Mirchi Bajjis / Stuffed green pepper fritters

One of the most common street food found in every corner of hyderabad.
Its one of the must have food for me whenever I go to India. There are a few spots around my place which we regularly go to to get yummy mirchi bajjis! Its more like a craving for me and I have to have my Mirchi bajji fix. But its so easy to get them in India, here I have to make them.....which means making the stuffing too...
There are different types of stuffing but the most common is the besan with tamarind and carom seeds( vaamu or ajwain). Hot, hot bajjis with this stuffing surely taste homey and yummy!
The mirchi is used are home grown banana peppers. These are usually very big and long, since these are home grown, I cut them when they were small, bajji size! In reality, they weren't growing big and fall was setting in, I was scared they will go bad. So I cut them!!
Back home, the cartwallahs, usually fry the bajji twice, that is fry one batch, remove, fry second batch, remove, then fry both batches together. I generally only fry them once to golden brown.

Cut the bajji and stuff with chopped onion and lemon juice for a extra kick!, but this also takes away the spiciness of the mirchi. There are some people like my sister who won't eat the mirchi and remove it and eat the skin only...to them I say...you don't know what you are missing!!!! lol!!
It does take some time for prep, but the prize you get is heavenly and delectable!

Ingredients: For about 10 mirchi bajjis

For Stuffing:

2 tbsp besan / chick pea flour
1/2 tsp carom seeds, vaamu, ajwain (you can grind into powder )
2 tbsp thick tamarind juice
salt to taste

For coating on bajjis:

1 cup besan / chick pea flour
1/4 cup rice flour
small pinch baking soda
1 tsp chilli powder (adjust accordingly)
salt to taste

Oil for deep frying

Method:

Stuffing: Mix all the ingredients for stuffing into a thick paste and keep aside.

Coating: Mix all the ingredients together, taking care how much chilli powder you put into a thick batter.

Heat Oil. Drop a tiny bit of batter to see if its hot enough. It shouldn't be smoking hot, but the batter when dropped should take couple of seconds to come to the top.

Slit the pepper from top to bottom and stuff it with the stuffing.
Dip into the batter and slowly drop into oil. (see tips)
Fry till golden brown. Remove onto napkin to drain the excess oil!
Serve slit stuffed with chopped onion and lemon. Or eat them just like that like I do!! Alternatively you can chop them into small pieces and fry them once more for cut mirchi. Garnish with chat masala, chilli powder, onions and coriander. Serve with tamarind-dates chutney and coriander chutney.
Enjoy!!!

Tips: For first timers, its sometimes difficult to get the batter to stick to the mirchi, for this clean the mirchi properly, so that its totally dry.
Second the batter should be thick. When you drop into oil, immediately make sure it dips into the oil completely and put oil on the chilli with the slotted spoon. This will ensure that the batter doesn't slide down and cook.