111–120 of 140 posts
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> The last process requires special hands if you wanted your pickle to last a few years. Is that some code word for hygiene? I seem to remember that the concept of hygiene for making achaar (and for other kitchen matters) was codified in religious practices in my family/community.
It's probably more of a code word for experience and luck, like a gardener's green thumb; some have it, some simply don't, is the implication.
Ah, the "achaar". So wrongly translated as "pickle". In my village (Ganges plain, North India), making achaar was a significant seasonal community event. When mangoes were small, we used to wait for heavy winds during early monsoon. A lot of raw mangoes would fall on the ground, and the next day they would be sold at a much cheaper price. There were two broad classes of mango varieties: one for eating ripe, and the o…
I would love to learn how to make this. Do you or anyone here know good recipes and the process?
The most simple and basic aavakaya (andhra pradesh style mango pickle with mustard) is as follows:
1 cup heaped mustard powder, one cup heaped chilli powder, one cup (not heaped) salt. A handful of fenugreek seeds. Mix evenly. Toss the mango pieces in this. Add a little gingelly oil to wet the mixtute and help the mixture stick a bit. Place into clean jar. Glass or ceramic, avoid metal. Add a generous amount of gingelly oil. You don't need to top the vessel or make a layer.
Wait 2 days,then mix the entire jar once with a strong, deep spatula (or a clean hand, but beware the spice and wash very very very well afterwards).
This will taste good from day 2. It's a very distinct taste from a matured pickle, and I always eat a little when it is fresh. It will slowly mature over 6 months to a year to its final preserved taste.
Takealittle of it to a smaller vessel for daily use. Do not leave a metal spoon in or use a metal container.
This can be experimented with as little as 2-3 mangoes. About half a cup of salt chilli and mustard should be enough for this.
Also, this is just the simple recipe. There's a lot that depends on ingredient selection which can not be summarised as easily. Clean ingredients and avoiding introducing additional moisture will ensure it will stay good for atleast a couple of months. Well made pickles last multiple years.
Wow, 27 year old open pickle jars! I expected canned food but not like this. I really should visit India before I grow too old. There's so much veggie food to try. Recently met a childhood friend who, apparently, used to live there for decade. No he has a small Indian restaurant serving food that is nothing like the places I have been to in Europe and the UK. No garlic, no onions (I like both), etc. Love it
Also, like sibling comment says, jainism prescribes avoiding everything growing underground and you can ask for jain food if a place provides it. Some airlines make special affordances and have a jain meal option you can try.
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For anyone else looking to try Indian/Pakistani pickles. They are made of various fruits and veggies. Mango is the most popular one in Pakistan. Others include carrot, lemon, green pepper, onion and some other ones. Pickle is dipped and preserved in oil. My family has made mango pickle at home many time over the years. Like GP it is eaten in span of months. It can be very sour. Here in UK, we have found Ahmad Foods p…
> I have seen on TV that one of the favourite Indian meals is Paratha and Pickle. Is it a common meal? It's certainly not uncommon, though I think it's often paired (for good reason) with yoghurt. It's more of a breakfast/snack meal than a full lunch meal though, however parathas & pickles can be components of a full meal too.
Achaar goes with both plain paratha as well as stuffed parathas.
I came to the US a decade ago—-brought a carefully sealed plastic bag of mango pickles in my checked luggage. It was “triple” packed because the oil will leak beyond the first layer! As recent as last month—-my sister-in-law shipped a small plastic jar of fat red chilies pickle to Bangalore which I then brought it to San Francisco via a United flight :-)
I no longer bring mango pickles from India——I started making it since 2022[0] San Francisco Bay Area Summer. [0] https://twitter.com/1ndus/status/1497310793964027908
I haven’t seen those in the US. The only green mangoes I’ve seen are rather bland and not sour enough.
Anyone have a recipe for the lemon they would enjoy sharing? I love pickle of all kinds, and my Meyers produce more fruit than I can handle, even sharing fresh lemons with friends. If I can also share some as preserves, that sounds like a fun way to continue the sharing.
You may want to try a few from Indian stores and then try making the one you like.
I’ll also get an idea what it’ll look like. It turns dark brown, almost black with age.
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This brings back memories of my childhood. I am from a coastal village in (northern) Andhra Pradesh, India. We call it "పచ్చడి" (pachchadi) in Telugu. If it were to be made in a process usual to the rest of the state (or the country), it would not last longer due the village's close proximity to the sea. So my aunt and grandmother would also add jaggery to the pickle, to stop it from developing fungus sooner and to g…
the right term is ఊరగాయ or ఆవకాయ.
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>A similar analysis of "achaara" in Sanskrit would lead to a nonsense meaning of "not-moving". I think "non-moving" in Sanskrit should be "a chara ", not "a chaara ", i.e. a short "a" sound, not a long one, for the second syllable. Similar to the word ”nishaa chara " which means "night-moving”, referring to demons. I studied Sanskrit for 5 years total in school and college, so although I am somewhat rusty now, I thin…
> I think "non-moving" in Sanskrit should be "achara", not "achaara", i.e. a short "a" sound, not a long one, for the second syllable. Thanks for the correction. Yes, "achaara" is non moving. "achara" simply doesn't exist AFAICT, so my point stands that it's a Persian borrowing, not a Sanskrit derivative.
Welcome.
But you switched them around below in your reply, compared to what I said above:
>Yes, "achaara" is non moving. "achara" simply doesn't exist AFAICT, so my point stands that it's a Persian borrowing, not a Sanskrit derivative.
And regarding words that "don't exist": in Sanskrit, anyone can make up words, by combining other existing words, as I think (but am not sure) is the case in German. Both Sanskrit poets and prose writers often do, but literally anyone can, including you and me, as long as the rules for making words up are followed. I don't have a citation for this, but interested people can look it up somewhere.