Zaiqa

Hot Indian summers are taken full advantage of by preparing many kinds of sun-dried products by women which last whole year long. Sukhi Dahi Mirch is one such preperation where the green chillies are allowed to ferment in yogurt and salt mixture for a while and then sun-dried until they have absorbed all the yogurt and dried with a changed light yellowish skin color. This sun-dried chilli is then enjoyed as a condiment along with food.

Long Green chillies soaking in Yogurt+Salt mixture

With summer here in Toronto in full swing officially, I decided to prepare a few of these when I spotted some beautiful long green chillies at a store here. Unfortulately sunshine for continous week, even in summers, with no cloudy/rainy day is a little unimaginable here. Nevertheless I was lucky enough with some strong Toronto summer sunshine for my mirchi’s to sun dry and satisfy our cravings.

Soaked chillies sun drying

Chillies with changed color on day-3

The below recipe prepares a small batch, if you would like to prepare a large stock to last a whole year, just double/triple the amounts of ingredients and continue accordingly.

Sukhi Dahi Mirch – Sun dried Yogurt Chillies

Ingredients:

Long fresh Green chillies – 30 no.s
Sour Yogurt – 1 1/2 cup
Salt – 1 tsp

Deep fried Dahi Mirch   ~  Sun-dried Dahi Mirch

Method:

1. In a stainless steel bowl, lightly whip yogurt with salt and keep aside.
2. Wash and pat dry the chillies thoroughly. Slit the green chillies carefully, keeping the stalk intact, and remove and discard the seeds. Wash your hands immediately with warm soapy water immediately, or else there are chances that your hands will burn later on.
3. Using a spoon add all the slit green chillies into yogurt+salt mixture and let them sit at room temperature uncovered for 3 to 4 hours.
4. Line a baking sheet with wax paper/aluminium foil, or a few layers of newspaper and lay the soaked green chillies one by one on the wax paper, leaving a small space between each of them. Discard the left over yogurt.
5. Place the baking sheet with the chillies in an area where you get maximum sun light from morning till evening for 4 to 5 days. Keep bringing the baking sheet back from outdoors to indoors every evening and place it back in sun the next day in the morning. Turn the chillies once in a while so that the other sides are also exposed to the sun. The color of the chillies change from green to light beige or yellowish in color and their skin dries up.
6. Once they are dry and their color has changed after 5 days of sun drying, store them in an air tight container. To consume them, deep fry the sun-dried chillies once the oil is completely hot for a few seconds and enjoy them as a condiment along with food. Be careful when you fry them, the right temperature of the oil is essential, as they might burn quickly when deep frying.

Other Amazing sun dried Indian food products from this series are:
1. Dal ki Badiyan – Sun Dried Lentil Nuggets
2. Dhoop Nimbu ~ Sun Preserved Lemons

Luv,
Mona