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Title: Laal Lal Mirch Ka Achaar (Pickled Red Chili Peppers)
Categories: Indian, Pickles
Yield: 1 Batch

18 Whole red chili peppers;
- up to 20
1 pn Salt
4 tb Rai (brown mustard seeds)
2 tb Fenugreek seeds
1 1/4 ts Nigella seeds
1 1/2 tb Fennel seeds
2 ts Turmeric powder
1 1/2 tb Amchoor (dry mango powder)
2 ts Salt; adjust to taste
300 ml Virgin mustard or olive oil;
- up to 350 ml, divided

You could use the same recipe to make whole stuffed red chili peppers.
Instead of halving them, simply, remove the seeds and stuff with the
spices.

Never under salt the pickle, it will go bad within few weeks. If you
do not like the strong taste of mustard oil, you can heat it up to do
away the raw smell, cool down and then add. Or you can use olive oil
in this recipe if you do not get mustard oil. The flavor of the
pickle is slightly different from traditional but it works.

This is not an instant pickle recipe, the pickle is sun fermented and
takes 7 to 10 days, or more depending on strength of sun where you
live to mature and get ready to consume.

Wash and pat dry the chilies. Cut and discard the top stem and the
entire green portion, then cut them into half. I discarded the seeds
& veins of half the chillies, thats where the heat in the pickle
comes from. You can remove seeds for all of them if you want. Layer
the chilies on a wide, non reactive shallow dish, sprinkle a scant
pinch of salt.

Using your coffee grinder, coarsely pulse the mustard, fennel,
nigella & fenugreek seeds separately. This is important. You do not
need to make a fine powder, if few specks of whole spices remain,
it's okay.

In a small bowl mix the powdered spices together with turmeric, 1 ts
salt, and amchoor. Taste the spice mix for salt, it should be
slightly more salty than you think. Add 2 to 3 tb mustard oil just so
that the spice powder is moistened. This will be make it easy to
stuff the chilies.

With dry hands, stuff whole or each half of the chilies with this
spice mixture.

Place the stuffed chili pepper in a wide glass dish. I use my Pyrex.
Add 200 ml of mustard oil, any spice mixture remaining and gently mix
so that the chilies are coated in oil. At this point, the achaar will
have a very strong smell and a bitter taste but that's okay. Allow it
to stand in full sun for two days. Try to stir the achaar once or
twice a day with a clean, dry spoon.

On the 3rd day transfer the achaar into a glass or porcelain jar. Do
not use a metal container. Check and adjust the salt and top with
remaining oil and mix well. Cover the mouth of the jar with a muslin
cloth, tie with a string and let mature for 7 to 10 days in sun. This
time will depend on the strength of sun in the area you live. Stir
the contents once or twice a day.

At the end of sun fermentation, the skin of chilies would have
shrivelled and the strong, bitter taste will go away. Store at room
temperature for up to 2 to 3 months. Always use a clean spoon to
serve the pickle.

Recipe by sanjuro

Recipe FROM: <gopher://sdf.org/0/users/sanjuro/indian-food/laal-lal-
mirch-ka-achaar---pickled-red-chili-peppers.txt>

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