Sweet Green Chili Pickle

As a young child, I have heard many folklore about the British reign in India. The Brits, we were told, had a fascination for this country of stark contradictions.

This was a land where elephants roamed the unpaved roads; snake charmers with huge snakes wrapped around their necks knocked on your door; where extreme poverty co-existed with the lavish wealth of the Maharajahs who lived lives of unheard-of splendor. My grandfather would tell me stories about the vast treasures that were part of India’s heritage: the Peacock throne, the Kohinoor diamond, and enormous amounts of gold, silver and precious gems set in ornate jewelery by artisans of exceptional skill. Not for naught was India called a “Jewel in the Crown”.

The wonderful landscape, the wealth in the land, the diverse population, the rich culture, the varied and vast cuisine, the different kinds of vegetables and fruit, the elephants, camels, monkeys, snakes, peacocks, deer, tigers and lions that roamed the jungles – all went towards creating this aura of a mysterious land that attracted some adventurous people from Britain. They came to India with the eager anticipation of experiencing its wonder. They came prepared with their hats and white clothes to bear the heat and the dust. They brought their cuisine and their religion. They brought their cricket, croquet and tennis games. And they brought their wives, girl friends and family members.

Even though the British in India had mostly re-created a life similar to theirs in Britain, they also loved to mingle with Indian high society and rub shoulders with the Indian Kings. They especially loved being invited to the grand marble palaces for sumptuous dinners. And while they enjoyed being part of India’s upper crust, they found it hard to eat Indian food. It was too spicy for their taste.

As the story goes, in the early 1900’s, a young British couple had just moved to India. They made their first appearance at a dinner hosted by one of the local Kings. As course after sumptuous course was served by white-jacketed waiters, the young wife found she could hardly swallow the spicy food. She started to drink wine deeply from the bejeweled silver goblets and soon got pretty drunk. As each course was served, the butler would announce the name of the dish in stentorian tones. Finally, the butler announced, “Fried green chili”. The young wife heaved a sigh of relief thinking that this dish would be cool – since the name was chili. Unfortunately for her, the green chili served was the spicy little roasted green peppers. A bite of the dish had her reaching for her water goblet and screaming for something sweet to offset the spice.

That story brings to mind my Sweet Green Chili pickle recipe, made spicy and sweet, in accordance to Indian cuisine’s taste-bud rhapsody! Try it: it tastes simply fantastic especially when eaten with Aloo paratha (potato stuffed whole wheat bread).

The spice in the green chili is offset by the sweet taste of jaggery. And you needn’t reach for your water glass after eating this dish: the chilis that you get here in the US are nowhere near as spicy as the Indian green chili and this dish is more sweet than spicy. All-in-all, this Sweet Green Chili pickle is the ultimate sweet and spice and all things nice.

Here is what you need:
4 large fleshy green Mexican chilis
3 tbsp Olive Oil
1 tsp black mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp Red chili powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup jaggery powder (you can also use brown sugar)
Smidgen of tamarind paste

Here is how you make this:
Chop the green chili. Heat the olive oil in a pan. When the oil is hot, add the mustard seeds. Wait for them to crackle and add the cumin seeds. Roast for 10 seconds. Now add the chopped green chili, red chili powder and salt. Stir fry on high heat for about 1 minute. Reduce heat and add the tamarind paste and powdered jaggery or brown sugar. Simmer until the chili is cooked and the jaggery is melted.

Remove from fire and serve with Aloo Paratha. Eat sparingly – not more than 1 tsp per meal. You can store this in the fridge for upto 1 week.

Potato, Potaato, Tomato, Tomaato

My lil’ sister Indu, is multi-talented. She is a renowned author and writes very fabulous novels. Call me biased, if you will, but she’s onto her 4th book now and we are all very thrilled about her books. For my readers with a literary bent, here is a link to the review of her 4th book, “In the Convent of Little Flowers“, in the National Geographic.

Now, writing is just one of her talents. The ones I most admire though, are the ones close to my heart: she is a fantastic cook, conscientious home-maker and a simply wonderful mom to her effervescent, sparkling, 2 year old.

As a child, Indu loved potatoes, and she still does. So, when she came over with her family for a visit in the summer, she offered to cook one of her famous potato dishes. One of these days, I expect she’ll write a recipe book about 1001 potato recipes – she has that many up her sleeve! Now, the best part of Indu’s cooking is that it doesn’t require you to go grocery shopping. She’ll simply fling together a scrumptious dish with whatever you have in your fridge and larder.

Taking a page out of her book, I decided to try out a new potato dish, since my son too, has taken after Indu in his taste for potatoes. I looked into my fridge and peered into my larder. I decided to whip up this lip-smacking Cilantro-Cilantro seed Potato dish. The double dose of Cilantro simply smells wonderful. Its like baking cookies when your house on the market for sale. The smells waft through your house making it inviting and homey on a cold winter day.

One of the worst enemies to a potato lover’s waistline is the added fat that is required to cook potatoes. Try this dish – it has only one teaspoonful of Olive oil!

Cilantro-Cilantro seed Potato curry

You will need:
4 small potatoes
1 tsp Turmeric
1 tsp Oil
1 bunch green Cilantro leaves
2 tbsp Cilantro seeds (see attached photo)
1 tsp Cumin seeds
1/2″ piece fresh ginger
1 fresh green or red chili (I use jalapeno or serrano peppers)
1 orange Habenero pepper (because I like it spicy! You can cut this out if you want it mild)

To prepare:
Toast the cilantro seeds on a hot, dry pan until golden brown. Place the Cilantro leaves, toasted seeds, ginger, green chili and habenero pepper in a blender and blend with 1/4 cup water until smooth.
Dice the potatoes. Heat 1 tsp oil in a pan. When the oil is hot, put in the cumin seeds and fry for a few seconds until browned. Now add the potatoes and turmeric and stir fry for a few minutes. Add in the sauce and cover and cook on a slow fire until the potatoes are tender.

Serve hot with parathas (Indian hand-made whole wheat bread)