Stuffed Green Chilli Pickle - The very first pickle I made

Ooooo it would be hot!! That's probably what you all might be thinking but I can assure you it's not so! :) . When I opened the 'Bharani'-an eathernware used to store pickles [shown in the pic above ] I was so suprised to see the once 'sturdy & strong' chilies have all aged and lost all its original strength to other ingredients like amchur :D




I learnt this pickle from a preservation class conducted during my graduation in Home Science from Mount Carmel College, Bangalore. It was a 2 day course as a part of our curriculum and we were taught various preservation methods in the form of jams,jellies,crushes,squashes,pickles etc. From the whole lot of what they taught us, I liked this the best! :) It is definately a North Indian pickle because of amchur which is very rarely used in South Indian cuisine. Nevertheless I do have a special liking for North Indian pickles especially because most of them are made in mustard oil! I just LOVE that! I got a hang of this @ Maria Sadan... our hostel... OH NO!! memories are flooding back!! How I miss that place!!! :(

Okay! enough! Let's get back to the post :) This is the pickle I had mentioned in my previous post on Matri.

So here's the recipe:

Stuffed Green Chilli Pickle:

Green chillies - 1 kg ( My veggie vendor gave me a 'glare' LOL! )

For the stuffing:

Mustard powder-5tsp

Jeera/Cumin powder-5tsp

Methi/fenugreek powder-5tsp

Turmeric powder-5tsp


Amchur /Dry mango powder -100g

Salt-150g

Gingelly oil-500 ml

Method:

Wash,wipe and slit the chillies. Stuff it ( you can use gloves to make sure your hands dont have a burning sensation after the stuffing process. But I did it without any :D and trust me it din't burn a bit! :D )
Mix amchur & salt together.
Now you need to layer them. One layer of stuffed chillies & then sprinkle over them generaously with amchur & salt. Continue. The last layer should end with amchur & salt mix. I used 'Bharani' for it but you can use any other similar eathernware or cleaned & wiped glass bottles.
Heat oil. Do not let it smoke though. Pour over the layered chillies. It will cover the layers and you can see some excess too. The excess oil must be there to ensure that the pickle doesn't get any fungal attack :)
Close the lid and forget about it for atleast for 2 months ( do you want to eat raw chillies?? then eat them straightaway!! :D )

I kept mine aside for 3 yrs! I must shamefully admit that I actually forgot about them :D

Serving suggestions:Can serve as an accompaniment for matri,chapathis,paratas ... actually even with bread ;)

Hope you all enjoyed this spicy post right after a Chocolate Pistachio Fudge affair!! ;D
-Ria