I absolutely love pickles.
Whether it be the kind that comes with burgers or fried chicken, or the Indian pickles usually made with raw mango, chilli, or lemon – I love them all.
Something about the tart, and slightly spicy flavours is so delicious and so wonderful when paired with main meals.
Achaar (or pickle in English) is typically served with main meals featuring any curry, yogurt, flatbread and/or rice. Here is my take on a delicious Rajasthani green chilli pickle that I absolutely love!
For this recipe you can use very mild chillis. I find these work best for a pickle like this. You need a fairly strong spice blend to stuff the chillis, but this pickle turns out really flavourful.
If you want to check out how I made them, watch the video below
Rajasthani Chilli Pickle
Equipment
- Jar
Ingredients
- 200 g large green chillies
- 1 lemon
- ⅓ cup neutral oil vegetable oil
- 1½ tbsp. ground coriander
- 1½ tbsp. dried mango powder available at South Asian grocers
- 1 tbsp. whole black mustard seeds
- 2 tbsp. whole fennel seeds
- ½ tsp ground turmeric
- ½ tsp fenugreek seeds
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp asafetida
Instructions
- Wash then pat dry the chillies
- Use a small knife to slit the chillies from top to bottom, lengthways. Make sure you only cut through one side to create a pocket. Do not cut all the way through. Set these aside
- In a bowl combine the ground coriander, dried mango powder, turmeric powder, fenugreek powder, salt, asafetida, ½ of the oil, and the juice of ½ of the lemon
- In a separate bowl, combine the whole mustard seeds, whole fennel seeds and whole fenugreek seeds
- Take ¼ of the whole spice mixture and grind into a fine powder using a spice grinder or mortar and pestle. Add the ground spices to the other spice bowl
- Mix the ground spice mixture into a paste. If required, add a little more lemon juice to make it into a paste
- Stuff the chillies with the prepared spice blend and place the chillies into a glass jar. Add any of the remaining spice mixture into the jar
- Heat the remaining oil over a low flame in a pot. Add the remaining whole spices (Mustard, fennel and fenugreek) to the oil until they just start to sputter. Remove the oil from the heat and immediately pour over the chillies in the jar
- Add the remaining juice of the lemon to the jar and then secure the lid. Set this aside for a few days topping up with oil if required
- After 3-4 days the pickle is ready to serve
