Jalapeno Poppers

There are some dishes which you associate with your travel and later tend to be one of your favorites. I sampled Jalapeno Poppers during one of our travels to West Coast. The Poppers are traditionally Jalapeno Pepper stuffed with Monterey Jack Cheese or Cheddar cheese or Mozzarella cheese and rolled in a mix of Egg-Milk-Bread crumbs with 2-3 coatings of each. Stir fry or grill them. The taste is simply out of the world, though little high in calories. They are favorite snacks and bar foods and are crunchy owing to the crispy crust of Jalapenos. Jalapeno Poppers are popular in US as a Tex-Mex cuisine, primarily because they were born out of American food products which blended with the recipes inspired by Mexican cuisines.

Since Jalapenos are spicy in flavour, its best to first keep them soaked in a marinade of buttermilk and salt. This helps to soothe the flavours of spiced seeds and veins which are super hot. The Jalapeno I bought were super spicy so much that I could feel the heat in the air. I removed the kitchen gloves once I was done with the seed removal bit. My fingers had the burning tingling sensation for couple of hours. So beware, and never let you gloves rest till you are done. One could also experiment with different types of stuffing like onions, minced vegetables, et al.

Serves ~ 6-8 servings

Recipe source: Adapted from Epicurious with few changes

Ingredients:

Jalapeno Pepper - 6-8

Mozzarella Cheese - 6-8 teaspoon

Egg - 2-3

Pepper powder - 1/2 teaspoon

Buttermilk - 5 tablespoon

Salt - As per taste

Oil - For frying

Bread crumbs - 6-8 tablespoons

Oregano herb - 1/2 teaspoon

Method:

Wash the Pepper thoroughly and make a slit from the top to the bottom in a line (please wear kitchen gloves, I did that and was saved from burning fingers). Gently pull out the seeds, devein and scoop out the veins. Apply a marinade of buttermilk and salt and keep aside for 30 minutes.

Make a batter of beaten eggs, oregano, salt and pepper powder. Roll the Peppers in this mix and then in bread crumbs. Alternate and apply 3 coatings of both. Heat oil in a deep dish pan and fry one by one. Peppers fry quickly, so be on your feet to transfer them immediately to a paper towel to drain out oil and cool down. Serve hot with Hot Sauce and Ketchup.