This was my first attempt at making pickle the traditional way and I have to confess I was nervous. The pickle jar needs to be placed out in the sun during the day and brought inside before sundown, regularly for days together. It needs to be handled with super-dry, ultra-clean equipment. My anxious mind asked – with no prior experience to bank on, a 9-to-6 job and other pressing domestic matters, will I be able to keep up with the discipline of pickle-making?
I did – and a week later, have this delicious green chili pickle recipe to share with you. Detailed step-by-step pictures included.
You Need:
You Need:- Green chilies – 250 grams
- Mustard seeds – 1.5 tablespoons
- Methi dal (coarsely ground fenugreek powder) – 1/2 tablespoon
- Turmeric powder – 1/2 teaspoon
- Lemons – 2
- Salt – 3/4 tablespoon
- Mustard oil – 1 cup [buy here]
You could substitute methi dal with an equivalent amount of fenugreek seeds.
Pick any variety of green chili you like. I have used the medium-sized ones. As a thumb rule – the smaller the chili, the sharper its heat.
How To Make Green Chili Pickle:
Before I give you the finer details, soak in the big picture:
Twofold mantra for any pickle’s longevity –
(1) no moisture: your hands, spoons, ingredients, bottles should have no traces of water.
(2) absolute cleanliness: do not, for example, stir the pickle with the same spoon you had your dal with.
Keep that in mind throughout and your pickle will taste good for weeks.
There are four key steps in making this pickle – I’ve put each in a picture with an easy-to-remember caption so that it lodges tight in your memory and you don’t need to rush between pickle jar and recipe while you’re at the task.
A snapshot of the ingredients first:
In the picture above: Green chilies, lemons, turmeric powder, methi dal and mustard seeds.
Wash and completely dry the green chilies. I wipe with a kitchen towel, spread them on another kitchen towel and dry them in the sun for 30 minutes.
Cut each green chili into 2-3 pieces of 2cms each. Mix with salt. Keep aside for an hour.
Mix the juice of two lemons next. To ensure that lemon seeds don’t fall in, squeeze the lemon through a strainer above the container and discard the pips and seeds. Stir and keep aside for another hour.
Heat a tava on medium flame and dry roast 1+1/2 tablespoons of mustard seeds and 1/2 tablespoon of methi dal for a minute, stirring continuously. Allow to cool to room temperature. Grind to a coarse powder.
Mix mustard-methi powder and turmeric powder to green chilies.
Heat a pan with a cup of mustard oil. Let the oil reach smoking point. Pour immediately over the green chilies and masala.
When hot oil hits the roasted masalas and chilies, it hisses and splutters and releases sharp, delicious fumes. Gentle sniffing is nice at this stage but if you are prone to coughing, avoid now your pranayamic breathing exercises.
Mix well. Keep the container uncovered and allow it to cool to room temperature.
When cool, transfer the contents to a dry, clean bottle with an airtight cap.
I get good sunlight in my balcony. Each morning, I give the contents of the jars a stir with a squeaky clean spoon, keep them in the balcony during the day to bask in the sun’s warmth. When I get back from work, I bring the jars in and store them in a cool dry place.
This is how the green chili pickle looks after day 1:
And this, after day 7:
[Where did half of it go, you ask? Well, the volume reduces slightly once the chilies get pickled, plus I have been eating some daily since day 1 :) ]
What I will do differently the next time
1. Cut green chilies into smaller pieces: Smaller chili pieces would have widened this pickle’s "target audience". Some of my friends cannot take the heat of large chilies pieces in one go.
2. Add less salt at first, adjust after a couple of days: I added a tablespoon of salt to start with and when the pickle was ready, felt that I could have done with a little less of salt. In the ingredient list, I now mention 3/4 tablespoon of salt. You can start with that, then taste and add more if you wish 2-3 days later.
Notes:
This recipe uses Indian lemons – thinner-skinned, smaller and more acidic than their western counterpart. You could use limes in their place.
Looking for more recipes with green chilies as the key ingredient? Try bhuni hari mirch (green chili fry), papeeta ka chokha (raw papaya mash), moringa pods in chili yogurt.
