Mixed chilli pickle
Chef and restarateur Karan Gokani makes 'copious amounts' of this for brightening up rice, lentils and more. He also gifts it, so make a bigger batch if that appeals. It's particularly good with anything rich or buttery, where the sharp chilli heat cuts through. Browse our Indian recipe collection, from starters to mains and sides and follow Karan on Instagram
- Makes2 x 350g jars
- CourseAccompaniment
- Prepare15 mins
- Cook5 mins
- Total time20 mins
- Plusdrying
Ingredients
- 4 x 70g Cooks’ Ingredients Mixed Chillies
- 100g piece ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
- 100g cloves garlic, roughly chopped
- 2 tbsp fennel seeds
- 1 tbsp black or yellow mustard seeds
- 1½ tsp fenugreek seeds
- 25g fine sea salt, or to taste
- 2 tsp ground turmeric
- 180ml cold pressed rapeseed oil
- 25ml apple cider vinegar or white wine vinegar
Method
Wash the chillies and dry them well (see tips, right). Remove the stalks, then roughly chop them in a food processor. You want some texture, so don’t take them too fine. A mixture of different sizes is perfect. Scrape out into a large heatproof bowl or saucepan.
Pulse the ginger and garlic in the food processor until roughly the same size as the chillies. Don’t turn them into a paste. Add to the chillies and mix everything together.
Put the fennel, mustard and fenugreek seeds into a dry frying pan over a low heat. Toast gently for a few minutes until fragrant, taking care not to let them burn. They should just change colour and darken slightly. Leave to cool completely, then grind coarsely in a spice grinder, coffee grinder or pestle and mortar. Add the ground spices, salt and turmeric to the chilli mixture and combine.
Heat the oil in a small saucepan until hot and smoking. Carefully pour it over the chilli mixture and stir thoroughly so everything is evenly coated.
Add the vinegar and mix again. Spoon the pickle into clean sterilised jars, pressing it down as you go, then seal and leave to cool. You can enjoy this immediately, or it’s better after a week in the fridge, once the flavours have had time to mingle and mellow. Once opened, keep in the fridge for up to 1 week.
Cook’s tip
Keep everything dry: After washing the chillies, dry them thoroughly with kitchen paper, then spread out on a tray for a few hours so there’s no surface moisture left..
Don't over-process: You want a coarse, spoonable pickle rather than a chilli paste. Pulse the chillies, ginger and garlic instead of blitzing continuously.
Adjust the salt: Indian pickles are traditionally fairly salty, but you can adjust the seasoning to suit your taste. Start with the quantity given, or a little less if you prefer, taste the finished pickle after thoroughly mixing through, then tweak it from there if necessary.
Make extra! Once you’ve got the food processor out, it’s barely any more work to make a double batch. Spoon it all into smaller sterilised jars and you’ll have one of my favourite homemade gifts.
Nutritional
Typical values per item when made using specific products in recipe
Energy | 232kJ/ 56kcals |
|---|---|
Fat | 5.6g |
Saturated Fat | 0.4g |
Carbohydrates | 0.8g |
Sugars | 0.2g |
Fibre | 0.2g |
Protein | 0.7g |
Salt | 0.7g |