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My homemade pickles don't have the pungent smell / flavor that I get immediately when I smell the store bought pickled green chillis. What causes this and how can I recreate it?
I want to recreate this one:
https://themintleaves.com/products/ashoka-green-chilli-pickle-500g
Ingredients: green chilli, sunflower oil, salt, mustard seeds, fenugreek, chilli powder, turmeric powder, asafoetida, acetic acid.
Below is my current in progress attempt to recreate it:
I am trying to recreate these pickles from scratch with ingredients I can find in a big city in the USA.
My main goal is to use a less spicy green chili, but otherwise get as close as possible to these taste of this brand I found at the store.
https://themintleaves.com/products/ashoka-green-chilli-pickle-500g
Ingredients: green chilli, sunflower oil, salt, mustard seeds, fenugreek, chilli powder, turmeric powder, asafoetida, acetic acid.
At first, I tried to lacto ferment some anahiem, some poblano, and some serrano chillis in 2 percent salt brine (2 percent including the weight of the chillis and spices and water) with a few tablespoons of mustard oil, and freshly ground black mustard and fenugreek seeds. Along with a tiny bit of asafoetida. Then I let them ferment in a sealed jar for around a week and a half. chillis were cut up into rough 1 by 2 inch chunks (relatively big)
There was a lot of bubbling so i had to burp the container every day or two once i was about 3 days in.
The pickles are still crunchy and have a nice sour note now. The spices seem pretty good, except their doesn't seem to be a pungent smell/flavor like I get from the jar from the store. I wonder if my black mustard seeds are not pungent enough (if I chew on a few raw in my mouth I don't get much pungency at all) or if the salt content being much much lower than the jar is a big problem (store bought seems to be like 9-13 percent salt).
Today I took the pickles out of the brine and added some extra salt (mabye 4-5 percent now), added a lot more mustard oil that I toasted some fresh ground black mustard seeds, fresh ground whole fennel seeds, and fresh ground whole fenugreek seeds. I mixed the chilis and salt and oil, added a splash of vinegar, and then added just enough of the old brine to cover the pickles in the jar. (there is now a much much greater proportion of oil vs water in the pickles). Also added some extra asafoetida.
Will update if pickles taste more similar in a day or two.
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