It's been just over 3 years since I left uni. THREE YEARS. I miss being a student, I miss staying in my pyjamas all day (who am I kidding, I still do that) and I miss my beautiful housemates. If there's any food that reminds me of uni it has to be jalapeño poppers. I used to live in a student area called the Polygon and pretty much every time we went for a night out, we walked down a road called Bedford Place, which was basically a road of takeaways, a few shops and a few bars. Every trip down this road after a night out ended with jalapeño poppers, they were the perfect antidote for the drunken munchies (I remember my house mate Annie crying once because someone stole hers). I don't think I've had them since I've been back home, because I never go out and I don't drink any more. But when the lovely people at Manomasa sent me some of their tortilla chips to try I knew exactly what to do with them! I used the Chipotle and Lime chips because they are a little bit spicy, a little bit smoky and totally delicious. They say that their chips are 'a delicious blend of Guajillo chili and sweet bell peppers, finished with rich, smoky chipotle chili and the fresh zing of lime'. Perfect for wrapping around fresh jalapeños and cream cheese.
Ingredients:
Makes 16
100g Manomasa Chipotle and Lime tortilla chips
170g cream cheese
100g grated cheese (I used a mix of Monterey Jack, mozzarella, cheddar and edam, but any cheddary cheese is fine)
8 jalapeño peppers
150 ml milk
50g plain flour
Lots of vegetable oil for either a deep fat fryer or heavy based pan
1. Start by blitzing the tortilla chips in a food processor, until they resemble bread crumbs, then pop in to a bowl.
2. Cut the stalks off of the jalapeños, slice length ways then scrape all of the seeds out in to a bowl (be careful not to get it all over your hands/in your eyes/on your boyfriends face or wear gloves) and pop them on to a chopping board.
3. Tip the cream cheese and grated cheese in to a bowl and mix up well, then fill your jalapeño halves with the mixture.
4. Put the milk in to one bowl and flour in to another, the start dipping the jalapeños in to the milk, then the flour, one by one, making sure they are well coated, then tap off any excess flour and pop back on to the chopping board.
5. Once all of the jalapeños are coated with flour, dip them back in to the milk, covering the whole thing, then roll it in the tortilla crumbs until it is completely covered. Repeat until they are all coated.
6. Turn your deep fat fryer on to 170 degrees, or heat your oil in a heavy based pan until it reaches 170 degrees, then fry the poppers for a couple of minutes, until golden brown.
7. Carefully remove them from the hot oil and place on a plate covered with kitchen roll to drain the excess oil.
8. Once slightly cooled, enjoy! You can also reheat them in the oven.
