Indian Green Chilli Paste

We are blitzing green chillis and a bit of oil to make green chilli paste! Preparing this paste in advance will make Indian cooking so much faster.

Do you love eating Indian food but hate how much time you spend cooking it? I’m going to let you in on a secret (I sound like an infomercial, lol)… cooking Indian food can be easy! I’m here to help!

The secret to easy Indian cooking is to spend a bit of time preparing essentials in advance. I promise, if you do that, daily Indian cooking will be a breeze.

If you prepare the following in advance, all you’ll likely need to do on the day of cooking is to add spices to a dish:

• onion masala
• ginger paste
• garlic paste
• and this green chilli paste

Why make this Green Chilli Paste?

Not only will this paste simplify daily Indian cooking, but it’s also a great way to preserve green chillis. Whenever I go to the Indian grocery store, I stock up on green chillis, and if I don’t use them fast enough, they start to get moldy or soggy.

By blending and then freezing green chillis, you can store and use them for months to come!

How to Store and Use Green Chilli Paste:

After blending the green chillis with oil, I store them in 1 teaspoon cubes. I like using this tiny cube silicone tray for green chilli paste and garlic paste and ginger paste. Knowing that each cube is equal to 1 teaspoon makes it easy to use in recipes. My guess is that 1 teaspoon of this paste is equal to about 2 green chillis. If you prefer less spicy food, you can always fill the cube half-way.

Suggested

I like using this tiny cube silicone tray for green chilli paste and garlic paste and ginger paste. Knowing that each cube is equal to 1 teaspoon makes it easy to use in recipes.

But first… a Warning!

Do not attempt to make green chilli paste without wearing gloves!

I always wear disposable food-grade gloves when handling large amounts of chillis. (Bonus, you can use these gloves to color your hair too… ahem, possibly speaking from experience, will neither confirm nor deny, lol).

How to make Green Chilli Paste:

Use whatever green chilli you’d like. I’m using small Indian chillis (available at any Indian grocery store).

Put on some gloves (crucial!) and remove the stems. Add the chillis to the food processor along with some oil and blend, blend, blend!

You’ll notice that this green chilli paste more closely resembles minced chillis than “paste,” which is fine. I prefer not to add water (as it will cause splatters when it meets hot oil) or other ingredients (some add cilantro or ginger) to this “paste.”

Spoon the paste into this tiny cube silicone tray. I really like this silicone tray because each cube holds 1 teaspoon worth of paste.

If you don’t want to get the tray, you can also freeze this paste in a ziplock bag and then flatten the bag so that the paste in a thin layer – that way, it’ll be easy to break off however much you need. I did this prior to using the cubes, but really do prefer the cubes.

Once the paste has frozen, pop out the cubes (it’s easy), store it in a ziplock bag or a glass container, and keep it in the freezer.

How to use Green Chilli Paste:

When a recipe calls for green chilli, use the paste in its place. That’s it! Again, I’d say 1 teaspoon of this paste is equal to 2 small green chillis.

Indian Green Chilli Paste

Indian Green Chilli Paste

5 from 3 reviews

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Cuisine Indian

Ingredients

 

• ▢ ½ pound green chillis
• ▢ 2 tablespoons oil

Instructions

 

• Rinse the green chillis and remove the stems. 
• Add the green chillis and oil to a food processor and blend until the green chillis are minced. This green chilli paste will more closely resemble minced chillis than "paste" which is fine. I prefer not to add water  (as it will cause splatters) or other ingredients to this “paste.
• You can either spoon the paste into this tiny cube silicone tray (each cube holds 1 teaspoon of volume) or you can store the paste in a ziplock bag, just be sure to flatten the paste into a thin layer so it is easy to break off.

Notes

• I recommend using this tiny cube silicone tray to make 1 teaspoon cubes of chilli paste. You can also use it when making ginger paste or garlic paste.
• I highly suggest wearing disposable food-grade gloves when handling hot chillis).

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