LET'S PICKLE SOME CHICKEN!

I don't know how many of you have heard of  non -veg pickles, but I have and I LOVE them! I have eaten only beef ,fish and prawn pickle until I got married. When Jobin's mom visited us last year,we got to taste some delicious pork pickle. The last batch was getting over and Jobin suggested me making some more, to replenish the stock :-) Me as usual wanted to try something new and thought about pickling some chicken and chicken pickle it was!

My first pickle was a Stuffed Green Chilli Pickle and it was delicious. If my memory is correct ,it was followed by a garlic pickle. Now, after almost 3 years I am back with pickling something.I am making another 3 batches today...it's really good, really addictive!

I had a recipe with me for sometime now but cannot recollect it's source.The best thing with this recipe is that, it's very easy and the only time you need is to fry the chicken and in the meantime you can prep the rest of the ingredients. It's a breeze! It tastes so good that it can be a good substitute for your Chicken curry :)

I have to hunt for empty bottles now...all these months I have been hunting for bottles to store my Homemade Grape Wine and now I have plenty of them :-D Our friends still ask me if I need bottles for wine and now I say,'No, thank you!' as I have to find storage space for them :-) If you are re-using bottles like I do, make sure you wash it very well and let it dry completely otherwise you will have weird looking white stuff growing over your pickle :)

KOZHI ACHAR/ CHICKEN PICKLE

Ingredients:
1/2 kg boneless chicken,cut into 1" pieces
1 tsp pepper powder
1 tsp mustard seeds
1c shallots/chumnulli sliced fine
2 tbso ginger, chopped
2 tbsp garlic,chopped
2 sprigs curry leaves
Salt to taste
3 tbsp red chilli powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp asafoetida powder
1 tsp fenugreek powder
1 1/2 tsp garam masala

1 c gingelly oil ( I used canola oil)
Vinegar to taste

Method:
Wash,clean and drain the chicken .
Add salt and pepper powder and let it marinate for 1 hour.Deep fry till the pieces are crisp &brown in colour. If you fry it crisp, shelf life will increase. This will take about 20 minutes.Reserve the pieces.
In the same oil, pop the mustard seeds. Then add shallots,ginger, garlic & curry leaves one by one, giving a minute gap between each. Saute well.
Lower the flame and add the powders and mix well till the raw smell goes.
Add the deep fried chicken pieces to it and mix.Add vinegar to taste. Check for salt. Once it is cooled, transfer it to a clean bottle and use after one week.

* If at all you need more gravy, add some boiled and cooled water. 

Verdict: Absolutely delicious! Make a big batch because you are going to need it!

I am sending this to The Kerala Kitchen hosted by Magpie of Magpies Recipes. This time we are having a small challenge for those of you who are interested in Kerala Cuisine...to make my 12- layered Chatti Pathiri. So if you are ready, write to us at magpiemails AT gmail DOT com.

Stuffed Green Chilli Pickle - The very first pickle I made

Ooooo it would be hot!! That's probably what you all might be thinking but I can assure you it's not so! :) . When I opened the 'Bharani'-an eathernware used to store pickles [shown in the pic above ] I was so suprised to see the once 'sturdy & strong' chilies have all aged and lost all its original strength to other ingredients like amchur :D




I learnt this pickle from a preservation class conducted during my graduation in Home Science from Mount Carmel College, Bangalore. It was a 2 day course as a part of our curriculum and we were taught various preservation methods in the form of jams,jellies,crushes,squashes,pickles etc. From the whole lot of what they taught us, I liked this the best! :) It is definately a North Indian pickle because of amchur which is very rarely used in South Indian cuisine. Nevertheless I do have a special liking for North Indian pickles especially because most of them are made in mustard oil! I just LOVE that! I got a hang of this @ Maria Sadan... our hostel... OH NO!! memories are flooding back!! How I miss that place!!! :(

Okay! enough! Let's get back to the post :) This is the pickle I had mentioned in my previous post on Matri.

So here's the recipe:

Stuffed Green Chilli Pickle:

Green chillies - 1 kg ( My veggie vendor gave me a 'glare' LOL! )

For the stuffing:

Mustard powder-5tsp

Jeera/Cumin powder-5tsp

Methi/fenugreek powder-5tsp

Turmeric powder-5tsp


Amchur /Dry mango powder -100g

Salt-150g

Gingelly oil-500 ml

Method:

• Wash,wipe and slit the chillies. Mix the powders together and stuff the chillies. ( you can use gloves to make sure your hands dont have a burning sensation after the stuffing process. But I did it without any :D and trust me it din't burn a bit! :D )
• Mix amchur & salt together.
• Now you need to layer them. One layer of stuffed chillies & then sprinkle over them generaously with amchur & salt. Continue. The last layer should end with amchur & salt mix. I used 'Bharani' for it but you can use any other similar eathernware or cleaned & wiped glass bottles.
• Heat oil. Do not let it smoke though. Pour over the layered chillies. It will cover the layers and you can see some excess too. The excess oil must be there to ensure that the pickle doesn't get any fungal attack :)
• Close the lid and forget about it for atleast for 2 months ( do you want to eat raw chillies?? then eat them straightaway!! :D )

I kept mine aside for 3 yrs! I must shamefully admit that I actually forgot about them :D

Serving suggestions:Can serve as an accompaniment for matri,chapathis,paratas ... actually even with bread ;)

Hope you all enjoyed this spicy post right after a Chocolate Pistachio Fudge affair!! ;D
-Ria