Citrus & Spicy Pickled Chillies- Oilfree & Easy

Hey Guys,

Here I am with one of the integral ingredient of a typical Indian diet- Chilly.

Today we'll learn how to can green chillies. This mix is lip smacking tasty because of all the spices put in and the taste gets better with the hotness of the chillies.

So let's get started...

Ingredients:

8 green chillies ( about 12 cm long each)
1 tbsp : squeezed lemon juice
2 tbsp : mustard seeds- powdered
2 tbsp : red chilly powder
2 tbsp : turmeric powder
2 tbsp : salt
1 tbsp : dried mango powder ('amchoor' in Hindi)

If the number of chillies is increased, the amount of spices and lemon juice increases proportionally.


Tools needed:

a spoon ( or anything to fill the spices)
a knife (to slit the chilles)
a plate
a glass jar (to store the mix and sunlight exposure )

1. Mix all the dry spices well using a spoon.

2. Carefully, take off the end cap from the chilly without breaking them.
For this, hold the bottom end firmly (as shown in pictures) and twist the cap off.

3. Slit the chillies using a knife. Make sure to leave about 2 cm length at both ends.

4. Deseed the chillies using a knife. Cut the main vein of seeds from the bottom end in a L- shape. This means make a perpendicular cut on the vein end and protrude the cut a little towards the tip side so that it becomes easy for you to pull it off.
Now pull off the whole vein of seeds using either your hands or a pair of tongs.

Repeat this with all the chillies.

1.Using your fingers, open up the lower part of the chillies just enough to put in about half a spoon of dried spices mix.

2. Spread the mix using the spoon/ thin knife and push it towards the tip.
Stuff extra mixture into the a chilly according to requirements.

1. Carefully, place each chilly inside the jar without the mix falling out. If you are not able to hold the mixture in neatly, wind a thread (sewing threads are cheap and will work here) loosely around each of the chilly.
Choose the jar so that the chillies don't crowd up inside.

2. Once all the chillies are placed in nicely, sprinkle about half a teaspoon of turmeric powder evenly over the chillies.

3. Squeeze in about half a lemon evenly in the jar or you can evenly sprinkle about 1-2 tbsp of lemon juice also.
This is done to keep the dry spices just moist enough and lemon also acts as a preservative.

4. Close the lid and give a nice shake to the jar in all possible directions to make the juice seep in everywhere.

5. Loosen the cap for air contact and keep the jar in sunlight for roughly about 3 days until the chilles become tender. This is done to enhance the canning process.

6. Give the jar a nice shake in about every 6 hours during these 3 days.

The step number 5 and 6 are the most important step as they decide the pace of canning and the taste of the final product.

Keep checking the chillies for their tenderness using a knife (if they cut with efforts, keep them for sunlight exposure).
Stop sunlight exposure when the chillies loosen up and become juicy.
Now they are ready to use.

You can enjoy them with chapatties/ roties, tortillas, or combine them with a recipe of your own.

Try them and do tell me how you'd use them.

1. Be careful with the knife as chillies would worsen the cut.

2. Wash your hands thoroughly after canning.