Stuffed battered chillies and chilli cheese toasties: Maunika Gowardhan’s favourite Holi snacks – recipes

Celebrate Holi, the festival of colours and the arrival of spring, with sumptuous, delicious and addictive snacks. The bharwa mirchi pakode ki chaat is full of flavour and topped with tamarind, green chutney and chaat masala. Alongside it, a street-food favourite from my home town of Mumbai: the classic chilli cheese toastie stuffed with potato, peppers and green chutney. Both are the sort of dishes you can eat at any time of day, and the unifying ingredient is the humble potato, which I feel is the backbone of Indian cooking, be it in curries, stir-fries, flatbreads, snacks and even raitas.

Bombay chilli cheese toastie (pictured top)

I’d happily eat this delicious street-food classic on any day of the week. It can be made with a variety of fillings, and each stall will have its own range of vegetables, cheese and spices to pile into white bread and toast. The ratio of potato filling to bread is really important, because you don’t want to overfill the toastie, while I always butter both sides of the bread, because that ensures it goes crisp and golden brown when fried. You also need a really good melting cheese.

Prep 15 min
Cook 20 min
Serves 4

300g boiled potatoes, peeled and crushed
1 tsp chaat masala
1 pinch ground black pepper
¼ tsp black salt
150g green pepper, stalk, seeds and pith removed and discarded, flesh finely chopped
100g finely chopped red onion
8 slices white bread, crusts trimmed off
Softened butter
250g Jarlsberg, thinly sliced

For the green chutney
200g mint leaves
100g coriander leaves
Juice of ½ lemon
1 green bird’s-eye chilli, or 2 if you like things spicy
30g roughly chopped red onion
1⅓cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
½ tsp caster sugar
Salt, to taste

Put all the ingredients for the chutney in a blender, add a splash of water and blitz to a thick paste. This may make more chutney than you need here, but any leftovers keep well in the fridge for three or four days, and go with all sorts.

In a large bowl, mix the crushed boiled potatoes with the chaat masala, black pepper and salt. Add the green peppers and red onion, and stir well to combine.

Lay four of the bread slices on a large plate and apply butter generously to one side of each slice. Spread a little of the green chutney on top of two slices, then spread the potato filling over the other two slices and top the potato filling with a slice or two of the cheese. Lay the first two slices of bread chutney-side down on top of the cheese, then press down lightly to seal. Spread butter on both sides of the outside of the sandwiches, then repeat with the remaining bread, butter, chutney, spiced potato mix and cheese.

Put a large, nonstick frying pan on a medium heat, then lay in two sandwiches, cover with a lid and leave to fry for two minutes, until the base turns crisp, is evenly coloured and light brown. Flip over with a spatula, cover again and fry on the other side for two minutes more. Cook the remaining two toasties in the same way, and serve warm with any remaining chutney or with tomato ketchup.

Bharwa mirchi pakode ki chaat

Maunika Gowardhan’s bharwa mirchi pakode ki chaat, or spiced potato-stuffed chillies.

AKA spiced potatoes stuffed into mild chillies, battered and fried until crisp. I prefer using small mild chillies, which are perfect for stuffing. Don’t overfill them, though, otherwise they might split while frying. If you’re making your own chutneys, bear in mind that tamarind paste can vary hugely in taste, so, depending on how tangy it is, adjust the amount accordingly to balance the sweet and tart flavours in the tamarind chutney.

Prep 15 min
Chill 20 min+
Cook 30 min
Serves 4 as a snack

8 small to medium mild green chillies (about 25g each), anaheim or similar
Oil, for deep frying

For the filling
350g boiled potatoes, peeled and crushed
½ tsp carom seeds (ajwain)
2 tsp mint chutney, or 1 tbsp finely chopped fresh mint and coriander
1 green bird’s eye chilli, stalk removed and discarded, the rest finely chopped
2½cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
¼ tsp kashmiri chilli powder
Salt, to taste

For the batter
100g chickpea flour
3 tbsp semolina
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp turmeric powder
Salt, to taste

For the tamarind chutney
40g tamarind paste
100g caster sugar
¼ tsp powdered ginger
¼ tsp kashmiri chilli powder
¼ tsp cumin seeds, toasted and coarsely crushed
1 pinch sea salt

For the mint and coriander chutney
50g cashew nuts
50g coriander, leaves and tender stems
40g mint leaves
1⅓cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
1 small bird’s-eye chilli
1 tsp sugar
Juice of 1 lime
Salt, to taste

To serve
Mint chutney, shop-bought or homemade (see above and method)
Tamarind chutney, shop-bought or homemade (see above and method)
150g plain yoghurt, whisked lightly
Chaat masala powder
1 handful fresh coriander, leaves and soft stems, finely chopped

First, make the two chutneys, if using. Put all the ingredients for the tamarind chutney in a blender, add 90ml cold water, then blitz to a runny pouring consistency. Adjust to taste, then refrigerate until needed.

Soak the cashew nuts for the mint chutney in warm water for 20-30 minutes, then put all the ingredients including the cashew nuts and some of their soaking water in a blender. Blitz to a smooth fine paste – if need be, blend in a little more water so it’s slightly runny. Adjust to taste, then refrigerate until needed.

Now to stuff the chillies. Slit open the mild chillies lengthways, then remove and discard the pith and seeds, making sure to keep them intact. Mix all the filling ingredients in a large bowl, then stuff the mix into the chillies (don’t overstuff them) and chill in the fridge for 20 or so minutes, to firm up.

In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients for the batter, then, whisking all the time to make sure there are no lumps, slowly beat in 140ml cold water until the batter is the consistency of double cream.

Heat the frying oil in a kadhai or small saucepan on a medium-high heat – add a drop of the batter to check it’s hot enough: it’s ready if it sizzles and floats to the surface. Dip each stuffed chilli pepper in the batter to coat, then carefully lower into the hot oil and deep-fry for about five minutes in total, until golden brown all over. Lift out with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper.

Serve warm topped with a drizzle each of tamarind and mint chutney, followed by a couple of tablespoons of yoghurt, a sprinkling of chaat masala powder and some chopped fresh coriander.

• Maunika Gowardhan is a cook and food writer. Her most recent book, Curry: Recipes from Indian Home Kitchens, is published by Quadrille at £25. To order a copy for £22.50, go to guardianbookshop.com