Updated: October 9, 2011
I made these again this week and I wanted to update the picture. The one below is not any reflection of how yummy they were. I’ve updated the recipe too. I think I had a typo for the cayenne pepper because it was way too much. The jalapenos from my garden were very small and this recipe makes enough for about 22 small jalapenos
I know…I know…my picture for these sucks. This is what happens during Iftar time. There is no time to take good pictures. I wanted them to be done right when it was time to break our fast so they would be nice and hot. On top of it Bilal was running around, tripped and landed on his face. He started crying so I had to drop everything and make sure he was okay. By that time it was time to break our fast so picture taking time was over.
It is so hard do anything when Bilal is awake. He is constantly climbing on the sofa and starts jumping up and down. I’m always so scared he is going to fall and get hurt. But I had to post this recipe despite the horrible picture. These were so good. I had planted jalapenos in the backyard. Hasan and I had picked a bunch in the afternoon. I thought it would be a great idea to try Jalapeno Poppers. I Googled some recipes and I didn’t have all the ingredients for any of them so I came up with this.
I made a simple dipping sauce of sour cream and barbeque sauce that went great with these. Although we couldn’t really dip them because they were so many breadcrumbs on top. So we just spooned it on top. My jalapenos were quite small so they were actually bite-sized. If you have regular sized jalapenos you will need less than 12.
I had too many bread crumbs which made them very fragile. Next time I would reduce it to 1/2 cup. When you are seeding the jalapenos make sure you wear a glove. I didn’t have any so I improvised and used a Ziploc bag.
Baked Jalapeno Poppers
22 12 small jalapenos (mine were very small)
2/3 1/3 cup light cream cheese, softened (I had spinach flavored but plain is fine)
1/2 1/4 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
1/8 cup chopped chives (I had a little more than this) – optional
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp cayenne
1/2 3/4 cup panko bread crumbs (next time I’m going to reduce this to 1/2 cup)
2 tbsp canola oil
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp chilli powder (this is not lal mirchi, it’s what you get in the regular grocery store labelled chilli powder)
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
In a bowl, combine the cream cheese, cheddar cheese, chives, cumin and cayenne pepper.
In a separate bowl, combine the panko bread crumbs, oil, paprika, chilli powder, salt and pepper.
Slice each jalapeno in half and remove the seeds and rib (make sure to wear a glove when doing this). Fill each half with cream cheese filling. Dip in the bread crumb mixture, turn over and pat on as much bread crumbs as you can. Place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. You can make ahead at this point and keep in the fridge until you are ready to bake.
Preheat over to 350 F and bake the poppers for 20-25 minutes.
Dipping Sauce
1/2 cup light sour cream
2 tsp barbeque sauce
Mix sour cream and barbeque sauce together. Keep in fridge until poppers are ready to serve.
