Indian plates are full of variety. From salad to heavy Naan roti, you will find everything you can imagine on a proper Indian plate. There is also a saying ‘56 bhog Ki thali’ means 56 different types of food items on one plate.
Although after all these varieties, India has one very common food item that you will find in almost every place of India. That’s a pickle. A pickle is a special dish that consists of fruits, vegetables, and spices. This dish has a long list of different flavors & tastes. One of these pickles that you can find in each home is ‘Green Chili Pickle’.
Green chili pickle is a sour & spicy pickle made up of green chilies. These chilies are the favorite of every desi Indian. Here in the Jha Ji store, we make green chili for people who love spicy dishes on their plates.
What is the Jha Ji store?
Kalpana & Uma Jha, two women from the land of Darbhanga, Bihar have started their own business of pickles. Jha Ji store is not only a business but it’s a dream for the Jha family. Kalpana & Uma is inheriting the cultural & traditional goodness in their pickles. Kalpana & Uma say that their mothers have always guided them. Their teachings are the core of their dishes.
Kalpana & Uma have been sharing their homemade pickles for more than 30 years. They used to make tens of kilos of it each season and send it to even New York. In the month of March 2021, both the women of the Jha family decided to start their own branding and to go global.
Jha Ji store is a dream come true for Kalpana & Uma. In a short period of 4 months, they have reached each corner of India and already have thousands of customers all over the country. Their goal is to reach 10000 customers in the time period of 2021-2023 and give employment to 5000 women of Darbhanga.
History of Green Chili pickle:
Green chili is an integral part of Indian food. In almost every corner of India, people love to have its taste in their food. But most people of Bihar, Haryana, Rajasthan, Assam, and Uttar Pradesh love it. When it comes to pickles, green chili will always be on top. You can easily take it with a variety of breakfast, lunch, and dinners.
It is hard to tell when, where, and who invented the green chili pickle. Almost all Indians have stories of their grandmother’s grandmother cooking delicious pickles for their families. Well, it is said that pickles have a history as old as 5000 years. That means from the very beginning of Indian civilization, we have mastered the taste of pickles.
Today you can find many different types of chilies all over India. Assam has the world record for hottest chili, Bhut Jolokia. Andhra chilies are famous for their bright color & fiery heat. Whereas Kashmiri chilies are deep red in color. Athana, a town in Rajasthan is famous for its long, fleshy Athana chilies. A very vast business community called Marwari cooks the Athana chili pickle. Marwari slits it in half and fills it up with many spices.
Benefits of green chili:
Green chili plays a special role in Indian food. In some places, people even take it as an extra to eat directly. Whereas the majority eat chilies with a dish. Green chili has a lot of beneficial ingredients in it. It is high in Vitamin C and is a great source of potassium.
You may not know this but eating green chili can actually make you healthier & good-looking too. Here are some benefits that you can get by adding green chilies to your food plate.
-
Increase the skin glow:
Green chilies are a great source of Vitamin C. Vitamin C is the component that is actually helpful for your skincare regime. It adds glow to your skin and moisturizes the overall skin of lips, face, palms, etc. Due to its antioxidant properties, vitamin C plays a major role in the wound healing process.
-
Helps in digestion:
Enriched in vitamin C, green chilies also help our metabolism to work more efficiently. Also due to its spicy nature, it helps our mouth to generate more saliva when chewing. Saliva helps food to composite and become more appropriate for our body.
-
Good for weight loss:
Green Chilies are a great option when it comes to losing weight. Green chili helps in the burning of excess fat present in the body. And increases metabolism rate hence making you more fit and healthy.
-
Helpful in Diabetes:
Green chili in nature is spicy. This quality of green chili helps to balance the blood sugar level in the human body. People who are patients of high sugar levels must include it in their regular diet.
Apart from the above Green chilies are also rich in iron, copper, protein & carbohydrates, vitamin B6, and vitamin A.
Indian’s emotional connection to Green chili pickle:
Indians have a great number of dishes on their menu. From Kashmir to Kanyakumari and from Assam to Rajasthan, Pondicherry & Goa, you will find hundreds of dishes on your plate. And all Indians have somewhere an emotional connection with what they eat. Indians also have a ritual of thanking the supreme God and leaving some food outside the plate before eating.
The same goes with the green chili pickle. If you have seen the great movie ‘Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam’ then you must remember the scene where Aishwarya Roy Bachchan eats chilies and cries at the same time. The same goes with the one scene in ‘Shivaji: the boss’ movie where Rajnikant sir does the same.
For us Indians, chilies are personal. While some don’t like it at all, some surely are in love with it. We eat, enjoy, and boast about the rich food culture (especially mirchi ka achaar) of our Indian history.
So next time whenever you want to know how great Indian food tastes, try our Hari Mirch Ka Achaar.
