Makes 4

You’ll find street food sellers offering these Piment Frire (Chilli Poppers) all over Mauritius. These deliciously hot snacks are perfect to eat on the go or you can eat them with a chutney or pickle of your choice. For tuna-stuffed chilli poppers see Piment Farci au Thon.

What you need…
• 4 large chilli peppers (you can cut a small slit and empty out the seeds if you don’t like them too hot)
• Cold water
• Salt
• 100g self-raising flour
• 50g gram flour (this is chickpea flour, also called besan flour)
• 8 Tablespoons oil

How to make it…
1. Soak the peppers in the water with a pinch of salt for 10 minutes. Dry them and set aside.
2. Mix the self-raising flour and besan flour with a pinch of salt and enough water to create a thick paste.
3. Dip the peppers in the flour batter so they are all well coated.
4. Heat the oil in a shallow pan to a high heat and, using a slotted spoon, drop the chilli peppers into the oil until they turn a deep yellow and the batter is fully fried (about 2–3 minutes). Turn the peppers while they are frying to ensure they are evenly cooked. Depending on the size of your pan you may need to cook these in a couple of batches.
5. The chillies are obviously very hot when they come out of the oil so allow them to cool slightly before eating!

If you like this you should try our…
Sag Paneer • Chilli Paneer • Butter Chicken • Butter Paneer • Prawn Korma • Medium Chicken Curry • Chicken Madras • Chicken Vindaloo • Chicken Bhoona • Chicken Dopiaza

The large chilli asks his friend “why are you shaking?” “Because I’m a litle chilli,” comes the reply