This carrot and chili pickle looks a little bit like molten lava. And admittedly, it also tastes like it. If you like spicy condiments however, you should definitely give this recipe a try.
Pickle is a relish, consisting of vegetables or fruit preserved in vinegar or brine. This recipe is in the style of the Indian pickles, which are known to have quite a kick. Both the chilies and the carrots we used for this pickle, we grew ourselves. Which was very satisfying (If you also grow your own veggies and had a good harvest: this is a great recipe for using up a glut of peppers!).
We used a type of chili called “Bulgarian carrot”. This pepper is pretty spicy, scoring somewhere between 12,000 to 30,000 on the Scoville scale. If you want your carrot and chili pickle to be a bit more mellow, simply use a milder type of chilipepper. Using green chilies can also be a great way to reduce the heat. We grew a number of different types of chilipeppers this year and we easily could have used a different type. Using Bulgarian carrots in a carrot pickle was however too perfect to ignore.
These chilipeppers actually have an interesting history. They’re originally from Hungary, where they’re known as “Shipkas”. When the country was a satellite state of the Soviet Union, it was closed off from the rest of the world. But some of these peppers where smuggled from behind the Iron Curtain anyway. Nowadays they’re popular both for their taste and decorative value.
Your carrot and chili pickle will keep for long time. If stored in a sterilized jar, it should easily keep for 2 to 3 months. In the refrigerator, it will keep even longer. Just make sure to use clean utensils, whenever you scoop some pickles from the jar. That way you avoid contaminating the inside of the jar with unwanted bacteria.
A final note: be sure to store your chili and carrot pickle in a container made from either glass or ceramic. Metal and plastic can react with vinegar, ruining both your pickles and your container. And likely your day as well.
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- 500 g carrots
- 100 g yellow or green chilies I used Bulgarian Carrots
- 100 g red chilies
- 30 g root ginger
- 1 tbsp cumin seeds
- 1 tbsp yellow mustard seeds
- 1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds
- 250 ml vinegar
- 250 ml vegetable oil I used peanutoil
- 50 g caster sugar
- 30 g salt
Ingredients
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- Sterilize your jars and lids, by washing them in very hot water. Leave them to dry. You can use any jars as long as they are airtight.
- Wash and peel the carrots, before cutting them into sticks. You can do this by hand or use a foodprocessor.
- Chop the yellow or green chilies into chunks of about 2,5 cm (1 inch) long.
- Peel and chop ginger into small pieces. Add to a blender along with the red chilies (without stem)and cumin-, mustard- and fenegreek seeds. Process into a paste. Add a bit of the vinegar if the mixture is to dry.
- Heat the vegetable oil in a heavy bottomed pan and add the paste. Fry for about 2 minutes. Make sure to stir occasionally
- Add the chopped carrots and cook for another 5 minutes.
- Add the chopped yellow or green chilies, along with salt, sugar and the rest of the vinegar. Bring the mixture to a boil and let it reduce for 3 to 4 minutes.
- Scoop the pickles into your prepared jars and put on the lids. Let the jars cool a little bit before turning them upside-down. Then leave them to cool down completely.
- Letting your jars cool while upside-down, should create a vacuum. If one of your jars turns out not to be completely vacuum (there always seems to be one), simply use this one first.
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