Pickle turns Green : Stuffed Green chili pickle

I like to have a little spicy something with my Indian meal. With kids at home my daily cooking is devoid of any chili spice and so to add the extra zing to my mealtime I turn to the humble staple in my kitchen, Pickles.

I make a variety of them depending on the season and the what is freshest at the local wet market, that's what the daily produce market is called in Singapore. 

On a recent Sunday I trudged down to Tekka market in Little India to buy some vegetables that are uniquely Indian, like snake gourd, Ivy gourd and the ubiquitous Alphonso mango that I had been craving to eat. While shopping, I spotted these little green chilies common in South Indian cuisine to make sun dried chili that is fried and eaten with Yoghurt rice, it's called Moar Molagai. Since I have a stock of last years Moar Molagai, I decided to make a North Indian stuffed chili pickle, which my better half loves! 

We usually have store bought Punjabi stuffed chili pickle, but I don't like the fact that they make them with really large  (3+inches) red chilies. At every meal I have to cut up smaller pieces that have to be used up within a few days or they lose flavor, so I decided to make a small single use version at home. 

Ingredients:

Dry Roast and powder the whole (5) spices

1/4 cup coriander seeds

2 tbsp Saunf/anise seeds

1 tbsp fenugreek seeds

1 tbsp black mustard seeds

1 tbsp cumin seeds

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2 tbsp dry mango powder

1 tsp black salt

2-3 tsp salt

Juice of 1 lime or 3 tsp apple cider vinegar

1/2 Cup mustard oil

200 gms green chili of your choice like Serrano, small jalapeños, but not the very hot varieties

Method

Wash and wipe dry the green chilies making sure that there is no moisture on them. Slit the green chillies carefully in the center, but not all the way through. You are creating a pocket in the chilli to stuff the powder mixture.

To the roasted whole spice powder add the salts and mango powder. Mix well and stuff the chillies. Sprinkle the lime juice/vinegar on the chillies. 

Heat oil and allow to cool completely. In a dry glass jar ( I reuse the pasta sauce jar)  drop the chillies in carefully and add the cooled oil. If you have any leftover stuffing powder left add this to the jar as well. Place the jar for a day or two in a sunny spot, giving it a good shake or two, twice everyday until you see the green color on the chilli fade. (See photo)

Keep it refrigerated if you make a large batch, keeping it cool helps the chillies stay crunchy.