Bell Pepper Bullets

Senagapappu Capsicum Pakodi.

Chana dal is soaked and ground into thick coarse paste along with some spices. Bell pepper or capsicum is chopped into big chunks and stuffed inside the ground chana dal mixture. They are then deep fried or shallow fried until light golden brown in color. Serve fried bell pepper cubes with pickle rice or with tea.
Makes: around 3 Servings of Bell Pepper Bullets.

Ingredients:

• Green Bell Pepper 1
• Chana Dal 1 Cup
• Ginger 1 inch Piece
• Green Chiles 3 – 5
• Salt to taste
• Oil 1 tbsp

Method of preparation:

Soak chana dal in fresh water for 4 to 6 hours.
Wash, remove stem, discard seeds and chop bell pepper into big chunks.
Remove stems, wash and roughly chop green chiles.
Peel and roughly chop the ginger.
Grind ginger and green chiles into coarse paste.

Grind the soaked chana dal into somewhat coarse mixture by adding the least amount of water.
Mix together ground chana dal, ginger green chile paste and salt.
Take around a tbsp of the ground chana dal mixture into one hand and wrap it around the bell pepper chunk.
Repeat the same with remaining bell pepper chunks.

Heat a pan on medium flame, pour oil.
Slowly place all the prepared bell pepper cubes on the hot pan.
Make sure to fry the bell pepper in low – medium flame in order to let the bell pepper cook properly.
Let one side of the bell pepper cube change to golden brown in color before turning on other side.
Once all the bell pepper cubes are light golden brown in color, remove onto absorbent paper.
Serve bell pepper bullets as a tea time snack.
Notes: You can also deep fry the bell pepper cubes if you wish.

Suggestions: If the chana dal mixture is not thick which happens when you add more water while grinding, it doesn’t adhere to the bell pepper properly. In such case, add a tbsp of rice flour to the mixture to tighten it up.
Variations: Also add few pinches of garam masala, chopped cilantro etc to the chana dal mixture.
Other Names: Senagapappu Capsicum Pakodi, Fried Bell Pepper Cubes, Bell Pepper Bullets.