Chilli Pickle – Spice Trails IV

Indian Style Chilli Pickle: Stuffed red chillis with aromatic Indian spices, marinated with mustard oil, which is scrumptiously with dal, curries, flatbread, rice and everything.

Change is hard!
It has been 2 weeks I have joined Harvard Business, and so far it has been ok; my co-workers are friendly and helpful. I am going to an uncountable number of lunches, breakfasts, gym classes with them; but getting used to the code base and working in a new environment are definitely challenging. My weekdays are so busy with work and Harvard assignments we are ordering take outs most of the days. I am trying to catch the Facebook posts of my friends, but it’s not that easy – so my fellow friends and lovers, please forgive me if I have not got a chance to comment on your post. I am trying my best, trust me.

Whenever I am getting a teeny weeny amount of time, I am trying to divert it towards creativity (my blog).

This coming Sunday, May 8^th is Mother’s day. I am not a good daughter, and I do nothing for my mom like sending cards, flowers or cake.

Although, she stays with me with at my highs and lows, she tells me the brutal truth about my life, she will tell me when I gain an inch around my waist, and she will research until one at night until she finds the best diet recipe which works for me. Whenever I argue with my husband, he says “Call and ask your mom what she thinks, as she is more rational than you.”

So, why don’t I do anything for her? Well, when I grew up, there was no mother’s day, father’s day, lover’s day – or any sort of day. And why the hell we need a day to thank the most important lady in our life? For a few years, I tried to send her flowers from “ferns and petals” and “Hallmark”. In hot and humid Kolkata, those flowers did not last long, and I could not continue doing that because that’s not who I am.

Do I not send card and flowers? Come-on, I am not a sociopath, I only send them such when I NEED to do that for a formality. My relation with ma is not a formality.  I learnt this chilli pickle recipe from her, and this is my way of celebrating mother’s day/week/year with her.

Since this January, I started a photographic project “Spice Trails” with Simi, Deeba and later Meeta joined us, where we photograph Indian Spices. Indian spices are aromatic and therapeutic. We can’t share the aroma with you, but we can definitely capture the gorgeous color and textures. When we captured “Chile” for the month of April, I could not stop sneezing (yep, right sneezing).

Here are 3 posts from previous months:

• Spice Trail I
• Spice Trail II
• Spice Trail III

Photographing chillis is quite fun but the sneezing came with it was uncountable. I am a chilli collector, and I collect chillis whichever country I visit. So when we went to Spain, I went overboard with buying chillis. These 4 chillis are from Spain.

I also use Turkish Chiles (heavily) with Turkish recipes like : Turkish Lamb and Bean Stew, and Red lentil soup.

None of my Indian recipes complete without 3 Indian chillis – Dried Whole Chilli, Chilli powder (Hot) and Kasmiri Chilli Powder (Sweet)

Besides that, pretty much all my soup, salad and every day recipes use Cayenne Pepper, and I occasionally use Mexican Chile Powder.

However, my chilli story does not end with this. I also use fresh green and red chillis in meat, vegetarian recipes, salad and what not. So, when we were shooting chillis last month, I learned a childhood favorite recipe of mine – chilli pickle. When I was kid, my uncle used to bring me chilli pickles from a local store. I got an stomach upset every time I ate that, but that did not stop me from gulping the chilli pickle. Here we get some chilli pickle from Dosa Factory with the same taste of my childhood pickle, but I get stomach upset with this too.

When I was discussing this pickle with ma, she expressed it’s quite simple to learn. So we went to Wegmans and bought all the possible chillis we could get. My husband got excited by hearing the word chilli pickle because he likes hot and spicy pickles. If you’re in India, making pickle is no big deal for you – but if you live in cold and gloomy east coast like us, it’s not that simple. However, this pickle turned out the best and most importantly, I got to taste my childhood memories without compromising my health. Isn’t that great?

Recipe for Chilli Pickle

Yields 20 red chillis

Use gloves for handling the chillis, if your hands are sensitive.

I have used sweet red chillies in this recipe, however, if you want your chilli pickle to be hot, use Fresno chillies.

Sanitizing of the jar: I have used apothecary jars, which I bought from Michaels. However, you can use any clean glass jar. Wash the glass jar with hot water. Dry it thoroughly with a cloth and paper towels. Set it aside until you prepare the pickle.

20 red chillis

Dry Grind

1 teaspoon whole fennel seeds

1 tablespoon whole fenugreek seeds

1 tablespoon whole cumin and coriander(cilantro) seeds

1/2 cup yellow mustard seeds

1/4 cup or more salt

1/4 cup dried mango powder (amchur powder)

1 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric

1 teaspoon carom seeds (ajwain)

1 cup mustard oil

1. Preparation of red chillis: Wash them thoroughly, after that dry them using paper Make sure there is no water left. Line them on a dry plate, making sure there is no water on the plate. Cut the green stem apart gently with a knife and scoop out all the flesh and seeds. Line them on the plate again until you prepare the rest.
2. In a non-stick skillet, over a medium-low heat, add fennel seeds, fenugreek seeds, whole cumin & coriander(cilantro) seeds, and yellow mustard seeds. Cook it for 2-3 minutes or until they splutter. Take it aside and cool it completely. In a coffee or spice grinder, add them and work it until smooth. Transfer it to do a dry mixing bowl.
3. Add salt, mango powder, ground turmeric and carom seeds to the same bowl. With a fork mix it well and set it aside.
4. In a small non-stick sauce pan over high heat, heat mustard oil for 3 to 4 minutes or until you see smokes coming out. Take it aside and cool it completely.
5. With a spoon add mustard oil slowly into the dry grind mixture making sure it forms a semi wet mixture. It won’t be super wet and you will only use 1/4 cup mustard oil or so.
6. Fill the peppers with the spice mixture. Dip them into oil and put it aside in a clean glass jar. When they are all done, pour rest of the mustard oil into them and cover it with a aluminum foil or lid. Put it aside the window and sun dry them for at least 7 days.

Storage and Usage Instruction: Whenever you’re taking the one chilli pickle out, make sure your spoon is dry. A drop of water can ruin the pickle. It can stay until 5 years but addition of oil is needed occasionally.

Simi’s Chili Story 

Meeta’s Chili Post 

Waiting for Deeba to post soon