Habanero Fritters like served at Salvador Molly's in Portland, OR

[KaponE]

I've searched the web for a recipe for habanero cheese fritters like they serve at Salvador Molly's in Portland, but all I could find was pineapple habanero fritters......if anyone has a recipe for these fireballs, I'd love to take a crack at them!

Thanks......Scottie in Humboldt County, CA

[KaponE]

Thanks for doing the homework on this one for us, Elric! I'll give those a shot sometime soon!

[lgarn]

Hi, Has anyone figured out how to make these yet?

[lgarn]

thanks so much for the input.

[Elric]

Ok, I've been working on this one for a few days... the best I can do is give the info as I see it from Man Vs,. Food. There is a total of a little over 10 lbs of habaneros in "a batch" of the fritters and the salsa. That translates into 5 lbs for the fritters, and 5 for the salsa, but we don't know for sure how big a "batch" is.....It looks like the base is a standard fritter mix, and the spices in the bowl they showed looked like 1/4 c sugar, 1/4 ground black pepper, 1/4 garlic powder and 1 tbs or so of cumin.

Based on a basic fritter recipe I found on Cooks.com, 1/4 c of sugar is used for Apple fritters with a basic recipe. That being said, I THINK I can give you the basic recipe but the amount of habaneros is in question...

1 c. sifted flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
2 eggs
1/2 c. milk
1 tbsp. melted butter
1/4 c. sugar
1/4 c. ground black pepper
1/4 Garlic powder
1 Tbs cumin
onion- qty unknown
fresh habaneros (quantity unknown)
The cheese is a grated cheddar motz mix, qty unknown

Put all of the ingredients in a food processor until peppers are well ground and ingredients are well mixed.

Drop by ice cream scoop into 375 degree hot fat, and cook until golden brown.

As I have not had the chance to try the originals, someone will have to let me know if this is at all close.

[Elric]

Ok, I made these tonight, and I'm pretty happy with the results, but again I have no idea if they are like the originals. I will say they are HOT!!! And I haven't tried to duplicate the salsa yet.

The recipe above needed to be modified as follows:

Use 1 tsp salt instead of the 1/2 tsp listed above.

Use 2 Tbsp black pepper, and add 2 Tbsp Rosemarry.

Use 1 Medium onion. I ran mine through a Magic Bullet prior to adding it to the mix.

After rewatching the Man Vs Food episode, and reading a few more articles on the originals, I used 30 Habaneros. Aside from making sure the stims are off and they are washed, do not de-seed it for full potency.

We used 2 cups of Motz and 1/2 cup of sharp cheddar.

Please let me know what you think.

[c oliver]

30 Habaneros???????????????? Is this a typo? Are you writing this from the burn unit? Holy shit!

[Elric]

I was starting to think so! :-) One of the articles I read about when they make these for a yearly fundraiser says that it averages out to 2 habaneros per fritter, which works outs right, because the batch above makes about 15 ice cream scoop sized...

My brother, which loves hot foods, says that this was the hottest thing he thinks he has ever eaten!

Again, I would love feedback from anyone else trying out my recipe, especially if you have had the originals.

[c oliver]

BTW, welcome to CH. I'm not using 30 Habaneros in anything but I do want to make these fritters.

[Elric]

Yeah, about 10 would be a good flavor and not too hot, but you'll have to play with the quantities to keep the consistancy right. My goal was simply to recreate the original food challange... which is seriously hot!

[Perilagu Khan]

Elric, you're my kinda dude. That sounds like one bodacious recipe.

[alwhorley]

Good recipe, I required more flour to get a proper batter and I used buttermilk. My better half says that if this was the challenge on MvF, she could do it a couple times in an evening... ;)
al

[Elric]

The buttermilk may have cooled your batter down a bit, but I'm glad you liked it.

Now I have to figure out where to get some Ghost Chilis for my next bit of torture.

[paulbinoc]

Thank you for putting this together. I made a double batch for Cinco di Mayo with the following changes. As a double batch, I only used 30 Habaneros (I did not want to kill everyone at work). Instead of Milk, I used Coconut Milk. This gave it an underlying sweetness. I thought I would have a bunched left over by days end, but they were gone by 10 AM!!! Will be making again for parties.

[mommyof4]

This recipe is the bomb! They were amazing. I halfed the recipe with 15 unseeded habaneros.....you could feel the heat, but not horrible. I followed the recipe to a T....perfect!

[Peteb370]

This may be an old post, but THANK YOU for the great start. I live in Portland and love these fireballs. I followed the recipe to a T and to be honest... Molly's gets 10 times hotter... I'm not kidding, 30 peppers didn't quite hit the heat mark. I would suggest condensing the recipe down by half or near tripling the amount of peppers. I know it's a ton but we're talking serious heat. The sauce is also the killer part as it's made up of the pepper as well, and it's hotter to taste than the fritters alone. The rest of the recipe hits the mark though. Molly's have a nice cheesiness that this recipe seems to replicate well. I would definately suggest double frying them.

[Elric]

I just did a little bit more research on this one...the numbers are incredible but here they are...

According to a food yield book I just checked, there should be an average of 42 to 52 Habaneros per pound. If the batter is supposed to be 5 lbs, you're looking at 210 to 260 peppers.....

[Aralim]

Awesome!!! Great Job. Has anyone managed to replicate the salsa yet??

[Elric]

It's been a hectic year, I'm afraid. I am planning on trying to tackle the salsa in the next few days.

[DiveFan]

OK, I'm in. Let's try to re-engineer them.

What kind of batter (rice, corn, etc)?
Were the habaneros fresh (minced) or dried (powder in batter)?
What kind of cheese?

[Botch]

Hell, I'd go for the indian pakoras as a base, since those are often made with peppers, and are crispy as can be
-garbanzo bean flour (Gram flour, besan, other names)
-beer or sparkiling water, enough to make the flour into the consistancy of pancake batter
-habaneros to taste, seeded, roasted and minced.
-salt
-cheese? I'd skip the cheese, but use mozzarella if I was going to use some for the texture/mild flavor. Or smoked mozzarella.

mix up, get oil to 350F, tablespoons of batter dropped in, eat fast or double-fry for extra crispness. To double fry, remove and drain, then fry again right before serving at the same temperature for extra crispness.

Serve on dry shredded lettuce or cabbage

And then you need a dipping sauce, hmm, mayo/cilantro/lime juice/sugar comes to mind, and maybe some bbq sauce next to that.

[c oliver]

I'm not an innovator in the kitchen. Could you venture some amounts/proportions please?

[DiveFan]

Since I have some besan, I will be trying this soon.
In the meantime, I'd start with:
- 1 c besan
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup sharp cheddar, shredded
- enough liquid, as described
The only ? is the qty of habanero chile. Start with One chile and remove the seeds AND pith. If you like chile heat, they aren't really that hot if prepped this way.
WARNING - after mincing habaneros, wash hands thoroughly, at least twice, consider wearing gloves. Burns on sensitive body parts are much worse than any eating experience.

[c oliver]

Come on, somebody. What about you, Fritter??? These sounds great!

[Fritter]

I've never had a habanero fritter but dang it sounds good! I think if the OP gives us some details we could get pretty close.
Are these the fritters from Man Vs Food? There's like ten pounds of Habanero's in a batch of their batter. LOL