Hari mirch
Fresh green chilli, sliced, slit or pounded into Indian food for heat and a grassy bite.
Also: green chilli, pachai milagai, mirapakaya, fresh chilli
Hari mirch is the fresh, unripe green chilli of Indian kitchens, usually the slim varieties of Capsicum annuum. It adds a sharp, vegetal heat that differs from the deeper flavour of dried red chilli. Cooks slit it lengthwise to release some heat into dal and curries, chop it into chutneys and raita, or pound it with ginger and salt. Serrano and Thai bird's-eye are common stand-ins elsewhere. A dish seasoned with green chilli tastes fresher than the same dish with red. It is eaten raw on the side in many Indian meals, with salt and lime, or fried and salted as a crisp.