Milaga Bhajjis - Green Chili Fritters

It is the weekend and we are all getting ready to party... or perhaps have a wonderfully quiet and peaceful time with family -either way, Milaga bhajjis is a good way to celebrate on the weekend. These again are made from the homegrown chilies, which are not so spicy and lend themselves marvelously to this dish. For those who wanted to know the other recipe I had made with these green chilies, here you go.

For the batter

• 1 cup of gram flour/kadalamavu/ besan
• ½ cup rice flour
• (I recently found out that 1:1 of besan and rice flour) also works like a charm
• 2 tbsp curry powder
• 1 tsp sambar powder
• 1 pinch of Asafetida
• Salt to taste
• Curry leaves chopped
• Oil to fry
• Water enough to make the batter breamy smooth (about 1 cup usually)

Method:

1. Wash and dry your chilies thoroughly.
2. Keep the stem if tender, else chop off
3. Keeping the stem makes for less splattering of seeds bursting in the oil
4. Coat the chili with batter fully
5. Heat oil
6. Drop gently in hot oil
7. Do not overcrowd.
8. Remove and place on kitchen paper towels to drain off any excess oil
9. Enjoy as is or with dip of your choice - ketchup is a good place to start or how about the chili thokku I posted earlier ;P

Cheers and wish you a fabulous weekend. Plenty of exciting fall preparations on their way - stay tuned.

Green Chili Thokku (Preserve)

My garden was bursting with green chilies and we kept collecting in the hope that we would get some spicy ones - Alas to our disappointment, although they were extremely aromatic and flavorful and raised our expectations no end about its spiciness. Ironically, they lacked the sting which is a quality all of us proper South Indians look for in our green chilies.  We have learnt now that we have to plant the different varieties of chilies at least a 10 feet away from each other because what can happen if you plant spicy ones and sweeter peppers side by side, one takes over the flavor of the other, in our case the sweet dominated the spicy :(  So a lesson learnt for next year. Joke is I had to use store-bought green chilies and a few red chilies to spice up my chili chutney (lol)  But it smells phenomenally good and and tastes incredible, esp with thachu mammu or yogurt rice; a fab spread on sandwiches and with chappatis and cheese...

Presenting to you my Green Chili Thokku/Preserve - also sharing a couple of fun art I made with them.

Ingredients

• 3lbs of Fresh green chilies 
• 4 thai green chilies (not required if you have spicy chilies already)
• 1/2 cup of urad dal
• 1tsp of tamarind paste
• 1/4 tsp of asafetida
• 1tsp turmeric
• 5tbsp Gingely/sesame oil
• salt
• Tempering with mustard seeds

Method

1. de stem the chilies and keep ready
2. In 2 tbsp of oil roast the urad dal until golden brown
3. In a wide pan add 2 tbsp of oil and add the green chilies and allow them to cook until lightly browned
4. Add the salt, tamarind and asafetida to this and stir for a little longer
5. Cool and grind 
6. Add a tbsp of raw sesame oil to the top to keep it preserved. Enjoy in any which way you want to :)

Chili Thokku