Mirchi na Bhajiyaમરચાંના ભજીયા
Fat green chillies dipped in gram flour batter and fried. On a rainy evening these are the first thing to sell out at any Gujarati stall, usually eaten with a cup of tea and no apology.
Ingredients
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- 10-12 thick bhajiya chillies
- 1½ cups gram flour, 2 tbsp rice flour
- ½ tsp carom seeds, a pinch of asafoetida, ¼ tsp soda
- ½ tsp turmeric, salt
- For stuffing: 2 tsp coriander-cumin powder, dried mango powder, salt
- Oil for deep frying
Method
- Slit the chillies, scrape out the seeds and stuff them with the coriander-cumin, mango powder and salt mixture.
- Whisk the flours and spices with water into a thick batter and beat it for 4-5 minutes.
- Heat the oil to medium-high.
- Coat each chilli well in batter and fry until golden.
- Sprinkle with salt and serve hot with chutney and tea.
Tips
- Removing the seeds takes out most of the heat.
- The rice flour keeps them crisp for longer.
Storing and reheating
Bhajiya want eating within fifteen or twenty minutes. Shut in a box they go soft in their own steam, so spread them on paper or a wire tray in the open. Leftovers keep a day in the fridge; to crisp them again drop them into hot oil for half a minute, or give them four or five minutes in an air fryer at 180C. The stuffed chillies themselves can be prepped a few hours ahead and refrigerated.
What you can swap
- If you cannot find thick bhajiya chillies, use Bhavnagri chillies or long pale green ones. Abroad, banana peppers or jalapeños do the job.
- No amchur? Put crushed anardana in the stuffing, or squeeze lemon over the bhajiya after frying.
- Out of rice flour, a tablespoon of cornflour gives the same crispness.
- If you would rather skip the soda, beat a tablespoon of hot oil into the batter. The bhajiya come out slightly denser but still crisp.
What to serve with it
With tea on a rainy evening. In Gujarat this is the fixed monsoon snack, sold at roadside stalls in a twist of paper with fried chillies and date-tamarind chutney alongside. Plenty of people eat them pushed into a pav as bhajiya-pav.
Mistakes to avoid
- Do not let the batter run thin. Thin batter will not cling to a smooth chilli and comes off in patches; you want it as thick as set curd.
- Do not slit the chilli right through to the tip. Leave one end closed or the stuffing escapes into the oil.
- Do not fry too many at a time. The oil temperature drops and the bhajiya soak up fat.
- Keep the flame moderate. On high heat the batter darkens while the chilli inside is still raw.
Questions people ask
How do I make them less hot?
Scrape out the seeds and the white pith inside, which is where most of the heat sits. For very hot chillies, slit them, soak them in salted water for ten minutes, then drain and dry them before stuffing.
Which chillies should I buy?
Thick, hollow, pale green bhajiya chillies. They hold the stuffing and are mild. Markets sell them as bhajiya marcha or Bhavnagri chillies. Thin dark green chillies are for tempering, not for frying whole.
Why do my bhajiya go soggy?
Covering them, or boxing them, traps steam. Lift them onto paper in a single layer, never stacked, and serve straight away. Batter made without any rice flour also loses its crispness faster.
