Life is so much easy when it comes bottled! You don't agree? Well, let me show you how exactly it does. Many times I face a dish that requires just 1 teaspoon of this or that. And to make that I really got to sweat myself out and think of ways to get that ground to proper consistency in my mixer jar. Believe me, my smallest jar can mix quantity that fits for an army! I guess when I bought the mixer, that tiny fact slipped my mind. I checked all other features so well no doubt. But since we were in more of joint family types then, the small jar never got much importance.
Now it matters a lot. Every time I use it to grind something in small quantities, I ask myself why I didn't have this hindsight before. Well, you can't help that anyway. and one needs to have a positive approach to everything. How should one tackle this and improvise on the situation? The solution was only grinding it in bulk and storing it.
And that's exactly what we do. Grind a huge batch and store it and use it as and when required. The refrigerator is a gift to mankind, rather to the chef. And chefs at home are known to testing the shelf life of you name it, is already done!
That reminds me of that apple, that lived forever in the cold compartments of our fridge for God knows how many months! Of course, I know the date, it was on the Diwali day that it came to our house and unhappily lived ever after until a few weeks ago when we took pity and gave it life. We, the ever sacrificing selves, wanted the others to enjoy the fruits of that and in the end, none did. Anyway, that was a story!
Coming back to the grinding and storing in bulks, Green chilis are something that ground in bulk and stored. There is really no recipe, just a basic understanding of how it works.
Wash and pat dry the green chilies. Take the amount that fits your jar, you really need to get a paste. Or depending on your requirement, it can be coarse too
Grind without adding water, if you find it is not getting ground finely, then add a teaspoon of water and proceed.
Once you get the consistency of the paste, transfer to a bottle and store.
This easily stays fresh for a week or 10 days.
If adding too much water, towards the end of its shelf life you will start getting a fermented smell out of the bottle.
Take the required amount with a dry spoon and put back the bottle.
I normally use green chili paste in Cauliflower Manchurian
Or dry sides dishes like Cabbage Fry
Or any dish that calls for green chilis and you want it to be spicier.
Check out the other Back to Basic in the Indian Basic Series!
meeso says
Great idea, and no chopping chili's for 10 days!
simplyfood says
Thanks for such a useful tip.I make the paste and freeze in ice cube trays and so when ever I need some I just pop an ice cube.
Anushruti says
My mother has green chilli paste ground this way in the fridge ALWAYS! I prefer to grind them fresh with a mortar and pestle.
pelicano says
Looks nice! And so handy to do it all at one time and use for awhile. I do the same also with ginger, garlic, red chile and cilantro. One of those "future posts" that I have yet to do, ya know? 🙂
Hema says
This is my first comment in this blog, though I am a regular reader.
In India you can get a small grinding jar for all mixie brands. Just ask for the small grinding jar for your brand in shops where they sell mixie like Rathna stores in T.Nagar.
Hope it helps !!
Parita says
My mom too has green chilli paste in fridge all the time, its such a time saver when in rush!
Lebouffe says
You can try grinding it with a spoon of oil instead of water. I do that for my ginger garlic paste, and it stays really long
Turmericnspice says
This is a wonderful idea..You have a nice blog
sunil says
great idea to preserve green chilly paste particularly when adding little oil insted of water while grinding it lasts long and no smell thanks can you tell me how to make tomato puree
silvana says
what type of green chilies do you use?
Srivalli says
Sorry I am not aware of the name. I have used the regular green chilies that we get.