Visit any Andhra restaurant in the city and you’ll find these fried curd chillies displayed in a bowl on the table, to be eaten with every meal. I just love its crunchy, spicy flavor. It usually goes well with curd rice, but it can be eaten just as it is or with rice and sambar too. Depending on the variety of chillies used, the spice quotient differs.
Making this, however, is a process that has taught me a lot of lessons
Patience: In this age of doing everything in the blink of an eye, this totally tests your patience. Every single chilly has be washed, wiped carefully so it doesn’t turn soggy or spoilt and each one of them has to be slit carefully. And the days it takes for it to turn out right to be able to store and fry.
Responsibility: Each day take it out at 8 a.m. ensuring it is kept in the sun in a safe dry place so that no insects get into it, and take it back at 3.30 p.m. keep mixing it. I am responsible to see this through every single day.
The role of nature in food: Especially the sun. It’s got to be sizzling hot for it to turn out really crispy and speed up the process. If god is bored and looking for some fun and sends some rain during this process, tough luck!
The comfort of a ritual: Take it out, bring it in, mix, take it out bring it in, mix, take it out bring it in, mix… day in and day out…knowing that it’s a process, and there is no magic wand to make it ready immediately and yet being at peace with it.
The sense of accomplishment: Ok. It is just a recipe. I didn’t win a Nobel prize but boy! When the process is over and the chillies are fried and eaten with lunch or dinner, there is a feeling of fulfillment that is different when compared to cooking with instant / ready made items.
Here’s the recipe:
Ingredients:
Half kg or quarter kg green chillies.
2 liter curd.
5-6 tsp of salt or to taste.
1. This is a great recipe to make separately or to use up lots of leftover curd during summer season.
2. Buy green chillies that are slightly bigger as each one needs to be slit.
3. Wipe the chillies on a dry towel. If you are washing the chillies, it has be done the previous night and air dried.
4. Slit each chilly with a knife from the stem to the end. Keep the stem intact, so it looks like one chilly split in the middle.
5. In a large bowl, add salt to taste to the curds and drop the chillies into them.
Mix thoroughly till each chilly is well coated with salt and curd.
6. You may do a slight taste test to see if there is enough salt. Do not overdo the salt. In case you feel you have added too much salt, then you may balance it out by adding more curd, but this can be done only at this stage.
7. Leave this mixture overnight.
8. Next day, Take the chillies out and spread them on a plate.
9. Keep the curd in which the chillies have been mixed in into a bowl. These will reduce over the days.
10. Spread only the chillies out in a plate and dry them in the sun. (Preferably afternoons when it is really hot).
11. Leave them for a couple of hours. When taken indoors, mix them again in the curd that the chillies were mixed in the previous day. Again do not overdo the curds, add just enough to coat the chillies for a day or two.
12. Dry it in the sun every single day for the next few days till it is thoroughly dried and crisped. This may take about four to five days to a week, depending on how well it dries and the weather.
13. Once thoroughly dried as in there is no wet curd residue on the chillies, you may store them in air tight containers.
14. Heat a little oil – a table spoon or so in a wok, fry 5-6 (or more if you like) chillies in oil anytime you want a delicious crunchy accompaniment with curd rice, sambar rice etc.
Note: Do not add water or any extra curd once you start the drying process. Use the same curd the chillies have been mixed in the previous day if there is any leftover. If the curd has dried up easily and the chillies are well coated, then leave the chillies as they are and continue placing them in the sun everyday.
The pictures above are in 3 stages when I first started and mixed them into the curd (note the chillies are still green), stage two the drying process and stage three when it was fried, ready to be eaten….turned out to be yumlicious!:)
Elaborate though the process is, it is well worth the effort!
