Anaheim Peppers from My Veggie Garden

In mango mirchi, chillies are stuffed with green mango and pan-fried to golden. Easy to prepare and a tasty side dish, this is a must try recipe for sour mango-hot chilli flavor fanatics.

Mango Mirchi
(for one or two meals)

4 chillies, (banana pepper or anaheim variety)
1/2 cup, cut mango pieces
1 tablespoon, sesame seeds
1/4 teaspoon, cumin seeds
1/4 teaspoon, salt or to taste
1 tablespoon, peanut oil

Mango: In a cast iron pan, add and dry-toast sesame seeds and cumin seeds to fragrance. Cool. Take them in a mixer. Grind to fine powder. To this sesame mix, add mango pieces and salt. Blend to fine paste without adding water. This is mango stuffing.

Mirchi: Cut off the stem and make a vertical slit. Remove the seeds. Gently open and stuff the chillies with mango stuffing. (If chillies are long, cut into two equal length pieces and then stuff.)

Mango Mirchi: Heat a cast-iron skillet. Add oil and heat over medium heat. When oil is hot, place the chillies in a single layer. Cook until golden brown. Using a spatula, gently turn the mango mirchi to other side and cook to brown. Remove and serve hot.

With sour-spicy taste, Mango mirchi makes a memorable side dish to rice and roti with dal, dahi or subji combination.

Mango Mirchi Cooking in a Cast-Iron Skillet

Mango Mirchi ~ for Meal Today

Summer in Houston seems similar to summer in Andhra. If you venture out in the afternoon, you’d sure get a blinding headache from the radiant heat. It is so hot right now, even Tabasco sauce would seem milder. One could cool off with a drink of Tabasco sauce… weatherman joke on local TV. But anyway, to counter the heat with something hotter, I made mirchi-ka-salan with banana peppers from the backyard. Bharathiyan way to keep the cool during hot months. 🙂

Mirchi Ka Salan with Banana Peppers
(for four adults, for two meals)

Mirchi (Banana Peppers)
10 medium-sized banana peppers
Slice into half and remove the stem, white pitch and seeds. Cut the peppers to bite-sized pieces. (Wear gloves for sensitive skin.)

Salan:

To prepare salan, we need the following ingredients.
1/4 cup peanuts – roasted and skins removed
1/8 cup sesame seeds – toasted
4 dried red chillies (Indian variety)
1 tablespoon – coriander seeds
1/2 teaspoon – cumin
4 cloves and 1 thumb length piece of cinnamon
1×1 inch piece of ginger and 2 garlic cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons thick tamarind pulp
Fry the spices to fragrance on low heat. Take the roasted spices and other ingredients mentioned in the list above in a blender. Add about a cup of water and grind the ingredients to smooth paste. I usually add about a tablespoon of jaggery/sugar to this mix, to bring a mild-sweet flavor to salan paste.

Making of Mirchi ka Salan:

In a pan, heat about a tablespoon of peanut oil. Add the banana peppers. Saute to tender. Add the prepared salan paste. Add about half cup of water and mix. Have a taste, and adjust salt, sour(tamarind), sweet(jaggery) levels to your liking.

Cover the pot and simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes on medium-low heat, stirring in-between. The color of salan sauce darkens and thickens. Mirchi ka Salan will be ready. Taste great with chapati or rice.

Mirchi Ka Salan with Chapati ~ Meal Today and For JFI:Mirchi at Vysh’s Cardamom

© Recipe and Photos Copyright 2009 Indira Singari.