So this is my first "fusion" recipe on this blog, even though this is not the first in my kitchen. My family has had to be at the receiving end of such experiments, many times. The experiments range from pretty simple and obvious to the not-so-common, and so far, my family, let's say, are still among the living. :)
Anyway. the bigger item in the picture above is the armadillo egg. The smaller one is regular jalapeno poppers --a variety of recipes for which are on the internet. I will post links to some at the end of this. We are focusing on the armadillo eggs here. On Guy Fieri's Triple D, -- ya, again -- I saw this Texas eatery serving huge armadillo eggs which had brisket meat as an ingredient. They used pickled jalapenos, and did not use any cheese, if I remember right. Since we like things hot, fresh jalapenos is the way to go. In a recipe for poppers, Isaw sausage meat being used to cover up the jalapenos, with no breading, and they were baked. That sounded great too, btw. will post links. oh, there are a million versions out there -- grilled, bacon -wrapped, all sorts of add ons in the fillings..... . this is my version.
I used beef for stir fry. You can get away with ground beef.
Ingredients:
6 jalapenos, fresh
4 tbsp cream cheese
about a cup grated cheddar
1/2 lb beef -- stew meat, ground beef, stir fry meat -- doesn't matter
1/4 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp Kerala meat masala ( I use my mother's mix - garam masala is ok in a pinch, but there is a difference in taste -- if using "curry powder", it will be a completely different thing)
1/2 tsp red chili powder ( reduce to your preference)
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp black pepper, ground
1/2 cup boiled potatoes (optional) I had some handy, so I used it.
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup bread crumbs
salt
1 egg, beaten
oil to fry
Prepare the meat -- cut into pieces if in strips, clean. In a pot that goes on the stovetop, mix the beef with the cumin, meat masala, chili powder, garlic powder, black pepper, salt, . Pour enough water to cover the top of the meat. Now bring it to a boil. Lower heat and cover and cook. The meat should be tender when done.
While the meat is cooking, you can cook the potato, either in the microwave, or on the stove, if using potato.
Otherwise, start on the jalapenos. Cut each into half, lengthwise. Remove all the seeds. Be careful not to handle it too intimately or too rakishly-- will get burned. :)
Anyway, now fill each pepper cavity with cream cheese. Put some cheddar on top. Press lightly so that they all hang in there together. At this point, you can dredge these peppers in buttermilk, flour, buttermilk, bread crumbs, in that order. And you'll get jalapeno poppers. well, you could've added some paprika, cumin etc, even onion, to the cream cheese before , But we are not talking of poppers here, are we?
So while that meat is getting cooked, we can get ready the assembly line. The bowls of all purpose flour, buttermilk, breadcrumbs in a row.
Once the meat is cooked, put that in the food processor and process. If you have the potatoes, you may add it now and process some more.
Otherwise, wait for it to cool a little, add 2 tbsps of the beaten egg and mix well. You may add the remaining egg to the bowl of buttermilk.
The next steps are a bit messy. But they are worth it.
Cover the filled jalapeno half with the meat mixture. Carefully dredge in the flour.
Now into the buttermilk. Let it rest for a while. You can deal with the rest of the peppers at this time.
Now roll the buttermilk-dipped peppers in bread crumbs. The first two steps can be repeated once more before the bread crumb step. That will make everything hold together better. The second method, where we do it twice is better, but I get lazy sometimes.
Now deep fry in oil.
Serve warm.
recipes i would try:
for armadillo eggs: http://homesicktexan.blogspot.com/2011/02/armadillo-eggs-recipe-jalapeno.html
for jalapeno poppers: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/best-ever-jalapeno-poppers/
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