Jalapeno Poppers

I’m baaaack! After taking a little break from not just posting, but also the internet, I’m back with something super cool and fun for this spooky season. In collaboration with The Social Pill and Everything on a Plate, I am releasing 4 different recipes to help you prep for the ultimate Halloween dinner. Whether it’s just you and a few friends watching scary movies all night, or you and significant other having a little dinner date. These recipes are super simple and easy to do.

First up we have these jalapeno poppers! The only truly tricky part here is the pastry that you wrap around the popper. What I’ve used here is a form of rough puff pastry, different from the one I used for my savoury pie. The process is a little long and tedious, so beware. But the taste, in the end, is totally worth it so who cares.

For the poppers:

Jalapenos
Cream Cheese
Feta
Googly Eyes
Egg

For the rough puff pastry:

100g Butter
200g Flour
100g Ice water

Since the pastry is going to take you the longest, I recommend starting that first.

In a bowl mix together cold cubes of butter with the flour. Using the tips of your fingers, start bringing the butter and flour together. Make sure not to let the butter melt too much. It completely ok if your dough has lumps of butter in it. We want that. So please don’t start breaking them apart. Slowly add the ice water to the mixture, and really start bringing the dough together. Don’t add all the water in at once. Do it in parts and add as and when needed. If you feel like your dough doesn’t require all the water, don’t add all of it.

Form the dough into a ball and allow it to rest for at least an hour if not more.

Post that, roll out the dough to form a rectangle. If you can see ribbons of pure butter in your dough, you’re right on the mark so don’t sweat. Once shaped, fold one side over to the center and follow with the other. Essentially the two sides should overlap. Allow the dough to rest for another 45 minutes and then repeat the process. The more you roll and fold the dough, the more the butter will spread and form layers.

I did this twice, allowing to rest for an hour in between.

While the dough rests, slice and deseed the jalapenos. I deseeded them using a spoon, but a sharp knife works just as well. If you don’t get fresh jalapenos in your area, which could be the case for a lot of you’ll, you can use the super big green chillies our mums use to make mirchi ka salan.

In a bowl mix the feta and cream cheese until smooth. Again if you cant get feta or cream cheese, use just some simple cheese spread. It won’t taste the same, but it’ll still taste amazing. I mixed in some oregano and pepper into the mixture to add some flavour.

Pipe the cheese filling into the jalapenos. If you feel using a spoon is easier to fill the jalapenos, do that. Personally, I found the piping bag the easiest way. Once filled, place in the fridge for the cheese to set.

Post your final roll-fold-rest with the dough, roll out the rough puff until about 2 mm thick. Using a very sharp knife cut out long strips, and very gently wrap around the jalapenos. You could it back in the fridge so that it retains the shape, but it’s up to you.