Nellikka Achar / Pickled Gooseberries

Indian gooseberry know as nellikka in malayalam, amala in hindi has many health benefits. Sour in taste, this fruit is used fresh and dried for different things.

Have Gooseberries, if you have vitamin C deficiency, like cold, bleeding gum etc for a natural cure, since gooseberry is rich in vitamin C. Also it’s very good for people who have diabetics. Taking gooseberries daily will reduce diabetics. Gooseberries are dried and used as a main ingredient in ayurvedic preparations to make medicines as it provides remedy to many diseases.With all its benefits, it will be a good thing to include gooseberries in our daily diet. Pickling gooseberries works out well. Uppillitta nellikka (gooseberries soaked in salted water for a duration of time) is a popular way of pickling in kerala. These salted gooseberries can then be used to make chammanthi or you can eat these salted gooseberries as is.

Ingredients
15 big size - Nellikka / Amala / Gooseberries
2 tbsp – Red chili powder
¼ tsp – Fenugreek powder / methi / uluva
¼ tsp – Hing powder / Asafetida
1 tsp – Mustard seed
3 to 4 sprigs – Curry leaves, washed and dried well.
4 to 5 tbsp – Sesame oil
3 tsp – Salt or to taste

Method
1 ) Powder the mustard seeds. Wash gooseberries well, then wipe dry off any water. Cut gooseberries to small pieces.

2 ) Heat a kadai or pan with 2 tbsp of oil on medium low heat. Add the cut gooseberry pieces, 1 tsp salt and fry the pieces till pieces turn soft, which will take 2 to 3 minutes. Once the pieces are soft, transfer the pieces to another utensil and set aside.

3 ) Add 2 to 3 tbsp oil into the pan and heat the pan on low flame. Add curry leaves and fry the leaves crisp, then add red chili powder, fenugreek powder, mustard powder, hing powder, one after the other. Fry the powders in the oil, till you get a good aroma of the powders. But take care not to burn it.

4 ) Add fried gooseberry pieces to this masala , 2 tsp of salt or to taste, stir and mix well. Coat the pieces well with the masala. Take off the stove and cool.

Use a sterilized bottle to store this pickle in. Bottle should be wiped well off any water in it. Once the pickle has cooled off, transfer pickle into the sterilized bottle. Can keep the pickle outside for two to three days then refrigerate.Do shake the bottle to coat the pieces with masala and oil each time you take it.

I was so eager to taste this pickle, that i tasted the pickle, after an hour of making it. By then the masala had settled in a bit on the pieces and tasted like an instant pickle.

Chicken Pickle

A friend shared with me this recipe to make chicken pickle, which i wanted to try from a long time. It was relatively easy to make and a very tasty pickle to have with rice. Also same recipe can be followed to make prawns pickle.

Ingredients

1 lb - Chicken, boneless or with bone, cut to small pieces
1/2 tsp - Turmeric powder
Salt to taste

To dry roast

10 - Cloves
2 '' long - Cinnamon sticks
4 to 5 - Star anise
5 to 6 - Green cardamom

For masala

2 tbsp - Poppy seeds
3 '' piece - Ginger
1 whole clove - Garlic
1/4 tsp - Turmeric powder
1.5 to 2 tbsp - Red chili powder
1 tbsp - Vinegar Or 1 tbsp - Lemon juice Or lemon salt

To season

1 tsp - Mustard seeds
1/2 tsp - Jeera seeds
2 to 3 sprigs - Curry leaves
1 to 1.5 cup - Sesame oil / vegetable oil

Method

1 ) Cook chicken with turmeric powder and salt to taste. Mostly you will not need to add water, some water will come out of the chicken. Cook on low heat, covered with a lid till all the water is evaporated. Take off stove and cool.

2 ) Dry roast ingredients listed for that, cool and grind to a powder, set aside. Grind poppy seeds to a fine powder, set aside. Make a paste of ginger and garlic.

3 ) Heat 1 cup oil in kadai or wok, add cooked chicken pieces in small batches and fry lightly. Take off the oil and drain. To the same oil, add mustard seeds, jeera and then curry leaves. Now add ginger garlic paste and fry until golden brown.

4 ) Lower heat and add poppy seed powder, turmeric powder, red chili powder, mix and fry for a second. Add the dry roasted masala powder and fry in oil for a second. Add chicken and mix with masala. Add vinegar, salt to taste and mix well. Take off the stove and cool. There should be good enough oil in the pickle. If not heat 1/2 cup more oil and add to the pickle. Oil will act as a preservative. You can add 1 tbsp more vinegar or lemon juice if you like the pickle to be a little more sour. If you want more gravy then increase poppy seeds and garlic-ginger amount.

When completely cool transfer to a sterilized bottle and store in fridge. You can keep outside for a day or two if you want and then keep in fridge.

Serve the pickle with rice, curds and pappad.

Instant Mango Pickle

I was so happy to see some fresh raw mangoes which was labeled pickle mangoes, in the Indian store. I wanted to make instant mango pickle, ever since i saw sig's 'young green mango pickle'. So here is how i made instant mango pickle.

Ingredients

1 big - Fresh green raw mango

5 to 6 flakes- Garlic, sliced

1 tbsp - Red chili powder

1/4 tsp - Hing powder / Asafoetida

1/4 tsp - Fenugreek powder

Salt to taste

Sesame oil

Seasoning

1/2 tsp - Mustard seeds

Method

1 ) Cut mango with skin on, into small pieces.

2 ) Heat 2 tbsp oil. Keep the heat low, once the oil has warmed up. Add garlic and just fry lightly. Don't brown it. Then on low heat, add red chili powder, hing and fenugreek powder. Stir and fry for a second. Take off the stove and pour on the cut mango pieces. Add salt to taste and mix well with mango pieces.

3 ) Heat 1 tbsp more oil and pop mustard seeds. Pour this on pickle and mix in. Cool and transfer to a glass or ceramic jar.You can warm little more oil and pour on top of the jar, if you want to store this for long time. Keep in room temperature for a day, then store in fridge.

Serve pickle with rice, chapati and enjoy this unique taste of raw mango with spices.

Naranga / Lemon Curry

Naranga curry or Lemon pickle curry is traditionally served as a pickle along with other dishes on a the banana leaf for onasadhya or any sadhya.

Ingredients

4 - Yellow Lemon

6 to 8 - Green chili, cut round

1/2 cup ( 4 oz ) - Water

Salt to taste

Sesame oil

Seasoning powders

4 tsp - Red chili powder

4 pinches - Fenugreek powder

1/4 tsp - Asafoedita / Hing

Method

1 ) Take off the skin from the lemon, cut to small pieces. Marinate cut lemon pieces with green chili and salt. Keep aside for half an hour.

2 ) Keep powders mixed and ready. Warm 4 tsp sesame oil, add the powders and mix. Take care not to burn the powders. Do on low heat. Add water and bring to a good boil for a minute.

3 ) Add marinated lemon pieces and bring to a boil. Turn off stove. When cool store in a glass bottle and keep it refrigerated. Always use a dry spoon to serve. Start using from the next day.

Serve as a pickle with rice.

Green Olive Pickle

Green olives blends in well with the pickle masala and along with garlic makes a good pickle to try. A friend of mine had an extra bottle of olives in hand and came up with this idea of making instant pickle with green olives.

Ingredients

6 oz bottle - Pitted green olives, cut into two
10 flakes - Garlic, chopped ( use more if you like garlic)
1 tbsp - Red chili powder
2 to 3 pinches - Fenugreek powder
1/4 tsp - Asafoetida powder / Hing
1 tbsp - Vinegar (optional)
Salt to taste
Sesame oil

Method

1 ) Heat 3 tbsp oil in a pan, add garlic and fry lightly. Then add red chili powder, fenugreek powder, hing and stir for a second on low heat. Add green olives and mix with the masala. Take off the stove.

2 ) Taste to check if you need more salt. Since olives are soaked in salt, use less salt if needed. Add vinegar and mix. Store in a glass jar. Use after 2 - 3 hours, by then the masala will settle and mix well with olives.

Serve with rice or roti.

Kallumakai Pickle - Mussel Pickle

Spicy and tangy Kallumakai pickle. Pickling mussels is done in North malabar region, with the abundance of mussels available in the area. This is not any traditional recipe from that area, but some ingredients i put together.

Ingredients

1 lb - Mussels / Kallumakai

2 tsp - Red chili powder

1/2 tsp - Turmeric powder

Sesame oil

Salt to taste

Ground to a paste

2 tsp - Mustard seeds

2 tsp - red chili powder

1/4 tsp - Fenugreek powder / Methi powder

1/4 cup - Vinegar

Seasoning

3 sprig - Curry leaves

2 inch - Ginger, minced

10 flakes - Garlic, chopped

5 - Green chili, slit and chopped ( Optional )

Method

1 ) Clean mussels and then marinate it with red chili powder, turmeric powder and salt for 10 minutes.

2 ) Place marinated mussels in a pan, cover and cook it on a low heat. Mussel will cook in it's juice. Once cooked, add oil and fry it well. Transfer the mussels to a plate.

3 ) Add more oil to the pan. Then add curry leaves, green chili , ginger, garlic to the oil and fry till light brown. Add the fried mussels, stir and fry.

4 ) Grind mustard seeds, red chili powder, fenugreek with little vinegar. Add this ground paste to the pan, stir ad cook for 2 - 3 minutes. Add salt to taste. Add rest of the vinegar to the pickle. Add some oil to cut the sharp taste of vinegar. Take off the stove and cool.

Once cool transfer to a sterilized container. Can use after a day. Since vinegar is a good preservative you can store outside for some days. Then refrigerate it.

Some pointer to note when pickling

• Always use well wiped and dried utensils to store pickle in. Moisture will spoil the pickle.
• Deep frying meat pickle will make it stay longer to use.
• Oil acts as a preservative, so use good amount of oil in making pickle.

Mutton Pickle

Pickling meat comes in handy for those lazy days when you don't want to cook an elaborate meal. So then you can cook some rice and have with pickle and maybe some yogurt.

Ingredients

500 gm - Boneless mutton, cut to small pieces

Masala

1 tbsp - Ginger paste

1 tbsp - Garlic paste

1/2 tsp - Turmeric powder

4 tbsp - Coriander powder

1 tsp - Black pepper powder

1 tsp - Red chili powder

1 tsp - fennel seeds

Roast and powder

5 - cloves

2 - Cinnamon stick

1 - Star Anise

Seasoning

2 to 3 sprigs - Curry leaves

5 - whole dry red chili

1/4 tsp - Asafoetida / Hing

1/2 cup - vinegar

Salt to taste

Method

1 ) Heat good amount of oil in a heavy bottom pan. Add ginger - garlic paste and fry till ginger- garlic is lightly browned.Then add turmeric powder, red chili powder, black pepper powder, coriander powder and fennel seeds. Fry on low heat for a minute.

2 ) Add mutton pieces, stir and mix in well with the spices. Add little water and salt to taste. Simmer and cook the meat till well cooked. Add oil and fry meat till lightly browned.

3 ) Heat oil in a pan. Add curry leaves, whole red chili, hing, roasted powder (star anise, clove and cinnamon ). Fry for a minute. Add to the meat, fry and mix in well. Then add vinegar and cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Take off the stove and cool.

Put the pickle in a sterilized container. Start using pickle after a day or two of preparing it. Refrigerate after a day outside. All the masala will settle into the meat by then.

Some pointers when making pickle

• Always use well wiped and dried utensil for cooking and storing pickle in.
• Use more oil while making pickle. Oil acts as a preservative. So its good if some oil floats on top of the pickle bottle.
• By frying meat well, you can store meat pickle for longer time.

Prawns Pickle/ Achaar

Ingredients

60 to 80 counts prawns
5 - Green chili, slit in center
2 inch piece - Ginger, sliced thinly
10 flakes - Garlic, whole or sliced
1 tsp - Mustard seeds
2 pinches - Fenugreek powder/ uluva powder
1/4 tsp - Hing powder
1 tsp - Fennel seeds / Perumjeerakam
2 to 3 tsp - Red chili powder
1/2 tsp - Turmeric powder
2 to 3 sprigs - Curry leaves
4 tbsp - Vinegar
4 tbsp - Sesame oil
2 tsp - Salt

Method

1 ) Peel, devein and clean the prawns. Put prawns in a colander to drain off all the water.

2 ) Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds and allow it to pop. Then add curry leaves, fennel seeds, fenugreek powder, hing, turmeric powder and red chili powder. Stir and fry for a minute on low heat. Then add in green chili, ginger, garlic and fry a minute on low heat.

3 ) Add prawns to the masala.Stir and cook on low heat. Add salt. Once the prawns has cooked well, add vinegar to prawns and cook for a minute. Take off the stove and cool. Add more vinegar for more gravy.

5 ) Transfer prawns pickle to a sterilized and well dried out container to store. Warm little oil and pour on top on the pickle. The oil floating on top will prevent pickle spoiling. Can keep the pickle for a day outside. Then refrigerate.