Sunday, May 03, 2009

Green Chili Pickle


I can be really pungent in my remarks. Tell me what would you have done in this situation.

He: I want to return the pay check. I have not given output this month.
(Fact is he has been slogging but results may show a little later. Thank God he has a sensible boss, who stopped him from doing it.)
Me: Slap my forehead. Takes me a min to say something. Why do you have to make things complex always? There is a kid to be taken care of and still in school.
He: There is no end to the aspirations and providing feed for that.
Me: There are the social responsibilities you are committed to.
He: Shrugs and yada yada...
Me: Misfit, I muttered under the breath!

Even if I am a green chili so be it. If only He realize that life cannot be romanticized and reality bites harder when decisions are impulsive. Don't I know, I have done things differently in life but I din't have any binding responsibilities then. I have learnt the hard way that there has to be a balance in our objective and subjective career and I myself have not been able to achieve it yet.

No metaphor here, come lets make a Green chili pickle out of real fresh ones atleast they will enhance a meal in the near future and the now pungent green chilies would taste good later.

Ingredients

250 gms Green chilies
3 tablespoons mustard seeds
1 tablespoon turmeric
1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
1 teaspoon asafoetida
1/2 cup salt
1/2 cup oil
4 tablespoons of lemon juice


Lets get the powders done first. To start, dry roast the fenugreek seeds. Grind them in a dry grinder to powder. Add the mustard seeds to the same grinder and powder coarsely. Though most pickles ask for mustard dal or split yellow mustard, ground whole mustard too does no harm. I keep the skin of the mustard seeds too.

Then cut the green chilies into tiny pieces and transfer to a large bowl. Sprinkle on it the ground mix of fenugreek seeds and mustard. Add the turmeric, salt and asafoetida. Mix well. Keep aside.

Heat the oil in a kadhai/ wok to smoking point. Put off the heat. Let it cool completely.

Now mix the chilies and spices in the oil. Follow in with the lemon juice. Mix well. Store in clean container. This pickle is ready to eat in a weeks time.

Since the raw mangoes didn't arrive from Mumbai. I have not made any other pickles this year. I like pickles and chunda made only with Rajapuri raw mangoes and we don't get those here. If I do run out of pickle later this year, I plan to make my mother's sweet lemon pickle. If I make it will post it here for sure.

I've planned to make this green chili pickle last for 6 months but let see what will be the actuals.

Before I sign off let me say "I am proud of you Misfit" :) even though I don't agree.

2 comments:

  1. Hi Anjali,

    I have been reading your blog for some time. You have interesting thoughts out here. When I saw this post, it made me smile. Just some time back you had blogged on marriage and having kids as selfishness.. I am married and have kids and I disagreed.. just wanted to say my point of view..if I may. I think married people have to make a lot of adjustments, single people don't have to make these adjustment. And having kids, proving fertility maybe an issue in India but no so in the US. And gosh, it is far from selfishness. It requires so much dedication.. from the first steps to talk.. so much of patience is required. I feel that having a pet is a much more selfish move, because a pet does not require the same amount of caring as a kid. A pet does not throw tantrums and he is at your feet more like a slave.. I have even seen people vent out at pets when they are angry.. just another perspective. Single people may not be attached to kids/spouse, but definitely they are attached to something else..for some people it is their independence for some it is something else.
    Anyways, thanks for the wonder recipes..

    Anisha

    ReplyDelete
  2. Everyones thoughts are conditioned right from childhood. So I leave it at that.

    Just one thing why is this awareness of doing something great once people become parents. For whom are you doing it? If you could answer it please.

    Well yes having a pet is a selfish move. You are absolutely right. I am a selfish person and make no bones about it. Just that I try to compensate my selfishness in other things that are unselfish. Wow atleast there is someone and whom I don't know who can point it out to me!!

    Enjoy the recipes Anisha. Keep visiting I need people like you around me.

    ReplyDelete

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