Finger chilies are split open, stuffed with cheese, wrapped like spring rolls, dipped in egg, dredged in flour and fried. Serve these cheese-stuffed chili spring rolls as a snack or finger food.
I won’t associate it with any cuisine. It’s Asian because spring rolls are Asian, but stuffing chilies with cheese is not traditionally Asian. Perhaps, these spring rolls can be labeled as modern Asian. Or fusion. The truth is, who really cares? They are deliriously good and that’s what should matter.
A tip: What’s crucial here is that the cheese does not soften too fast during frying. You want it soft and gooey when you bite into a spring roll, so you don’t want it to ooze out of the wrapper while still in the frying pan.
It is, therefore, important to seal the cheese-stuffed chili well. I have a special technique, it’s described in the recipe, but it helps if you start with the right length of chilies vis a vis the size of the wrapper. Ideally, the length of the chilies should be such that they can be wrapped with half of a spring roll wrapper. If the chilies are longer, cut off the bottoms.
Cheese-stuffed Chili Spring Rolls
Recipe by
Ingredients
- 6 finger chilies
- enough cheese to stuff the chilies
- salt
- 3 spring roll wrappers each cut into halves
- 1 egg beaten
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour or corn starch
- 1 ½ cups cooking oil for frying
Instructions
- Rinse the chilies and pat dry with a kitchen towel.
- Slit each chili vertically to create a pocket.
- Using a teaspoon or a blunt knife with a round tip, carefully scrape out the seeds and membranes.
- Sprinkle the inside of the chilies lightly with salt.
- Cut the cheese into bars small enough to fit snugly inside the chilies.
- Stuff the cheese into the chilies. Be generous.
- Start heating the cooking oil in a frying pan.
- Lay a cheese-stuffed chili on a triangle of spring roll wrapper and wrap (see guide).
- Dip each spring roll in the beaten egg. Pick up the spring roll by the stem of the chili and while it is upright, scoop a little egg with a teaspoon and pour into the open top of the wrapper. That’s the first step in sealing the cheese.
- Dredge the spring rolls in flour or starch. Again, holding a spring roll by the stem of the chili, sprinkle flour into the open top of the wrapper. You have now sealed in the cheese.
- Fry the spring rolls in hot oil (350F is the ideal frying temperature if you use a thermometer — I don’t) until golden and crisp.
- Serve the cheese-stuffed chili spring rolls at once.
