It was a cold rainy evening and was tempting to have a hot and tasty snack.Sitting here in United States and remembering all the chaat centers of India:-):-) specially VV Puram(Sajjan rao circle),Bangalore which is very famous for its Food Street-Omg! Tons of varieties:-) of super yummy indian snacks,chaats,dosas and much more.
I remember having capsicum/bell pepper stuffed pakoda chaat in the food street and it tastes so delicious.Moreover I had a lot of bell peppers with various sizes sitting in my refridgerator from my recent trip to a Bell Pepper farm tour.Check out the bell pepper farm pictures below.So I went to the kitchen to give it a try.
This is my favourite evening snack for tea time these days.Want to prepare something special for potlucks,birthday parties or just a gathering?or want to eat something special other than regular pakoras?Try this and your guests will love it.
Common lets make this indian street chaat today.
Potato filling is stuffed inside the capsicum and dipped in chickpea flour and deep fried.Later these big delicious stuffed pakoras are cut open to add green chutney,sweet chutney,grated carrots,chopped onions...and everything goes into your tummy in no time.
Filling
Potato boiled ...................................3 medium
cooked green peas
(or frozen microwaved for 4 min) .. 1/2 cup
Cumin powder..................................1/2 tspn
Red Chilly Powder.......................... 1/2 tspn
Coriander powder............................ 1 tspn
Chat masala......................................1/2 tspn
oil......................................................1 tspn
cumin seeds.......................................1/2 tspn
asafetida(hing).................................. 2 pinch
coriander leaves chopped..................1 Tbspn
Salt to taste
Heat oil in a pan,add cumin seeds when hot then the hing.Remove the skin and add the mashed potatoes,green peas.Add all the spices along with salt and coriander leaves.Fry for 3-4 min and keep it aside for filling.
Batter/Covering
besan/chickpea flour .......1.5 cup
rice flour..........................1.5 Tbspn
red chilly powder .......... 1 tspn
hing/asafetida................. 1/4 tspn
carom seeds(ajwain)........1/4 tspn
chopped corianderleaves.1 Tbspn
Soda.................................1/4 tspn
salt to taste
Combine everything and add little water at a time make a lump free batter. The batter must be thicker than regular pakoda batter as it has to form thick covering around whole capsicum.
Making pakodas
Capsicum/bell pepper...........5-6 medium size
Filling
Oil to Deep Fry
1)Lets make a window opening in the side of capsicum/bell pepper.Remove the seeds and inner membranes.Keep the cut open piece aside as u need to close it once you fill it up with potato mixture.
2)Fill the potato mixture in it and close the opening with the piece.
3)Heat the oil in a deep pan/kadai for deep frying.You need to add more oil than frying regular pakoras as whole capsicum needs to immerse!
3)Dip the filled capsicum in the batter and fry on medium heat till golden crisp!
4)Believe me you would love it:-)
You can have these yummy stuffed pakodas with ketchup or make a easy tasty chaat.
Pakora Chaat
Carrot onion mix
1 cup grated carrot
1 onion finely chopped
1 Tbspn cilantro(coriander leaves) finely chopped
1 tspn lemon juice
salt to taste
Combine all the ingredients and mix well
Run the knife over pakora and cut open.Add a spoon of
Green Chutney and some
Tamarind dates chutney and a Tbspn of carrot and onion mixture.
My DH added a little murmura kadlepuri on it!
Enjoy your evening
