Stuffed Red Chile Pepper Pickle with Aromatic Indian Spices
At first glance these eye-catching chile peppers look like red jalapeno. However, they have a different flavor and are less meaty than Jalapeno. Red Fresnos are great roasted and added to salsas. Try grilling them alongside your steaks or in kabobs.
When roasting these they should char, blister, and become soft. Try substituting these in your favorite chile recipes.
Ingredients:
18-20 Long Red Chiles
1 cup Oil (Sesame/Mustard/Vegetable Oil)
For The Spice Mix & Stuffing:
2 tbsp Fennel Seeds
1½ tbsp Jeera/Cumin Seeds
1½ tbsp Methi/Fenugreek Seeds
2 tbsp Mustard Seeds
½ tbsp Kalonji/Nigella Seeds
1 tsp Haldi/Turmeric Powder
2 tbsp Amchur Powder/Dry Mango Powder (Optional)
¼ – ½ tsp Hing/Asafoetida 3-4 tbsp
Salt (I used Sea Salt)
2 tbsp Oil (Sesame/Mustard/Vegetable Oil)
Coarsely ground spice mix for stuffing (recipe below)
Instructions:
Makes one large jar. Shelf Life: Up to 6 months in an air tight container when refrigerated.
Prepare the Spice Mix:
Take fennel seeds, cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds, mustard seeds, and nigella seeds in a pan and dry roast them on low heat till you can smell the aromatic spices, about 3 minutes. Transfer them to a clean dry plate and let them cool to room temperature. Once cooled, transfer all the roasted spices along with turmeric powder, dry mango powder and hing in a mixer or spice grinder and pulse it 3-4 times to make coarse spice mix. Make sure that you don’t grind them to smooth powder. Add salt and about 2 tbsp of Oil and mix them well. The spice mix for stuffing is ready.
Proceed to make pickle:
Wash the chille peppers under running water and dry them completely by spreading them on kitchen towel. Make sure that there is no moisture/dampness on the chillies as any water content will reduce the shelf life of any pickle.
Once the chilli peppers are completely dry, slit them right through the middle and deseed them. Make sure that the joints are intact as you will be stuffing them with aromatic ground spice mixture. You can either remove the stalks or just leave them as I did. And also if you like your pickle fiery hot, you can retain the seeds for fire in the mouth, literally!
Stuff the chiles with coarsely ground spice mixture you had prepared earlier. Make sure that you stuff the chiles all the way.
Once you have finished stuffing all the chillies, place them vertically in a clean and dry sterilised jar and pour about a cup of oil (mustard/sesame/vegetable or olive oil) over them and seal the lid. If you have any spice mixture left, just add it to the jar before sealing the lid.
Place them in direct sunlight for 3-5 days. if you live in a place where sunlight is at premium or a luxury and it rains most of the time, place the jar in a windowsill where the sunlight filter through for most of the day. Your pickle should get ready in about 10-14 days.
You can serve this delicious Bharwan Mirch ka Achaar with Rice or Stuffed Parathas and Dal, simple lentil soup.
From monsoon spice.com