Give me pickle any day, any time (spicy one!)... just love it! But natural that one of my major attempts in my kitchen is to make home made pickle. No more pickle from the market for very many obvious reasons.
Pickle is such a flexi stuff that you can end up making one from most of the vegetable / non-veg : most favored one is Lemon. Pickle varieties can also be based on type of preparation : Dried, Juicy, Instant, etc...
As a first attempt, I made a juicy spicy lemon pickle. Easy to make and maintain as well, as compared to something like 'vadu manga' or 'avakai' (mango based pickles)
Ingredients:
Lemon - I tried this batch with 10 lemons
Green Chilies - (Optional) - Approx 10 cut into small pieces
Red Chile powder or Pickle Powder - Use Qty as spicy as you need. Roughly 10 red chilies dried and powdered
Turmeric Powder - 1 tsp
Salt - To taste
Hing - 1/2 tsp
Sesame Oil (Til) - 1/4 cup or so (this pickle doesn't need too much of oil)
Method:
Pickle is such a flexi stuff that you can end up making one from most of the vegetable / non-veg : most favored one is Lemon. Pickle varieties can also be based on type of preparation : Dried, Juicy, Instant, etc...
As a first attempt, I made a juicy spicy lemon pickle. Easy to make and maintain as well, as compared to something like 'vadu manga' or 'avakai' (mango based pickles)
Lemon - I tried this batch with 10 lemons
Green Chilies - (Optional) - Approx 10 cut into small pieces
Red Chile powder or Pickle Powder - Use Qty as spicy as you need. Roughly 10 red chilies dried and powdered
Turmeric Powder - 1 tsp
Salt - To taste
Hing - 1/2 tsp
Sesame Oil (Til) - 1/4 cup or so (this pickle doesn't need too much of oil)
Method:
- Wash the lemons and dry them with a towel
- Cut them into dices (a big lemon can be cut into 4 halves) and deseed them
- Place these in a clean bottle (ensure it has no water and dried)
- To this add turmeric powder and salt
I let the above-mix soak for 3-4 days with daily stirring. To stir, use a dried ladle.
- End of Day 3 or 4, you can see the texture change and the lime juice will be seen.
- To this, add the cut green chilies.
- Allow it to soak for another day or two (I did to allow the chili soak in well with the lemon juice)
After Day 5-6, the lemon and chilies are well soaked and the skin of lemon would have changed color.
- Now, add the chili powder or pickle powder and hing
- Taste for salt, if needed add a bit more
- In a kadai, add oil. If you like it, add some mustard seeds. As they crackle, remove from fire
- Add this to the pickle mix and stir it well with the ladle. (If the bottle is with small mouth, you can move the entire mix to a broad vessel, mix well and then bottle it again)
- Allow this mix to soak for another 4-5 days at least.
Change of texture is the best indication of readiness of the pickle. First attempt was well received :)
Next in the making : Vadu Manga... can't wait :)
