Serve these pakoras with a creamy garlicky dipping sauce (recipe included). I love ordering blistered shishito peppers at sushi restaurants. It is one of the most addictive things with a perfect balance of salty smoky and spicy. This summer, I tried making these shishito pepper fritters, on the lines of traditional mirchi pakora recipe - a super exciting and popular indian street food of chillis coated in batter and deep fried and viola, we are hooked! Shishito peppers are mild and I feel they are just perfect in this recipe. I can adjust the heat by adding more chilli flakes to the batter depending of whether my 9 year old (who btw loves them) is eating these or my husband. These pakoras will become a crowd favorite! These are crunchy on the outside and while they fry, the pepper plumps up resulting is a soft juicy center, an absolutely wonderful melange of textures to sink your teeth into!
What are Shishito Peppers?
Shishito are Japanese small mild peppers. They have a unique slender shape and are bright green in color. Overall,their flavor is sweet and smoky- they are hotter than bell peppers, however milder than jalapeños. One out of 10 peppers may turn out spicy, but largely they dont come hot and are a wonderful for making appetizers, salsas or here like me- pakoras! While buying, make sure that the pepper are bright green in color and are crisp- to -touch with spot free skins. Avoid if the peppers feel soft or are yellow colored.
About this recipe
Pakoras/Bhajia = Fritters. Pakoras are one of the most popular indian snack / street food and are made with vegetables, paneer as well as chicken or fish. To make pakoras, a spiced gluten free batter is made with besan or gram flour and then spices like turmeric, coriander seeds, cumin, red chilli powder etc are added to it. The pakora batter recipe differs from home to home in terms of spices and flavors that are added and it is easily customizable. Add chopped green chilies, ginger and garlic or herbs of choice if you wish. Here, for this shishito pepper recipe, I make a basic pakora batter with crunch of coriander and ajwain (carrot) seeds and pep it up with red chilli flakes. Since my mom always adds kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves), I add that too. Kasuri methi is a special flavorful dried herb that goes in many north indian dishes like butter chicken or tandoori chicken. However if you dont have it, skip it! I add a little bit of rice flour as well to make the fritters crunchy, semolina or cornmeal are other options if you dont have rice flour at hand. This recipe is
gluten free and plant basedeasy and needs few ingredients can be served in many different ways - pull out the stems and add to wraps or tacosSuper delicous & addictive!
Ingredients
Here are the ingredients you will need for this recipe :-
Shishito Peppers
For the Pakora Batter
Besan - Known as gram flour. You can substitute with fine ground chickpea pea flour if you cannot get besan. Rice Flour- Unsweetened, non glutinous. Or use semolina, cornmeal. Adding this makes the pakoras crispy. Spices - I use cumin powder, chilli flakes, red chilli powder, turmeric powder and coarsely ground coriander seeds and pinch of carrot seeds.Skip or add any spices you like. Herbs - I use fresh chopped cilantro and dried kasuri methi. Finely chopped chives, scallions or dill leaves will taste great too. Other Ingredients - Salt, Oil for deep frying.
For The Yogurt Dip
Plain greek yogurt, herbs of choice, Garlic, lemon Juice and salt
Instructions
Prepare the Shishito Peppers Thoroughly wash the peppers and dry them. I usually spread them on a kitchen towel and let air dry for an hour or so. You can dry by rubbing with paper or kitchen towel if you are in a hurry. Make The Pakora Batter In a bowl, add sifted gram flour. Add the spices and herbs. Slowly add water and whisk to make a ribbon consistency batter. The batter should be on the thickish side so that it coats the pepper well without sliding down. But, at the same time the coating should not be too thick else it will remain raw during frying. Cover and set aside for 5 minutes. Deep Fry the Pakoras
Dip the peppers one by one into the batter, move around to coat nicely, pick up and let excess batter drain for few seconds and carefully, drop into the hot oil. Fry on medium heat on both sides until the coating is browned and crispy. Sprinkle some seasoned salt or chaat masala on top and serve.
How To Make the Shishito Pepper Dipping sauce
In my opinion, these pair great with any kind of creamy sauce. i usually go for yogurt based. In a small blender jar, blitz together the roughly chopped garlic and herbs with 2-3 tablespoons of yogurt. Pour into a bowl and add the rest of the yogurt, salt and lemon juice. Pro Tip:- Just use a little bit of yogurt to aid in grinding the herbs and garlic. And then hand mix or whisk the rest of yogurt - this makes sure that the dip remains thick and creamy. Blitzing all of it together makes the yogurt watery.
Some Tips
Make sure that the peppers are dry before you dunk them in the batter. The batter coating should not be too thick or too thin. Too thick coating will not get cooked properly and absorb a lot of oil. Fry on medium heat. If you fry to too high, the peppers won’t get a chance to plump up. If you fry on very low heat, they will absorb oil. While frying, some of the peppers might pop, so be careful. This recipe will also work with any kind of mild peppers like padron or guindilla peppers. Dont leave out the batter for too long else the pakoras will start absorbing oil.
