Green Chilly Thokku..add some fire to your meal

Chilli Talk... and the recipe

Chilly Tokku

Very many years ago, a very dear friend Neeru—journalist /poet/author Nirupama Dutt—who always ate a few raw green chillies with every meal, took me for lunch at some place in New Delhi. It was street food of good quality, but it was also street food that left me with fire in the belly—literally. I had all but to call the fire brigade ! And all I had eaten was chawal-karhi !The karhi had finely chopped green chillies in the garnish. Though I don’t fancy very chilly food, I did not really expect green chillies in summer to be that spicy. Some lessons in life unfold late, but naturally !

Neeru told me something about this, but that after this post on what I decided to do with a lot of green chillies that my husband had bought off .

Green chillies 

Normally, I would just let them sit in the fridge till they wilted away, and then throw them off ! The last two years in Delhi, these chillies did not come by way of good measure with other vegetables, and this year they were unusually expensive. I had already “pickled” a lot of them in vinegar, in glass jars, and used them for everything from upma to garnish to coconut-gravy for some dishes. And how many jars of pickled green chillies can one use?

A few months back, my sister Choti, passed around some “green chilli thokku” that she had made. The “thokku” wave lapped up with raving comments,  Choti became the heroine, my other sisters and I heaped praise, and one of them took home the jar. I brought with me the recipe. But in true expert style, Choti did not mention quantities, and said she did it all very approximately. I can believe her because that is what I do, unless it is to blog!!

I tweaked the recipe to make the “thokku” a little more dense, so that it acquires a shelf like. I also wanted  to be able to make it into tiny balls, and place on the table, along with some curd rice(not part of this post! )

Ingredients for Thokku

Ingredients:

Green chillies -30, some long, some medium

Tamrind—the size of a large lemon or small apple

Jaggery-  A little more than  the jiggery

Salt-to taste( 2 teaspoons heaped, rock salt)

 Sesame oil—3 big ladels full

Mustard seeds- 1 teaspoon

Dehusked, split black gram(dhuli urad)-1 teaspoon full

Curry leaves-a few

Asofeatida- a pinch

Wash and pat dry the green chillies, taking care NOT to let your hands touch your eyes even accidentally. You never know the consequences! Air these chillies so that no trace of the water remains.

In a frying pan, add a teaspoon of the oil, heat, toss in the green chillies and sauté for a couple of minutes. Switch off, let it come to room temperature.

Everything goes into a blender jar

Place the  sauted green chillies, tamrind(minus any seed in it), jiggery and salt in the blender, and grind to a smooth paste. I don’t  let the seeds of chillies bother me.

Place a makkal chetti or any heavy bottom pan on the gas. Add the sesame oil. When it smokes, add the mustard seeds.When they splutter, add the urad dal, the hing and the curry leaves. When the dal turns golden, add this green chilly paste, and quickly  start stirring.

Cook till oil leaves the sides

 Keep at this till the oil leaves the side, when you know it is ready. This takes approximately 15 to 20  minutes.

One can stir less vigorously in a makkal chetti, which somehome ensures that nothing sticks to the bottom. Also the dish in it remains in the cooking mode even for five-seven minutes after the gas has been turned off. This “over cooking” does no harm—just adds to the shelf-life in the case of  this  “thokku”.

The color of the "thokku" can vary from deep green to black, depending on whether you use jaggery or sugar, the color of the jaggery, and also the color of the tamarind, which varies from light brown to deep, deep brown, almost black.

Transfer the thokku into any convenient container/jar. Refrigerate after it cools. My guess is what I have made will stay fine even outside the fridge for ..till it finishes!

It is a delicious side to chilled curd rice or thayir saadam.  The taste of dosai gets elevated if you touch a piece to this “thokku” , and then eat it ! And if you are brave, you can simply mix it with rice, to which you have added oil, and eat it with potato chips(wafers) or papad.

PS: I am sorry I won’t share what Neeru said…for this is a food blog, and below-the-belt  jokes have to stay out of this .