Too Darned Hot: Mirchicha Chatka

When I saw chillis as the theme for Barbara's event 'The Spice is Right', this image of the non-culinary use of green chillis kept coming back to my mind. For those not in the know: This 'garland'-like thing in the photograph on the left is hung on cars or at the main door of houses/offices in India. It is mainly to ward off the evil and/or to protect the object from jealous eyes. :) I don't know whether it involves *light* black magic or whether there is any scientific explanation behind it. (Although there are rules for making it. Like it can't have just any number of chillis. It should be an odd number like 5,7,9...) I don't really mean to endorse this practise here. It is just that you see it so often at so many places in India that the image gets imprinted on your mind. I am sure, many (or almost all) of my Indian fellow-bloggers and readers will agree with me.

Well, anyway, what I made for this event is a Maharashtrian 'Tondilavane' (chutney-like dish) called 'Mirchicha Chatka'. It is my mother's recipe, and she is 'too darned good' at making it. :)
Now, 'mirchi' is chilli and 'chatka' means a 'burn' in Marathi. That should already give you an idea about this preparation. :) Just in case I am not clear enough, please please please make sure that you don't serve yourself or others more than a teaspoon-full at a time. And please let everybody at the table know that the main ingredient in this one is green chillis...instead of them knowing it the hard way after the first morsel. :) It is still a good idea to keep some water/sweet drink or sugar ready at the table. :) :)

Recipe for Mirchicha Chatka

Makes about ½ cup.

Ingredients:

9-10 green chillis
5-6 tbsp yogurt
½ tsp salt (or to taste)

1 tsp oil
¼ mustard seeds
¼ cumin seeds

Method:

1. Destem and wash the green chillis. Roast (almost burn) them on open gas flame. (Traditionally, they were roasted on hot ambers.) If you don't have gas burners (like yours truly :-( ), bake them for about ten minutes in a pre-heated oven at 180°C. The chillis should turn brown black like in the following picture.

Roasted green chillis & yogurt

2. Once cool, mix the roasted green chillis and salt in the chutney attachment/coffee grinder of your food processor and give it just one whirl. We want the chillis shredded in faily big pieces and not churned into a paste.
3. Mix the green chillis and salt with yogurt in a serving bowl.
4. Make Tadka by heating the oil in a pan and letting the mustard and cumin seeds splutter in it. Turn the heat off before the last few seeds pop, because we don't want to add it immediately to the yogurt for it will turn bitter.
5. Once slightly cooler, add the Tadka to the chilli-yogurt mixture. Stir.

Serve 'Mirchicha Chatka' at room temperature and at your own risk. :)