Pickle, Basic Recipe for Pickling Vegetables Indian Style
Achar, Basic Recipe
Geeta Gupta
Note from Mamta: This recipe comes from my younger sister in-law in India, who makes superb pickles of al sorts. It can be used to pickle many different vegetables and some tart fruits. Adjust the salt and chillies to taste.
Ingredients
1 kg. prepared vegetables. Prepare vegetables as instructed individually.
1 tbsp. black mustard seeds, ground
1 tbsp. fennel seeds or saunf/sonf, ground finely
1 tbsp. salt
1 tsp. turmeric powder
1 tsp. chilli powder
1 tsp black pepper (optional)
6 tbsp. mustard oil*
4 tbsp. vinegar
*Mustard oil should always be heated to smoking point first and allowed to cool completely, before adding it to the pickle.
Instructions
Bitter Gourd or Karela: Slice thickly and parboil*. Drain and spread on a towel overnight or in the hot sun for a few hours.
Carrots: Peel, remove top and tail and cut into bite size slices or batons. Carrots do not need to be boiled.
Cauliflower: Cut into small flowerets, parboil. Drain and spread on a towel overnight or in the hot sun for a few hours.
Courgettes: Slice thickly and parboil. Drain and spread on a towel overnight or in the hot sun for a few hours.
Green Beans: top and tail beans, cut into 1 cm. pieces and parboil. Drain and spread on a towel overnight or in the hot sun for a few hours.
Green Chillies, fresh: Remove stalk and slice. No need to parboil chillies.
Kohl Rabi or Ganth Gobhi: Peel, cut into bite size slices and parboil. Drain and spread on a towel overnight or in the hot sun for a few hours.
Onions: peeled and thickly sliced. No need to parboil.
Peas: Use only fresh Peas. Shell peas. No need to parboil peas.
Potatoes: Peel, cut into bite size pieces and parboil** . You can use new potatoes, without peeling. Drain and spread on a towel overnight or in the hot sun for a few hours.
Red Chillies, fresh: Remove stalk and slice. No need to parboil chillies.
Turnip: Peel, cut into bite size slices and parboil. Drain and spread on a towel overnight or in the hot sun for a few hours.
Place all ingredients in a bowl and mix well.
Transfer to sterilised jars and leave on a sunny window sill for a week or so. They can be eaten sooner.
Notes
*Par boil: bring water to boil, add vegetables, bring vegetable to boil, turn heat off and drain. You can steam vegetables in a microwave steamer for 4-5 minutes on full.
Many other vegetables can be pickled this way. Experiment by mixing two or more vegetables, for example, carrots and green chillies or turnips and cauliflower. Peas and carrots and so on.
