A pickle for every season, a pickle for every taste

Pickles are an essential part of an Indian meal. No matter how spicy the meal may be, a little extra zing in the form of pickle just adds a new dimension.

Every region has its own pickles and ways of pickling the same seasonal fruit or vegetable. For instance, the Punjabi pickle is vastly different from its cousins elsewhere. Even the pickles themselves can be different in in the same culinary style.

For instance, Gujerat has a spicy mango pickle and two variants of a tangy sweet and sour and spicy pickled mango too!

My tryst with pickling

Growing up, pickles were taboo on our dining table because my father insisted that only bad cooks needed pickles and other condiments to spice things up.

My mother, being my mother, never kept a pickle on the table unless she was entertaining. Because no matter how tasty the food may be, some guest insist on having a pickle.

So, year after year and season after season, my mother would make jars of pickled mango, green chilli, lemon, tomato, and winter vegetables.

And predictably, my father being my father would sample them all and even eat them from time to time giving his expert comments and unwanted criticism.

I began making pickles only after marriage, when I realised that Hubby Dear loved a good pickle.

Pickle season for me begins after the first monsoon showers. That’s when the new crop of Rajapuri mangoes is at its best. This year, pickling season began early because last year’s pickles were over, and Ms Papaya had already gone for 5 months without them.

Of course, she did find a substitute in the original Hotchaa hot sauce, which she claims is the next best thing, but honestly, I couldn’t let that be a substitute for my original mango pickle.

So the minute Dwarka my mango supplier at Bhaji Gulley informed me that the new lot of Rajapuri were available, I went off hot footing and bought 3 kg of cut raw mango.

April has been unusually hot these days, the temperatures soaring up to 30 C by noon. Unfortunately, the market doesn’t open up early as it used to in the past so I had no option but to brave the sun and pick up 3 kg of raw mango.

Dwarka is a cheery woman with a good sense of humour and has been supplying me with mango for the past 20 years. The Rajapuri has a thick skin and I always get the mango cut into pieces. This time round, Dwarka didn’t have her husband around to do the cutting, but surprisingly didn’t grumble when I asked her to chop the fruit. She normally slips in a seed in the packed mango to prevent the fruit from darkening.

How to Pickle raw mango my style

I normally don’t put up recipes on this post but since I’ve written many posts on pickling mangoes, I thought I’d write it down for those who wish to make it.

You can find the original recipe in my book “The Fragrance of Mango Blossom” which is available online at Amazon.

But for those of you who are not inclined to buying cook books, here goes.

You will need:

• 1kg Raw green mango
• 15 g hing / Asaoeftida powder
• 125 g chilli powder
• 125 g Mustard dal, coarsely ground
• 1 tspn methi ( fenugreek)
• 200 g garlic cloves
• 50-75 g Kashmiri chili broken in 1” pieces

what you should do

• Wash and pat dry the mango pieces.
• Put in a broad dish ( parat) with salt and turmeric for about half an hour.
• Squeeze out excess water that is released .
• In the meantime, roast together the Hing and methi seeds in 1 tspn oil. Allow it to cool before grinding into a powder.
• Mix together the red chilli powder and rai dal and keep aside till needed.
• After squeezing out the excess moisture from the mangoes, coat them with mixture of rai dal and chilli powder.
• Add garlic and mix well
• Heat 1/2 kg oil well and when cool add to the mango mixture.
• Store in an air tight jar and allow to rest for at least a fortnight before serving.

some pickling tips

i don’t know if it is a myth or fact, but if a pickle is made by a menstruating woman, it goes bad. So leave the pickle making to grannies.

Before the pickle is stored, wipe down the pickle har with salt so as to’ sterilize’ it.

The garlic is my dad’s tweak and traditionalists will frown on seeing bits of garlic in the pickle.

and oncBut once you are done, i can assure you that this pickle will be much sought after on your dining table.

Ciao,