Dry chillies

“Are you surprised on seeing this pic?” asked Rithu to one of her friends Caitlin who had an expression of dislike on her face.

“Oh please,don’t give me that face because once you taste am sure that you will like it more than me” said Rithu.

“Well,there is a story behind this dish,do you now that?” asked Rithu and this got Caitlin interested because she couldn’t think that this simple looking dish could have a story.

Rithu started off by explaining that it was one of the staple dishes in South India where they could eat this dish without any other curry with rice,chapathi or breakfast and it is very simple that even we can make it.Rithu stopped there because she wanted to serve Caitlin her Basmati rice,lentil curry along with fried chillies to get a taste of it.Both Rithu and Caitlin loved hot and spicy food so they tried out different hot and spicy dishes during the weekend and sometimes adding their own twist to it.

Though Caitlin was reluctant at first once the mixture of rice,lentil curry and the dry chilli hit her taste buds you could palpate her joy- literally like fireworks in her eyes.Rithu has never seen Caitlin eat a dish that quick and even asking for more.Rithu wanted to make sure that her roommate has not broken so she asked,”Caitlin,are you ok?Are you that hungry?You can have all of it if you want.”

Caitlin licked the plate clean and told Rithu that it was the most satisfying meal ever.She also told Rithu if we ever fall out just make this combo and I will forgive you - to which they started laughing and nearly fell off their chairs.

Rithu said that the recipe is simple can be done in many ways.

1.Choose the raw green chilly you want depending on how hot you want it.It’s your choice if you want to slit or have no slits,leave it in brine for 2 weeks then take them out, dry them in the sun till they are bone dry.Store the dry chillies in a container and fry them in oil when you want to have them.

2.Choose the raw green chilly you want depending on how hot you want it.It’s your choice if you want to slit or have no slits,leave it in brine for 2 weeks then pour out the contents that is chillies and the brine in a flatter vessel and dry them in the sun till the brine evaporates and they are bone dry.Store the dry chillies in a container and fry them in oil when you want to have them.

3.Now if you want to reduce the hotness of your green chillies you can also put them in salted curd or buttermilk,dry all of it in the sun and fry them like the above mentioned procedure.

I even know someone a colleague who uses it in curries instead of chilly powder and salt or as a topping on her oats in the morning as she cannot have sweet stuff early mornings.

Caitlin was astonished as the recipe was simple and as to why they haven’t tried it yet.Caitlin asked Rithu to tell her the story behind this recipe.So, Rithu said that from centuries South India was famous for its spices and especially hot dishes and even the people would eat rice if they had no curry with just a green chilly in the older days.

As per Indian culture,the families were larger or joint as they stayed in the same home from generations to generations unless only daughters were married off the sons,their wives,son’s siblings and their spouses and kids all lived under one roof.

Though the main occupation at that time was farming,the women in the house had a Herculean task of cooking three fresh meals a day,keeping the house clean and growing their own vegetables as well.So,to preserve the vegetables from going bad ,they dried the excess vegetables which were at risk of decay to use it in the future.

“Clever!” exclaimed Caitlin and she said why can’t we try it ,we could save loads doing the same.Back to the story,so while drying the vegetables,they had to sit guard so the birds or animals did not steal them for food but the initial step was a failure as the dry vegetables started to rot after the first four weeks.

The housewives were dejected and blamed each other for wasting and spoiling the produce so just like pickles why don’t we try drying them in salt,hence started the experiments which led to this dish in the end.Different Indian states use different chillies to suit their palate.

This can be applied to any vegetable under the sun just that some of them take longer than the others to dry for example like tomatoes.During famines or floods when they had nothing in produce to eat ,the housewives would bring these dry salty vegetables mostly chillies to have with rice.

So that is the story behind it.