Molaga Bajji
Anaheim’s are very popular in Southwestern US Cuisine.Also called “New Mexican Chile”. These were developed by Dr. Fabian Garcia in New Mexico about 100 yrs ago who was seeking a chile pepper that was bigger, fleshier, and milder.
They got the name “Anaheim” when a farmer named Emilio Ortega brought these seeds to the Anaheim area in the early 1900’s. This chile can be roasted and peeled and used in recipes or stuffed to make chile rellenos just as the Poblano Chile.
Ingredients:
Chiles -5-6
Besan /kadalai mavu/ bengal gram flour – 1 cup
Cooking soda (soda bi carb) – 2 pinches
Chilli powder – 2 tsp
Salt as needed
Oil – 1 tsp
Oil for deep frying
For stuffed chile bajjis:
Onions -1 finely chopped
Red Chilli powder to taste
2-3 drops of lemon juice
Salt to taste
Instructions:
Yields – 6 bajjis
Wash and pat dry the chiles. Make a vertical slit and remove the seeds carefully without breaking the chillies. This is done to reduce the heat.
In a shallow bowl, mix together gram flour, cooking soda, salt and chilli powder. Then add water, a tsp of oil and prepare a slightly thick batter. I added a little less than 3/4 cup of water. Taste the batter to check for salt. Add if required. (suppose if the batter becomes watery, add little more besan and mix well). The batter should neither be too thick nor too thin.
Heat oil in a kadai (to check if the oil is hot enough to fry the bajjis, drop a little batter into the oil, if it raises to the surface immediately, then the oil is hot enough to fry the bajjis) Once the oil is heated, reduce the flame to medium. Now dip the chile in the bajji batter in such a way that the chile is well coated with the batter on all sides. Then drop the chile gently into the oil. Fry both sides until golden brown. Remove from oil and drain on a paper towel to absorb excess oil. Repeat the same process for the rest of the chiles Enjoy hot milagai bajji with a cup of steaming hot tea or coffee.
Stuffed Chilli Bajji:
Mix all the above ingredients together in a bowl. Make a vertical slit and remove the seeds inside the chile. Stuff the chile with the onion mixture and then proceed as given above.
Note – You can use even potato sabji as stuffing.
Adapted from padhuskitchen.com