Hot Chilli & Ginger Pickle!

The two chilli and ginger pickles I made for the stall I did at Covent Garden Real Food Market last year have proved popular. So I thought I'd make some more for the Underground Farmers Market, later this month. (See here for more information).

This is adapted from recipes on Mamta's Kitchen, our family recipe site.

Kavey's Hot Chilli & Ginger Pickle

Ingredients
1 kilo hot green chillis (I usually look for the tiny green chillis, easily found in Indian groceries, but this time, the staff adivsed me that the fatter, larger ones were hotter)
350 grams ginger
3 tablespoons salt
2-3 tablespoons turmeric powder
4 tablespoons black mustard seeds, coarsely ground
300 ml mustard oil (heated to smoking and then cooled)
600 ml malt vinegar (or other paler vinegar if preferred)

Note: These amounts really are a guideline. I started off by adding only 150 ml of mustard oil and 350 of vinegar but realised that for the volume of chillis I had needed more. I would recommend making sure you have extra in stock just incase. And because I upped the liquid, I also added more salt, turmeric and mustard seeds too.

Method

• Wash chillis and remove stems.

• Peel the ginger.


• Chop the chillis and ginger finely. (Mum and I do this using the slicer disk in our food-processors but, of course, you can do it by hand. If processing, take care not to blitz into a paste, you want decent sized pieces).

• Place all ingredients into a bowl and mix well.

• Transfer to sterilised, airtight jars.

• Make additional pickling liquid (mustard oil, vinegar, turmeric, salt and mustard seeds) to top up jars if needed.

• Once sealed, the jars should be left on a warm, sunny windowsill for a couple of weeks and turned upside down once every few days.