Fry

Mulaku Bajji (Jalapeño Fritters with Mint Chutney)

by:
December 17, 2014
5
2 Ratings
Mulaku Bajji (Jalapeño Fritters with Mint Chutney)
  • Makes 7 fritters
Author Notes

Served with a mint chutney, these fritters have the perfect balance of textures and flavors: the spicy pepper against the cool mint yogurt, crispy and soft at the same time. It makes for an excellent tea time snack with a cup of hot chai.

Tips:
- If you'd like to make it less spicy, gently slit open the peppers and take out the seeds. Soak in cold water for a few minutes and then pat dry.
- To check if your oil is hot enough, drop a little batter in. If it puffs up, you're ready to start frying.
- If you'd like to "fancy it up," consider stuffing the peppers with either paneer or ricotta. —Aysha | The Malabar Tea Room

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • For the bajji (fritters):
  • 7 jalapeños (roughly 250 grams)
  • 1 cup gram flour
  • 1/4 cup corn flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 1/3 cup water, plus more if needed
  • 4 cups vegetable oil
  • Salt, to taste
  • For the mint chutney:
  • 1 cup mint leaves
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 2 green chile
  • 4 tablespoons yogurt
  • 1 splash lime juice
  • Salt, to taste
Directions
  1. To make the bajjis, remove the stalks from the jalapeños, drain the liquid out of them, and rinse in cold water. Set aside.
  2. In a large bowl, mix all dry ingredients, except for salt.
  3. Pour water into the dry ingredients, and stir. The batter needs to be thick, with no lumps. Add more water if needed.
  4. Heat the oil in a deep-bottomed pan over medium heat.
  5. Once hot, carefully take 2 teaspoons of the oil from the pan and mix into the batter until well-combined.
  6. Dip each jalapeño into the batter, until well-coated, then slowly lower into the pan with oil.
  7. Using this method, deep-fry each pepper until golden. Transfer onto a paper towel.
  8. To make the chutney, grind the mint leaves, garlic and chiles to a fine paste. Stir in the yogurt, lime juice, and salt.
  9. Serve the fried peppers with the chutney.
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See what other Food52ers are saying.

  • Laura415
    Laura415
  • S. Rodriguez
    S. Rodriguez
  • Aysha | The Malabar Tea Room
    Aysha | The Malabar Tea Room
  • caniacwino
    caniacwino
Aysha | The Malabar Tea Room
An Indian food-writer with a penchant for cookbooks with obscure ingredients, Aysha spends most of her time adapting recipes from the world over in her small-town south-Indian kitchen with her mother, and recording the successful experiments at www.malabartearoom.com. When not tinkering about in the kitchen, she can be found reading up on possible Game of Thrones theories that will bring back Jon Snow.

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10 Reviews

Laura415
Laura415 January 15, 2016
Interesting sounding recipe. I hope you will answer the question of whether the jalapenos are pickled/canned or fresh. I have a bunch of homemade pickled jalapenos that I want to do something with. If you use pickled ones in the recipe that would be great. I also wonder how it would work if you just chopped them up into the batter and fried the batter. That's probably a different recipe tho:)
 
Aysha |.
Aysha |. January 15, 2016
Hi! Traditionally we use fresh jalapeños. But I can't see why pickled ones wouldn't work? I would pick the firmest ones, rinse them, and go about it exactly the same way as I would with the fresh ones. Let me know how they turn out!
 
Laura415
Laura415 January 17, 2016
Will do. Now that you say they are fresh jalapenos I understand that we are rinsing out the seeds and core that is super hot. Thanks
 
caniacwino
caniacwino January 11, 2016
Sounds awesome - quick question on the jalapeños. You state to "drain them". Are they pickled or fresh?
 
Aysha |.
Aysha |. January 15, 2016
Hello! Fresh!
 
Sharon B.
Sharon B. January 10, 2016
These sound delectable, but I'm not sure what "gram flour" is. Is that a typo, or a specific type of grain?

Thanks!
 
Christine H.
Christine H. January 10, 2016
Gram flour is chickpea flour. Can be found at any Indian grocery store
 
Sharon B.
Sharon B. January 11, 2016
Thank you, Christine! I went a-googling and learned a lot about both this dish and chickpea a/k/a besan a/k/a gram flour ...

Also, many of the recipes I ended up reading call for banana peppers, so that would be an option if jalapeños are in short supply, or if you just happen to prefer that variety.

One other thing I learned is that gram flour is used in some areas of India as a base ingredient for a facial treatment; faithful use will supposedly lighten your skin pigment!
 
S. R.
S. R. March 4, 2015
You had me at mint chutney! I made this last night it was hit. My brother has already requested it for the next family gathering. My only issue with this recipe is I have never fried food before what do I do with the oil. I know its a dumb question but I finally worked up the courage to ask..
 
Aysha |.
Aysha |. March 11, 2015
I'm so sorry for the delayed response! I hope you didn't throw it away! And no, not a stupid question at all- basically what we do in our household is reuse the oil in when making curries. you can use the oil for pretty much anything that doesn't require much frying. I hope that helps. I'm so glad your family enjoyed the the bajji!