Monday, November 30, 2009
Back again after an enlightening thanksgiving weekend. Hope u all had a good break too. Here I've come with recipes of few of the pickles that is there in my kitchen.I'm a great fan of stuffed parathas. For me, pickles is the only best combination with parathas. I usually don't buy pickles, as for some reason they turn out to be very spicy for both me and my husband. So I make them at home adding very little chilli powder as possible. My mil used to comment that even pickles that I make are sweet..:)
Sorry gals for showing just the end product. These were something that I made months before I even started to blog.
Now lets move on to the recipes
How to make pickle powder
Take equal measures of mustard seeds, cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds. Dry roast them till it starts to generate a nice aroma. Remove from flame at this stage. Allow the mixture to cool and grind them to a smooth powder.
Mango Pickle:
Ingredients:
Cut Mango - 1 cup(I usually deseed them, as the mango that I get here in the US is a mexican mango and doesn't have a hard shell)
Red Chilli powder - 1/4 cup
Pickle Powder(preparation mentioned above) - 1/2 cup
Asafoetida - 1 tsp
Gingelly oil - 4 tbsp
salt - as required
Method:
1. Place the cut mango in a dry cotton towel or paper towel for 2 to 3 hrs until some of the moisture is absorbed.
2. Put them in a dry broad vessel along with salt, asafoetida, pickle powder, red chilli powder and mix them thoroughly.
3. Finally top this with the gingelly oil and give and gentle mix.
4. Store this in an air tight container.
5. Mix a gentle mix everyday until the raw smell of the mango and red chilli is lost.
6. Serve this with an dish of your choice.
The method for making bitter gourd, ginger, garlic and red chilli pickle is the same.
Bittergourd pickle
Ingredients:
cut Bittergourd(thin circles) - 1 cup
tamarind - marble size
pickle powder(preparation mentioned above) - 1/4 cup
red chilli powder - 4 tbsp
jaggery - 1 tsp
gingelly oil - for deep frying
asafoetida - 1 tsp
salt - for taste
turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Method
1. Cut the bitter gourd into thin circles. Deseed if required.
2. Add the turmeric powder to the bitter gourd and toss it till the turmeric is distributed evenly. Let it rest for sometime.
3. Soak the tamarind and extract the pulp.
4. Heat oil in a pan and deep fry the bittergourd for 2 to 3 min. Drain them till its still soggy.
5. Switch off the flame. Add the pickle powder, chilli powder to the hot oil. Finally add tamarind paste and jaggery .
6. Let this cook in a medium flame for a 5 min.
7. Now add the fried bitter gourd and let it cook till all of them forms a thick paste.
8. Switch off the fame and add asafoetida.
9. Allow it to cool and store it in a air tight dry container.
10. Refrigerate for a longer shelf life.
Ginger Pickle
Ingredients:
Shredded Ginger - 1 cup
tamarind - marble size
pickle powder(preparation mentioned above) - 1/4 cup
red chilli powder - 4 tbsp
jaggery - 1 tsp
gingelly oil - for deep frying
asafoetida - 1 tsp
salt - for taste
Method
1. Shred the ginger using a shredder.
2. Soak tamarind and extract the pulp.
4. Heat oil in a pan and deep fry the ginger for 2 to 3 min. Drain them till its still soggy.
5. Switch off the flame. Add the pickle powder, chilli powder and salt to the hot oil. Finally add tamarind paste and jaggery.
6. Let this cook in a medium flame for a 5 min.
7. Now add the fried ginger and let it cook till all of them forms a thick paste.
8. Switch off the fame and add asafoetida.
9. Allow it to cool and store it in a air tight dry container.
10. Refrigerate for a longer shelf life.
Garlic pickle
Ingredients:
garlic pods - 1 cup
tamarind - marble size
pickle powder(preparation mentioned above) - 1/4 cup
red chilli powder - 4 tbsp
jaggery - 1 tsp
gingelly oil - for deep frying
salt - for taste
Method
1. Remove the skin of garlic pods.
2. Soak tamarind and extract the pulp.
3. Heat oil in a pan and deep fry the garlic for 2 to 3 min. Drain them till its still soggy.
4. Switch off the flame. Add pickle powder, chilli powder and salt to the hot oil. Finally add tamarind paste and jaggery.
5. Let this cook in a medium flame for a 5 min.
6. Now add the fried garlic and let it cook till all of them forms a thick paste.
7. Switch off the fame
8. Allow it to cool and store it in a air tight dry container.
9. Refrigerate for a longer shelf life.
Red Chilli Pickle
Ingredients:
ground fresh red chilli - 1 cup
tamarind - marble size
pickle powder(preparation mentioned above) - 1/4 cup
jaggery - 1 tsp
gingelly oil - for deep frying
fenugreek powder - 1 tsp
salt - for taste
Method
1. Grind the red chillis without adding water to a smooth paste.
2. Soak the tamarind and extract the pulp.
3. Heat oil in a pan and fry the chilli paste for 2 to 3 min
4. Add the pickle powder, salt and tamarind paste and jaggery.
5. Let this cook in a medium flame for a 5 min.
6. Switch off the fame and add asafoetida.
7. Allow it to cool and store it in a air tight dry container.
8. Refrigerate for a longer shelf life.
Onion Tomato Pickle
Ingredients
Chopped Onions - 1 cup
Chopped Tomato - 2 cups
tamarind - marble size
Chilli Powder - 4 tsp
turmeric powder - 1 tsp
salt - as required
gingelly oil - 4 tbsp
mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Method:
1. Grind together the chopped onions, chopped tomato and tamarind(make small pieces out of the tamarind so that it is easy to grind.
2. Heat a tbsp of oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds and allow it to splutter.
3. Switch off the flame, allow the oil to cool and then add the ground paste, turmeric, chilli powder and salt. Allow it to cook in low flame.(I usually switch off the stove and then add the paste coz when the cool paste is added to the hot oil it starts to spread out from the pan and u would get burnt).
4. Close the pan with a lid to avoid the spluttering of the paste on the stovetop.
5. Give a gentle mix occasionally.
6. When the paste has become really thick(when the spluttering has stopped) add rest of the oil and cook for some more time till the oil starts to ooze out from the pickle.
7. Switch off the flame at this stage. When cool transfer the content to a dry airtight jar.
TIps:
1. I usually add gingelly oil to all pickles coz it tastes grt. Another reason is it reduces the intensity of hotness of the chilli powder.
2. Pickles are always considered to generate heat in the body and thats why fenugreek and gingelly oil is added to the pickle to compensate the heat. So never skip these two in any of the pickles.
3. Asafoetida doesn't go well with onion or garlic. So ignore this in any of the recipes where onion or garlic is used.
4. Add dry whole split channa dhal to the avakai pickle. It tastes awesome when its soaked in the pickle for more than a month.
5. I usually refrigerate all the pickles coz it stays fresh for a period of time. But my mom says that it shouldn't be stored in the refrigerator as the taste and smell would be lost. Decision is urs.
Now y dont u all relish some sweet award with me?Rohini of Curries & Spices has passed the below award to me. Thank you so much my dear friend. Sorry for taking this long to post my thanks. If I look back on the awards that I got, most of them are from you. Thanks again for that too..:).
I would like to pass this on to Raje of Veggie Haven and Sanjana of KO Rasoi(Gals hope u haven't received this award so far)
Njoy!!!
4 Comments:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Thanks for sharing those recipes, I started missing the home made ones from India as they are getting over one by one..Now I can make them happily!
And for the awards, you truly deserve them dear! :)
Contrats on the awards! I have received this earlier but I am so happy and honoured to receive it from you again.
Keep rocking!