JALAPENO POPPERS

Just love love love these guys, gorgeous peppery crunch from the fresh jalapeño followed by the glorious warm, slightly sour cream cheese finished off with that naughty indulgement of a fired crispy panko coating, when ever I make a batch of these my family moan I don't makes them often enough, but the reason for that is they woof a batch of fifty down like there is no tomorrow! 

Prep time 20 minutes / Cooking time 3 minutes per batch of 6 x 4=12 minutes

Ingredients

(Makes 24)

12 fresh jalapeños 

300g tub of philadelphia cream cheese

300g panko breadcrumbs in a bowl

2 beaten eggs in a bowl

200g salt and pepper seasoned flour in a bowl

1 ltr organic rapeseed or nut oil

Line up your three bowls in order of eggs, flour and breadcrumbs, next cut all your jalapeños in half and de-seed, using a tea spoon scoop up some cream cheese and stuff as much as you can in each jalapeño half, next roll each jalapeño in the beaten egg and then in the seasoned flour, gently dust off any excess flour and place on a plate then pop in the fridge to dry and firm up for at least 30 minutes, not totally essential, but this helps hold a thicker layer of panko.  Helpful hint keep one hand for wet ingredients and one had for the dry ingredients.

Once your stuffed and rolled poppers have chilled, place a deep pan on the hob, fill with the oil and bring up to 180-190 degrees, meanwhile take your poppers from the fridge and give them their final coating, roll the chilled jalapeños in the egg wash and then in the panko breadcrumbs, place on a plate ready to fry.

Drop 4-6 poppers or however many your deep frying pan will hold, into the hot oil and cook for around 3 minutes or until lightly golden, if you over cook these you run the risk of the cheese bursting out.  Once cooked remove from the oil and drain on kitchen towel, cook the rest, these are best served fresh and warm, I cannot tell you how they taste cold as in my home these don't get the chance!