchi) are found in Rajasthan. Green big sized and long variety of chili peppers are split open and filled with potato mix and deep fried in batter of gram flour to make these yummy vadas.

Ingredients:

• 6 large green chili peppers or banana peppers

• Oil for frying

For Filling:

• 2 large potatoes
• 1 small onion finely chopped
• 1 tbsp cilantro leaves finely chopped
• 1 tsp chat masala
• ½ tsp red chili powder
• ½ tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tbsp lime juice
• Salt to taste

For Batter:

• 1 cup besan (gram flour)
• ½ tsp turmeric powder
• Pinch of asafetida (hing)
• ½ tsp baking powder
• Salt to taste

Method:

• Boil and skin potato. Mash and mix in it all other ingredients required for filling.
• Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a pan. Add potato mix in it and fry for 3-4 minutes. Remove from heat and keep aside.
• Put the gram flour in a large mixing bowl with the ingredients required for the batter. Add warm water, a little at a time; use a whisk to blend all together. The resulting batter should be like thick pancake batter. Keep aside.
• Wash and pat dry all the chili peppers. Make one slit along the length of the chilies from just under the stem to just above the end of the chili. If you are using the hot chilies, you can reduce some of the heat by removing the seeds. For this insert the knife tip and pluck the thick white vein in the middle along with the seeds.

• Now fill the slit in the chili with the potato mix.

• Heat the oil for deep frying on a medium flame.
• When the oil is ready for frying, dip one chili in the gram flour batter to coat well on all sides. Put it into the oil and fry till golden all over turning occasionally.
• Remove and drain on paper towels. Fry remaining chilies in the same way.
• Serve hot with Chutney.

Do you know?

There are several remedies for the effects of eating a pepper that is too hot for you.

• Eventually, you can build up tolerance to the heat of peppers, and will be able to eat hotter and hotter chilies without having to resort to the cures.
• Many people recommend drinking tomato juice or eating a fresh lemon or lime, the theory being that the acid counteracts the alkalinity of the capsaicin.
• Some people won't begin eating hot peppers without a pitcher of cold water handy, though this is not the best idea. The capsaicin, which is oil, does not mix with the water but is instead distributed to more parts of the mouth.
• More useful solutions include drinking milk (rinsing the mouth with it as you sip) or eating rice or bread, which absorb the capsaicin.