Ginger-Chilli Paste - Home-Made Spices

Ginger Chili paste is a healthy spicy paste for spicing up your recipes. You can cook, saute, or fry your preparation and then, add this paste while spicing up your dish at the end stage. It is a healthy and hygienic thing in place of those market-made pastes which are seasoned by adding other preservatives and flavors. So, keep this homemade paste ready at hand for preparing your breakfast dishes or all those curry dishes needed for your meals.

How To Prepare Ginger-Chili Paste

It is very simple. Procure the ingredients and grind them in your mixer/grinder to a paste. And, store the paste in a tight-lid container in your refrigerator for daily use up to 10 days. 

Ingredients for Ginger-Chili Paste

1. Ginger (raw) 100 grams

2. Green Chili   100 grams

3. Turmeric Powder 1/2 t/spoon

4. Salt powder   1 teaspoon

Step-By-Step Preparation Instructions

1. First of all, you need to wash the ginger and dry it for some time. It should be completely dry before using it.
2. Chop the ginger pods into small pieces for easy grinding. Remove any bad portions from it.
3. Remove the top caps of the chilies and cut them into pieces. Each one can be cut into 2 or 3 parts depending on the length. (Ensure the chilies that you use are also fresh and not wet.)
4. Now, put all the four ingredients in your grinding jar and grind them to paste without adding water. No need to make it into a very smooth paste. A bit roughness is okay.
5. You may need to grind it 3, 4 times if the ginger is hard (mixing thoroughly during the intervals), without adding any extra water, so as to store it for 10 days.

Now, your Ginger-Chili paste is ready for use. Remove the paste from the grinder jar and store it in a tight lid container. You can draw from it with a dry spoon whenever you need it. One spoonful is enough for making spicy dishes for a family of 4 to 5 persons.

If you want to use it along with the pepper, coriander, cumin mixed spice powder, then you may halve the quantities of both those spice mixtures to prepare your dishes tasty and healthy.

You should add this paste or the spice powder while your preparation is still on the flame. After adding the mix, you need to fry or saute the recipe for one more minute or at least for half-a-minute to make it tasty.

Breakfast Recipes: Idli With Chutney

Idli is a very healthy breakfast item for your stomach. Eating Idli with chili-spice powder or a light Chutney is a good habit instead of consuming it with a Sambar dish.

I hope that most of you know that Idli is prepared with the ingredients of Rice and Black Gram Dal (known as Urad Dal).

But, it is not the ordinary rice that we use for making idlis. Idli requires boiled rice that is sold in markets (at all provision stores in Southern India) to make it.

The chutney that I refer to here is prepared with fried Chana Dal and Coconut (either raw coconut or dried nut).

Idli Preparation Method

You need to keep things ready 10 to 12 hours before the actual preparation of this recipe. You need to soak the main ingredients for at least 6 to 8 hours before grinding them to paste. Then leave the mixture for at least 2 to 3 hours before preparing the idlis. Of course, you need the Idli Cooker (the idli frame and its container) for preparing the idlis. I am explaining this process, step-by-step, in full detail in the following sections.

Ingredients for Idli Recipe

• 250 grams of Idli rava (roughly ground particles of Boiled Rice). The rice is broken in the flour mills to obtain medium-sized refined particles. 
• 100 grams of split black gram known as urad dal (The split lentil is white in color)
• salt one tea-spoonful
• water for soaking and grinding

Step-By-Step Preparation Instructions

1. Soak the lentils in a bowl filled with water for 8 hours.
2. Remove the soaked lentils from water and put in the grinding jar. Now, grind carefully adding some water each time till it gets ground into a smooth paste.
3. Now, remove the paste from the jar into a large bowl.
4. Mix the idli rava into it along with the salt and some water to make it a soft paste. It should not get diluted.
5. Leave the mixture for some time so that the contents blend thoroughly.
6. Now, get ready the idli cooker with its plates.
7. Apply ghee or any refined cooking oil to the plates so that the cooked idli does not stick to the plates and could be removed without damaging its round shape. (Apply only a bit of oil with your fingers to the plates)
8. Now take the empty cooker and add some water into it for the purpose of cooking idlis with the steam generated from it. Take care that the water level does not touch the idli plates frame when you put the frame in it.
9. Pour the idli mix with a ladle into the oil-applied-plates to their levels (taking care that it does not spill out when fixing the plates to the frame).
10. Now, place the filled frame into the cooker. Light the stove and put the cooker on the flame. Close it with the lid.
11. Within a few minutes, the idlis will be cooked and you will listen to the whistles coming. Wait for 3, or 4 whistles so that it gets perfectly cooked.
12. Now put off the flame and leave it to cool for some time. After cooling, you can remove the plates and separate the idlis from the plates carefully with your fingers.
13. You can serve them instantly to the members along with some side-dish like chutney, spice powder, or the soup known as Sambar.
    

Idli Chutney 

Ingredients for Chutney

1. Fried Chana Dal (Fried chick pigeon peas) 100 grams
2. Coconut (normal or dry nut) 50 grams
3. Green chili 3 nos.
4. Ginger (a small piece) for taste
5. Salt 1/2 spoon (or as you prefer it)
6. Top-Up ingredients (like mustard seeds, cumin, hing, a bit oil)

Step-By-Step Preparation Tips for Idli Chutney

1. Cut the coconut into small pieces for easy grinding. Cut green chilis also.
2. Now, put the ingredients from no.1 to no.5 into your grinding jar.
3. Grind them adding water little by little, in stages, as per the requirement. You can add a little curd also if you prefer to get some good taste. After grinding, the chutney should become soft and in a thick liquid form.
4. Now, remove the chutney into any bowl and top-up it by frying the topping ingredients in a small frying pan.
5. Now you can serve the chutney with a tablespoon along with the idlis to your members.