Thecha (Green chili thecha)

A chutney made with chillies and garlic, usually served with traditional western maharashtrian bread (Bhakri)

Theres basically two kinds of thechas. One thats made with green chillies and another made with red chillies. I looovvee both. They just add the extra zing to a meal. At any given time, you will find this in my fridge!

If you want to make the perfect thecha, its very important to use a mortar and pestle and do some hard work! If you are too lazy, you can use the food processor/ grinder, but let me warn you, its not going to be anywhere close to this one! If you have a stone mortar and pestle, nothing like it. I had access to a marble one, good enough.

You will need:

15-20 green chillies, chopped

7-8 cloves of garlic, chopped

a bunch of cilantro 

-- the proportion is key here!

sea salt (the coarse texture helps in grinding and tastes better, if not available, normal salt will work fine)

half a tbsp of oil

1. Take all the chopped ingredients in the mortar, little at a time, but in proportion

2. start grinding, as you grind the volume will reduce and you can add in more ingredients `

3. After all of the ingredients are in the grinder, grind till you get a homogenous chutney (as shown in the picture)

4. Heat oil in a small pan til warm

5. add the ground thecha, to the warm oil, stir well and let heat for just 1/2 a minute and turn off the heat (you dont want to cook the thecha. This procedure is to just reduce the pungency of the garlic)

The thecha is ready! serve it with bhakri. Bhakri is thick and bland, so its a perfect vehicle for something as spicy and flavorful as this!