Green Chilli Pickle

Love it or hate it but admit that chillies deserve respect for their flavor, texture and heat. They are used fresh, dried, ground, canned and pickled in Indian cuisine. Chilies are available all year but in late summer and early fall they appear in abundance and are the hottest and best to pickle.

Chillies have high level of vitamins and minerals and are low in fat and cholesterol. You can pickle the chillies with just vinegar and salt which I normally do with some sliced ginger, but this recipe also has some more ingredients. Vinegar gives a slight tang to spicy chillies.

Before you start preparing the pickle I would like to warn you to wear disposable gloves when handling chillies. Do not forget to wash knife, chopping board or anything that has come into contact with a cut chilli.

Ingredients:

250 gm hot green chillies

3 tsp saunf (fennel seeds)

1 tsp salt*

1 tsp  rai (black mustard seeds)

4- 5 tbsp mustard oil or canola oil

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp chilli powder

1/2 tsp ground methi (fenugreek) seeds

1/3 cup vinegar (you can even put more, but will make your chillies soft)

* I want my chilli pickle to taste like chillies, so 1 tsp salt is good enough but if you want to add more please do so.

Method:

Wash and wipe green chillies or leave it to dry in a colander.

Get the masala ready by grinding saunf, rai and methi seeds.

Remove caps and make a slit in them without going all the way. Put it away in a bowl.

Heat oil  in a small pan. Turn off the gas and remove pan.

Add turmeric powder, salt, chili powder and the ground mixture of methi seeds, rai and saunf to the chillies.

Fill them in an air tight glass jar. Pour the heated oil and vinegar on chillies. Close the lid and shake so that everything gets mixed nicely.