Thai Stuffed Chile Peppers
At first glance these eye-catching chile peppers look like red jalapeno. However, they have a different flavor and are less meaty than Jalapeno. Red Fresnos are great roasted and added to salsas. Try grilling them alongside your steaks or in kabobs.
When roasting these they should char, blister, and become soft. Try substituting these in your favorite chile recipes.
Ingredients:
Peppers:,
8-10 red Fresno chiles with stems, plump enough to stuff (2-4″ long)
Stuffing:
1 cup cooked shrimp (tails and shells removed), OR 1 cup cooked chicken (leftover roasted chicken works well)
1 Tbsp. fish sauce
handful of roasted peanuts
1 thumb-size piece galangal or fresh ginger
2 cloves garlic
4 spring onions (green onions), only the lower
1 egg
handful of fresh coriander
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1 cup (or more) oil for frying (canola works well)
Batter:
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup water
1/4 tsp. salt
Instructions:
To prepare the peppers:
Slice the chiles down the side, and with an iced teaspoon gently scrape out the seeds and set the peppers aside.
To make the stuffing:
Place the shrimp or chicken, the fish sauce, peanuts, galangal (or ginger), garlic, spring onion bulbs, egg, coriander and black pepper together in a food processor or chopper. Process well. (If you dont have a food processor, mince the herbs, crush the peanuts, and chop up the meat then mix everything together by hand.) Using a teaspoon, stuff this mixture into the peppers but dont over-stuff. The peppers should nearly be able to close.
To keep the peppers from coming open, use the spring onion stems reserved from earlier. Wrap a stem around the middle of each pepper and very gently tie it (if you pull too much, the stem will break). You neednt knot the stem – just tighten it and then cut off the excess (if its too long).
To make the batter:
Simply mix 1/2 cup of flour with a 1/2 cup of water plus 1/4 tsp. of salt. Stir until the batter is more or less smooth.
To cook:
Heat the oil in a small frying pan or in the bottom of your wok. The oil should be at least 1″ deep. When the oil begins to “snake” (move) across the bottom of the pan, it is probably hot enough. If youre not sure, dip a corner of one of the peppers into it. If the oil sizzles, its ready.
Turn heat down to medium and working quickly, dip the stuffed peppers one at a time into the batter and then carefully place them in the hot oil. Allow the chiles to cook for at least 3 minutes on each side, or until peppers are golden-brown.
Serve with your favorite dipping sauce.
Recipe by Darlene Schmidt.