25 Feb 2011

Pickled habaneros



I found some habaneros in an Indian grocery store the other day and in a moment of madness decided to pickle them.  Be warned though - even though the pickling has tempered the heat a little they are still incredibly spicy but the floral aromatic flavours are lovely and these taste especially good in sandwiches (in very small quantities).

Ingredients
  • 5 habanero chillies
  • 60 millilitres cider vinegar
  • 40 millilitres water
  • 2 black peppercorns
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 10 coriander seeds
  • 1 large clove of garlic
Method
  1. The first step is to sterilize the jar.  Set your oven to 140 degrees centigrade.  Now wash your jar in soapy water and rinse in clean warm water.  Leave it to drip-dry, upside down, on a rack in the oven for at least half an hour while you make pickles.
  2. Wash the chillies and dry them.  Stab them 4 or five times with a knife and leave to one side.
  3. Place all the remaining ingredients in a saucepan.  Stir well, place a lid on the pan and heat for 8-10 minutes.
  4. Leave the vinegar mixture to cool.
  5. When the jar is sterilised, carefully remove it from the oven and leave to cool.
  6. Place the chillies in the cool jar.
  7. Pour the vinegar mixture over the chillies.
  8. Close and jar and place in the fridge.
  9. Leave to pickle for at least 2 weeks.
  10. Eat within a month.


4 comments:

  1. Beautiful pic, and these sound amazing! I'm just obsessed with habaneros and am growing them for the first time this year, so will give this a go if I get a glut of them! :)

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  2. Hi Souperier. Growing them? That sounds great - good luck with the chilli harvest! Reena

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  3. Ooh now that is one chilli that I cannot eat. And I can really eat chillies. For some reason this chilli alone manages to defeat me. Pickled would be nice but quite likely still too hot for me!

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  4. Hi spiceandmore. Lovely to hear from you! Yup - even though it's pickled it is still incredibly hot. I finely chop 1/4 of a pickled habanero into a sandwich - tasty but spicy!

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