Challa Mirapakayalu | Curd Chillies | Dahi Mirchi | Sundried Items

I am a big fan of accompaniments for any dish as they elevate the taste of the original dish and one such example of this is, "Challa Mirapakayalu".If it is paired with Andhra style Pappu (dal) or rasam or any simple curry or even with plain curd rice it tastes extremely delicious.

We usually pick light colored green chillies which are less spicy, to make these curd chillies.These green chillies are marinated in sour buttermilk for a couple of days and are dried in the sun.Though the process is very simple,it is time consuming.The whole process takes some 10-12 days as they are supposed to be marinated in the buttermilk mixture for half a day , dried and then marinated again and then dried . This process is to be continued for a couple of days. I have explained the process in detail,so please go through the recipe thoroughly before you attempt it.

Challa Mirapakayalu | Dahi Mirchi  Recipe:

(stores up to an year)

Ingredients:

1/2 kg Green chillies (light or dark colored variety)

1 liter slightly sour Buttermilk (neither thin nor thick)

Salt to taste

Method:

• Select the green chillies which are slightly plumpy.You can use the light colored or dark colored variety according to your wish.Light colored ones are less spicy where as the dark colored ones are very spicy.
• Wash the green chillies and dry them on a kitchen napkin for 1-2 hrs or you can use them immediately.
• Slit them vertically keeping the ends intact and also retain the stalks of green chillies.If you are using light colored green chillies you can keep the seeds and for dark colored ones you can remove the seeds slightly as they are spicy.
• Add salt to buttermilk and beat nicely,the consistency of buttermilk should neither be very thin nor thick.
• Add the green chillies to the buttermilk mixture and make sure they are well immersed in the buttermilk.
• Cover it and soak it for 3 days and leave it aside.They will slightly change in color after 3 days.
• After 3 days squeeze them(keep the buttermilk mixture) slightly with hands and arrange them in a single layer on a plastic sheet and dry them under sun until evening.In the evening again add them to the left over buttermilk mixture and let it sit in the buttermilk mixture overnight.
• Next day morning squeeze them again and dry them until evening and follow the same process for the chillies until all the buttermilk mixture is finished.It might take few days 5-6 days.
• After the buttermilk mixture is finished you can dry them in sun for another few days until they are completely dried.The whole process takes 10-12 days in total for marinating,drying and remarinating and complete drying process.So be patient while doing this.
• Store them in an air tight container.It stays for more than a year.

Deep fry them in oil when required until they turn brown and become crisp.Serve them as an accompaniment with Dal/ Sambar/ Rasam/ Curd and Rice and also Curd rice.

Notes:

1. I suggest to use the light green colored green chillies for this as they are less spicy.
2. Few make a stuffing with cumin powder and some spices and stuff it in the chillies, I would post that version sometime later.