It’s a brrrrr, wet and cold day in Durban, South Africa and kicking off my morning, I decided to make my home-made chilli bites mixture using a different variation of ingredients which I don’t usually use as I didn’t have enough gram flour (pea flour), but the results are equally successful, it’s very delicious, a not oily chillie bite, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.
Ingredients
1 cup of Self Raising flour (previously I only use Gram flour/pea flour with some baking powder)
½ cup gram (pea) flour
Salt as needed
50g Osmans pickle masala or any brand (this is a new ingredient that I used today)
Teaspoon turmeric
Teaspoon of cumin seeds (jeera)
chopped green/red chillies as needed
¼ cup coarsely chopped curry leaves
¼ cup freshly chopped parsley
¼ cup freshly chopped mint
¼ cup freshly chopped coriander leaves
¼ cup chopped green spring onions (shallots)
½ cup chopped or diced onions
Sufficient water to make a thick batter.
Oil for deep-frying
Paper towel for absorbing oil/draining
NOTE: All vegetables must be washed and chopped/dice. I prefer coarsely or chunky cut herbs as too finely chopped “disappears” in the chilli bite mixture once fried up and you barely can taste the greens in the chillie bites.
Method
In a deep bowl, mix all the dry ingredients together.
Add in the chopped vegetables. Mix well.
Pour cold water into the dry ingredients and mix into a thick batter.
You must be able to make a ball with your hands. If batter is too weak or runny, ADD in more Self Raising flour until you get the desired results.
A weak batter will soak in a lot more oil than a thick batter.
Fry chilli bites in a deep oil making sure that the oil is NOT boiling hot where it burns or browns quickly on the outside and the inside is not cooked.
It must be moderately hot temperature.
Drain on an absorbent paper towel.
Garnish with either parsley, spring onions, coriander or lettuce leaves.
Serve with your favourite dip/sauce
I served it with some tomato sauce and a drizzle of peri peri sauce and a sprinkle of masala.
That is all folks! ENJOY!!
Prepared, tried and tested by: Sandy Harrod
