Rajasthani Lahsan-Pyaaz-Kairi ka Achar - राजस्थानी लहसन-प्याज-कैरी का आचार (Garlic - Onion - Raw Mango Pickle)

Hello Friends,


How are you all? Today, I am here with an authentic Rajasthani/Marwari pickle that I learnt from a friend's mom who is visiting her these days. She had made it for her daughter and gave me a little to taste and I fell in love with it and wanted to learn it right away. Took the details, prepped my ingredients and then she helped me make it. Isn't it sweet. 


If you are a fan of pickles and spicy ones and you love garlic or onions, you will love it. Do give it a try.


Rajasthani Lahsan-Pyaaz-Kairi ka Achar - राजस्थानी लहसन-प्याज-कैरी का आचार (Garlic - Onion - Raw Mango Pickle)

Ingredients
Onion - 9 cups (measure after chopping them)
Garlic - 4 cups (peeled, big ones)
Raw Mango - 6 cups, (measure after grating)
Whole Dry Red Chilies - 2 cups
Spices
Saunf (Fennel Seeds) - 2 cups, dry roasted and coarsely ground
Peela Sarso (Yellow Mustard Seeds) - 1/4 cup, coarsely ground
Kalaunji (Black Caraway Seeds - 1/2 cup
Red Chili Powder - add depending on how spicy you would like it to be, remember that onion and garlic have a little spice on their own
Salt - as per your taste
Turmeric Powder - 1/4 cup or add based on how much color you want
Mustard Oil - 4-5 cups, feel free to use olive oil, but traditionally it is made with mustard oil
Preparation

• Wash, wipe and sun dry your glass jar to store the pickle in.
• Peel and chop onions in big pieces, as shown in the picture above, spread it on a tray or cloth and sun dry for 3-4 hours.
• Peel and sun-dry garlic for 3-4 hours.
• Wash, wipe well, peel and grate raw mango. Measure the quantity and then sun dry it for 3-4 hours.
• Prepare saunf and peela sarso as mentioned in ingredients
• Take a big enough bowl to mix all the ingredients and then mix all the spices in oil first.
• Now, add onion, garlic and raw mango to it and mix well.
• Fill it now in the dried glass jar (make sure to use glass or ceramic jar only). Let it sit on the counter.
• Next day, do a quick taste test to see that salt and spiciness is what you want. Make sure the pickle has enough oil (check my jar and see how much oil it needs). Mix the whole thing once thoroughly with a dry spoon.
• Keep stirring it for next 3-4 days before you indulge in it as onion/garlic specially need to soak that spice and oil in before you can eat them or else it will be like eating raw onion/garlic.
• Enjoy it after 3rd or 4th day !!!
• As it has onion/garlic, my friend's mom suggested me to keep it in fridge after a couple of week, if I still have leftovers (which I will as I made a lot...lol). She wasn't sure how long it will stay outside as it has raw onion/garlic. But, I will let you know how it goes. Just to be sure, I will refrigerate it anyways, don't want to loose all that goodness :)

Serving
Serve it with anything, roti, rice or even simple mathris. In my picture, I actually served it with dosa :)


I am sending this to Flavors of Rajasthan event @ Sonu's blog. The series was original started by Nayna.

That's all for now. Take care till next post.

Punjabi Aam Ka Achar - पंजाबी आम का आचार (Punjabi Mango Pickle) for ICC

Hello Friends,

I am so happy to post this month's Indian Cooking Challenge recipe. This is the first time, I kind of tried making achar (pickle) at home and boy, was I happy. Happy is an understatement, I was ecstatic :)

I would like to thanks Valil for picking such a wonderful and authentic recipe. Don't get alarmed by the amount of salt (I reduced it to 4 from 5 tbsp). It is needed and doesn't make the pickle too salty.

So, without further ado, here it is.

Punjabi Aam Ka Achar - पंजाबी आम का आचार (Punjabi Mango Pickle)

Ingredient

Raw Mangoes - 2.175 cups (I would say 2 cups and about 1/4 cup more)

Mustard oil - 3 tbsp + 1 tsp (I did not have mustard at the time, so used olive oil instead and loved it, plus it is healthier)

Preparation

• Wash and towel dry whole green mangoes (without cutting them)
• Cut them in desired shape, I cut mine in 1 inch cubes. Spread them on a paper or kitchen towel, keep them in sun for the entire day (so that any moisture remaining in them is gone and they dry up pretty well as then they suck up the spices nicely).
• Meanwhile, mix the spices in a bowl (big enough for you to toss with mango pieces)
• While mango pieces are dying, wash and thoroughly dry a big enough glass or porcelain jar as well.
• Once the mango pieces have dried for a day, mix it with spices and store in the dried jar.
• Add enough oil to drown the mango pieces in the jar.
• Next day, put the jar in the sun for the rest of the day.
• Bring in the jar in the evening and you can start enjoying it right then.
• But, for a better taste, let it be like that soaking in spices and oil for 10-15 days. 
• Don't forget to shake the jar well once a day (no need to keep in sun anymore).

Serving

Serve it with roti or naan. It just adds that little something to every meal.

That's all for now. Take care till next post.

Mix the Spices:

Salt - 4 tbsp

Methi / Fenugreek seeds - 2 tsp

Kalonji / Nigella seeds - 1 tsp

Saunf / Fennel Seeds -  2 tsp

Turmeric powder - 2 tsp

Whole Peppercorns - 1 tsp

Sugar - 1/2 tsp 

Tomato Chutney/Pickle

This is a season of pickles back in India. Varieties of yummy pickles :)


Today I am using a star ingredient Tomato, which we most commonly use as a veggie, but is actually a fruit. Though it is widely used in pretty much every cuisine, it is native to South America and was not available in the rest of the countries till like 400-500 years ago. Isn't it amazing that most of our recipes these day (in every part of the world) are not complete without this fruit? Do you know that India is the 4th top producers of this yummy fruit.


Anyways, surprising facts. Today, I am going to share Tomato Pickle/Chutney recipe taught by me by my mom. It is a chutney of tomato but is also a pickle as we can store it for many many months and simple enjoy like any other pickle. I simply love it and it is so versatile that it can be eaten with roti/rice/dosa/idli or even as a sandwich spreadh or I love to make bread toast and just spread it :)


Usually, at home, when we make it, it is made in bulk, meaning about 10-20 kgs at one time. As with the below quantity, I only got like 2 cups final product, so may be hardly 2 months worth :)


Tomato Chutney/Pickle

Ingredients
Tomatoes - 8 big ones (about 9-10 cups)
Red Chilli Powder - 2 tsps
Fenugreek Powder - 2 tsps (better make them fresh at home)
Turmeric Powder - 2 tsps
Mustard Seeds - 2 tsps
Salt - as per taste
Oil - 3 tbsps
Preparation

• Wash and wipe tomatoes well (no water should be left on tomatoes as we are making pickles).
• Cut tomatoes in small chunks.
• Take 2 tbsps oil in a heavy bottomed vessel and add mustard seeds to splutter.
• Add chopped tomatoes, salt and turmeric. 
• Mix well, cover and simmer (literally on your low settings of stove) for 4-5 hours.
• Keep stirring every 15-20 min.
• At the end of the process, you should be left with about 2-3 cups of tomato pulp.
• Take it off gas
• Now, take a small pan for preparing the tempering.
• Add the rest 1 tbsp oil, once it is hot, add red chilli and fenugreek powder. 
• Once it starts smoking, mix it in the tomato pulp well.
• Now, remove the tomato pickle in a glass jar (glass is always better for pickles).

Serving
As mentioned above, this can be served practically with anything you are eating. My personal favorite is eating it with hot steamed rice :)


There is an alternate way of making this, is to cook partially on stove and then after about 2 hours of cooking on gas stove, sun-drying it for next 2-3 days. Both have slightly different taste. Feel free to try it out.


That's all for now. Take care till next post.