Fave Five Snacks - 1 and 2. Mirchi Bajjis and Spicy puffed Rice

Rainy evenings and mirchi bajjis go hand in hand. This post is two birds in one shot. Two snack recipes for my Favourite Five series. Spicy Puffedrice/Karam borugulu and Mirchi Bajjis sit right in the top one and two slots of my Favourite snacks. Nothing like hot spicy mirchi bajjis on a rainy evening. Yesterday was an extremely wet day in LosAngeles. It rained non-stop. And all I could think of was mirchi bajjis the whole day. They actually popped up on my monitor at work!!!!!! The only way I could get them off my mind was to make and EAT them. :) In most of rayalaseema households mirchi bajjis and some kind of puffed rice/borugulu/maramaralu are spoken in the same breath. It could be plain puffed rice, Uggani or Spicy Puffedrice/Karam borugulu. We were in a mood for Karam borugulu. That’s what we had on a gloomy rainy evening. Ingredients for Bajji Yellow Chilli pepper - 6 Besan/Senaga pindi - 1.5 cups Jeera/Cummin seeds - 1 Tea spoon Onion- Chopped into small pieces Lemon wedges Salt to taste. Oil for deep frying. Method Heat one tea spoon oil in a pan. Add 2 table spoons of besan and crushed jeera and let them fry till the mixture is nice and brown. Slit the mirchis and deseed if you think its going to too hot. Else you leave the seeds in for the kick. Use the mixture for stuffing the mirchis. Add a little salt to besan and mix it with water. It should not be too watery nor too hard. The mixture should be thick enough to be able to drop in dollops. Heat the oil in a pan. Coat the mirchis well with besan and deep fry. Cool a little. Make a slit in the center. Stuff onions into it. Add few drops of lemon. Take a bite and you are sure to forget the gloomy weather. :):). Ingredients for Karam Borugulu puffed rice/borugulu/maramaralu. Peanuts Curry leaves Veinchina senagapappu/Dalia Karam/Redchilli Powder Chopped Garlic -Optional Salt Oil Method Heat oil in a pan. Add garlic and curry leaves. Add peanuts and let them fry. Add dalia and fry for few more minutes. Add salt and chilli powder and Immediately add puffed rice. Chilli powder will burn if you let it stay long. Mix well and enjoy with bajjis or just as is.