Pickles that Tickle and Preserves to Reserve !

Ginger Thokku;

Try this when tender ginger is available. For ginger lovers, nothing to beat this !

Tender Ginger grated - 100 gms

Tamarind - lemon size

Red chillies - 12-15

Crystal salt - ¼ cup heaped

Gingelly oil - ¼ cup (50 ml )

Jaggery - 100 gms ( powder )

To temper:

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Hing powder - 1 tsp

Grind fine ginger, red chillies, tamarind & salt, using as little water as possible.

Add powdered jaggery.

Heat oil, temper & add the paste.

Cook on a low heat till it becomes a mass.

Transfer to a clean sterilised bottle.

The following masala , if prepared & kept at home, helps one to rustle up a pickle in a hurry;.

In all leading supermarkets, methi dhal & mustard dhal are available.

If not, dry methi seeds & mustard seeds well & grind coarse in the mixi.

Methi dhal - 3/4 cup

Mustard dhal - ¼ cup

Haldi - 1 tsp

Hing powder - 3 tsp

Red chilli powder - 2 cups ( flat )

Powdered crystal salt - ¾ cup

Oil - ½ cup

Mix the first 4 ingredients in a shallow bowl.

Make a depression in the centre.

Heat the oil very well, pour it in the depression & keep covered with a plate for 5 mts.

Then open, add chilli powder, salt & mix thoroughly with a clean spoon.

This preserves well for months together & is very useful for many pickles.

Over & above this, a little salt, besides oil, should be added when making any pickle.

This can be done very spicy with really sour mangoes or less spicy with less sour mangoes. I am giving a general method because it depends on the mango you choose. But the method is the same & the variation is only in the spice level.

Roast 2 tsp methi seeds dry, till the colour changes & powder with 2 tsp hing powder.

Always, powder crystal salt & use if you want to keep the pickle over a length of time. Otherwise use table salt. Remember, table salt is slightly sharper than crystal salt

Best choice is to make pickle masala & use whenever necessary.

Spicy thokku:

This can be made really hot. In Chennai we can buy thokku mangoes. Wherever you are, buy the sour variety which is totally unripe. Even if it has just started ripening, the pickle will not last long. Wash, peel & grate the mangoes.

Grated mango - 3 cups

Red chilli powder - 3 tbsp ( spice level is one’s choice )

Salt, haldi, hing-methi powder

Gingelly oil - ½ cup

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Take a heavy pan, add oil & heat. Temper mustard seeds, then add grated mangoes & haldi. Cover & cook on a medium flame. If the mangoes are fresh, they will cook very fast. Keep a watch by opening the lid & stirring the contents.

When well cooked, remove from stove, mash well with a potato masher & return to the stove. Add salt & masala. Continue to cook on a medium flame till all ingredients blend well & the whole mixture forms a mass.

If the mangoes are very sour, jaggery cannot be added. Otherwise, when thokku is prepared with less sour mangoes, less chilli powder is added & jaggery is added towards the end to give a sweet & sour taste. This is optional. After jaggery is added cook till it blends well.

Since mangoes are seasonal, extra thokku prepared can be stored in ziplock covers in the freezer & used later. But make sure to add enough oil, since oil preserves it.

Ladies,

I love mango thokku and Mrs. chithra has given a perfect recipe for the same. We do the thokku in exactly same manner and believe me it turns out great. Ladies this is one recipe which we cant miss as it is very tasty and tangy!!!! Try it out!!!

Coriander Leaves - 1 big bunch

Urad Dhal - ½ cup

Red Chillies - 15 ( if you like it very spicy, add a few more )

Hing powder - 1 tsp

Tamarind - Lemon size

Salt

Jaggery - marble size ( optional )

Take 1 big bunch of leaves, clean & wash. Drain very well. If they are very tender cut the roots also into tiny pieces.Otherwise discard them.Then cut the leaves & spread on a water absorbant towel between sheets of newspaper for 4-5 hrs or overnight. Do not keep in sun.

Shred the tamarind into small pieces & dry in the microwave.

Alternately you can deep fry the ball in oil to make it crisp.

In 2 tsp oil, fry red chillies & udad dhal till the dhal becomes light brown, then add hing powder & switch off the stove.

Cool. Grind all these with salt in the mixie & finally add the leaves & grind to mix thoroughly. A little jaggery is usually added. That is your choice.

When you remove from the mixi cool & roll into balls.

That is important to prevent it from breaking &becoming dry &it is better to keep this in the fridge.

Mixed with oil, it can be served for idli & dosa.

It goes very well with curd rice.

Select light coloured chillies which are not very hot.This is very important.

Green chillies - 100gms

Salt - ¼ cup heaped

Tamarind - - big lemon size or 2 tbsp paste

Jaggery - 100gms ( powder )

Gingelly oil - ¼ cup

To temper:

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Hing powder - 1 tsp

Remove the stems of green chillies & lightly fry them in 1 tbsp oil.

Grind all ingredients together to a fine paste.

Add jaggery & mix well.

Heat oil, temper & add the paste.

Cook on a low heat till it becomes a mass.

Transfer to a clean sterilised bottle.

This is a recipe of yesteryears, which I learnt in the canning centre. If you make it with 1 kg onions, you can freeze in ziplock covers & use it over a period of time or 4,5 friends can do together & share it. This, I am told, is very close to the commercial recipe.

Big onions - 1 kg (chop roughly)

Garlic - 150 gms ( peel )

Salt - 100gms (1/2 level cup )

Gingelly oil - 250 ml (1 ¼ cup )

Tamarind - 250 gms ( 2 medium size oranges )

Chilli powder - 80 gms ( 1 level cup minus 2 tsp)

Mustard seeds - 20 gms ( ¼ cup minus 2 tsp )

Methi seeds - 1 tsp ( roast dry & powder )

Jeera - 10 gms ( 1 tbsp ) – roast dry & powder

Hing - 5 gms (1 tsp)

Haldi - 5 gms ( 1 tsp )

Vinegar - 20 ml

Coarsely grind onion & garlic.

Make a thick extract with tamarind.(3-4 cups )

Put onion & garlic mixture in a vessel, stirring on medium flame, to evaporate till the colour starts changing to brown.

Add the tamarind extract & allow to boil well on a medium flame.

Add all powders.

In a kadai, heat oil, temper mustard seeds & add to this.

Mix well & add salt.

When chutney consistency is reached, remove & add vinegar.

This goes with all South Indian dishes including rice.

The same recipe can be made with green pears, in which case, do not use garlic & use 200 gms tamarind.

Peel pears, soak in water & grate leaving the centre portion.Squeeze gratings to remove water & proceed with boiling in tamarind extract.

Follow the recipe for 1 kg, grated & squeezed pears.

Dear Chitra,

Hope u are doing well. All recipes in this section are worth trying and I'm gonna do it one by one.....

First of all the onion /pear chutney, sounds interesting. You have made the process of measuring of each ingredients simpler by giving both gms and cups measures, thanx.

With regard to pears, u have mentioned grated and squeezed pears 1 kg.. does that mean the grated ones shld be 1 kg or we can buy 1 kg of pear and just grate and squeeze and follow the recipe.......

Just to know if u have tried with pears and how does it taste?? I like pears and wondering if I shld go for pears instead of onions.

Planning to prepare Green chilli thokku today. the light green variety is the one we use for bajjis right??? I heard the light green variety of chillies are also hot and that it shld be soaked in salt water for sometime to get rid of spice. Do we need to do this exercise??

next is the pickle masala - which oil do we use for the pickle masala ??
mustard oil, or sunflower oil??

Pls do reply when u are free..........

Love & regards,

My Dear Meena,
The grated pears should be 1 kg -so buy a little more. I have tried it many times & we all like it.
I did'nt mean the bajji milaka - I meant normal chillies, but light green is less hot & dark green is dynamite ! This pickle is spicy & hot.
Pickle masala -I use gingelly oil, but my gujarati friend who taught me this uses refined oil. If you like mustard oil , perhaps you can use that. I have'nt tried with that.
Love & regards,
Chithra.

Medium size lemons - 10

Crystal salt - ½ cup (powder)

Pickle masala - 100 gms

Sugar - 3 ¼ cups

Wash & cut the lemons into 2 or 4 & remove the seeds completely.

Put the cut fruits in the mixie & grind them raw – they will be minced fine.

Transfer to a vessel.

Add the other 3 ingredients & go on mixing them continuously with a wooden ladle till the sugar dissolves & blends well.

This should not be done in the mixie.

Do not grind sugar or heat the mixture.

You can keep this vessel inside a bowl of warm (not hot) water & beat well to dissolve the sugar.

If there is sun, keep it in sun covered with a muslin cloth, for 2 days.

This goes very well with all South Indian & North Indian dishes.