I've had a lot of fun this past week making Indian lime pickle for the first time, thanks to Mahanandi's easy recipe and helpful guidance. I've always been a big fan of Indian pickles but never tried making them myself.
A little experimentation was in order as my garden produces two types of limes -- Mexican (key) limes and, more recently, Kalamansi limes (seen above -- the ones with an orange tint). I wondered which would be best pickled in the Indian style, so I used both.
Following Mahanandi's recipe (Courtesy of Mahanandi):
Day #1: First I cut 12 limes into pieces. I used 1/3 of the limes for juicing only, reserving the liquid. I then mixed the remaining lime pieces with 6 tsp iodine free salt and the lime juice. This mixture was then allowed to pickle for four days in the refrigerator.
Day #5: After five days I dry roasted 1 tsp each of cumin, mustard, and fenugreek seeds, next grinding them to fine powder. I then added this spice mix into the jar along with pinch of turmeric and 5 tsp of red chili powder.
Day #8: Lastly I fried 4 tsp of oil and 1 tsp mustard seeds, bringing back to room temperature and then adding it to the pickle.
I decided to try my pickle with upma, another Mahanandi recipe!
Lessons learned:
On the one hand, the Mexican lime portion of my pickle was a disaster. The rinds were terribly thick, chewy, and bitter. I will definitely not use these limes for this purpose again. On the other hand, my kalamansi limes proved to be absolutely scrumptuous. Unlike the Mexican (key) limes, their outer skins were thin, delicate, and sweet, lending themselves perfectly to the tastes of an Indian pickle. The kalamansis proved to be a real success for use in this recipe.
For presentation purposes, I can see from my photos that the spice mixture should have been ground finer. I will make sure to do that next time.
Comments
Would you use this process with Lemons?
Posted by: Jeff | June 20, 2006 11:04 AM
The spices are ground just fine....some people in India prefer it ground coarse and some people prefer it ground fine....so it's ok either way
Posted by: Nabeela | June 20, 2006 11:32 AM
Jeff: any Indian visitors will have to answer that for you, but my feeling from this experience is that American lemons would have too thick a rind to work.
Nabeela: thanks for letting me know! That's the first time I've read that. Information like this is exactly why I love keeping this blog.
Posted by: Evil Jonny | June 21, 2006 07:12 AM
That looks great Jonny! Upma and pickle is a classic south Indian combination for breakfast. I am glad that you tried and liked these recipes.
We generally pick thin skinned and juicy limes for pickling. I should have mentioned that in my recipe. Rookie blogger mistake.
Even thick skinned ones - if you keep them undisturbed for one to two months - they will sure get softened. And you need to see that sufficient limejuice and salt is avialble for softening process. The pickle should never look dried out at any stage. Traditionally at out homes in India, minimum two months are given for pickles to soften and juiced up.
Usually finely ground pickle masala (methi, mustard, cumin, red chilli powder) is added. And you can adjust the proportions of this ground spice pickle masala to your taste.
You always pick out classic recipes to try out. You got a good cooking sense.:)
Keep cooking!
Posted by: Indira | June 21, 2006 04:37 PM
Ugh, not the pickles! That's the one part of Indian cuisine I just cannot understand.
Posted by: venitha | June 22, 2006 09:53 PM
omg, my mouth is watering as I type. I can just imagine the explosion of flavors! And how jealous am I that you have calamansi in your backyard??!! you just don't know, the indignities of having to buy juiced and frozen calamasi juice. I could cry :(
Posted by: JMom | June 23, 2006 07:31 AM
Indira: thanks for letting me know about the thick skinned, long term storage option. I'll give that a try. Thanks for all your help and encouragement!
JMom: you made me giggle re: calamansi. Don't be too jealous because my tree is still very, very small!
Posted by: Evil Jonny | June 23, 2006 07:24 PM