Backyard Oranges Pickle!

We planted a little orange and lemon tree last spring. We were told by everyone that orange trees usually take about 4-5 years to grow big and then start giving fruit. So, I had no hopes for another few years.

But, nature has its own way of working. My little orange tree had about 5 beautiful oranges. Don't these look gorgeous? So, when the color was full, and there was a nice orange smell to it, we plucked one and tried it. Oh man...this is definitely a fruit - but not an orange yet. It was so sour. Taste wise, I would wait for another 4 years! These were as sour as green limes. So, there you go - make pickle when oranges are sour - wait...what ..that's not a saying. Well, let's make it one.

So, I called my pickle queen friend Indu! She has immense amounts of interest and patience in making so many many things. The last many times I've been to her house, she's always served great food with great pickle - all of which was homemade. I bow down to her culinary skills! So, I called her and she gave me this recipe for Orange pickle. She just recently made it at home with her sour oranges! Perfect. She had also made an orange thokku with it. More on that next time I have another batch of sour oranges.

I always thought making pickles was a very intensive laborious difficult process. But, when I made it - it was nothing like that at all. Infact, there was hardly any work in it. You'll see - really.

Here is my beautiful little Orange tree.

 

 

These four babies are soon going to turn into a spicy delicious pickle!

 

To begin with, boil water in a wide pan.  We will need to cook the oranges well so that the skin gets a little soft. You can also pressure cook the oranges but that might turn the skin mushy. So, I just cooked them in boiling water.

 

Put the oranges in the boiling water. Close the pan with a lid and let the oranges cook for about 15 mins.

 

There, after 15 mins. These look like tennis balls to me!

 

Can you tell if they are cooked? Touch your screen...come on. See..they are done.

 

Cut the oranges one at a time into small wedges. A word of caution - the juice starts to flow out the minute you cut the orange. So, keep a mixing bowl next to this - squeeze out the juice a little bit in it and then cut the orange. Remove all seeds and discard. (Or plant new trees with those!)

 

Take all the wedges and the juice in a mixing bowl. This needs to completely cool down before you do anything. So, do this and walk away for about an hour. Or go watch some tv. Or go for a jog. Whatever you want to do.

When completely cooled, add a lot of salt to this. A lot. About 4 tbsp maybe. I did not measure - I kind of just kept adding until I thought it will be salty enough. Just a rough measurement, add 3 times the amount of salt to taste.

Add Kashmiri red chilli. Again, a lot of it. This type of chilli powder gives a wonderful color and at the same time is mild spicy.Again about 4 tbsp.

 

Gently mix with a fork - just about 4-5 strokes. Don't mix it too much.

 

Now, you will need Sesame Oil (Nalla ennai) to make pickles. This is the only oil suggested for pickles. I don't know why - maybe this oil helps keep the pickle for a long time. But, you do need this. I used about 3/4th of this bottle - a lot of oil. Yes. I know. Not healthy. But, we are talking pickles here and you are probably going to eat 1/2 tsp of the pickle each day. So, relax. Have a soda - now that probably has more calories than 1/2 tsp of our oil drenched pickle.

 

Heat up the oil in a pan. When the oil is really hot, add about 1 tsp of mustard seeds. And also a pinch of asofoetida powder. The oil has to reach a really hot smoking point.

 

Pour the hot hot hot oil directly over the pickle mix. Don't be doing this and taking pictures with one hand like I did here - not recommended!

 

You can hear the big Hisssss sound and see that the hot oil literally cooks all the pickle mix. Soon, the red chilli powder will start to float to the top.

 

There, its' beginning to settle in.

 

Can you see the oranges in there now? The thing to keep in mind is that at any point, there should be about 1 inch of oil on top of the pickle pieces. This acts as a preservative and keeps the pickle fresh.

 

When all the bubbles have settled, and the mixture is cooled down well, transfer this into a pickle jar, or a glass bottle or container that is completely dry. From this point, the pickle should not come into contact with water or any other moisture to maintain the life of the pickle.

 

Can you see the almost 1 inch of oil on top of the pickle? You will need this much oil to keep the pickle fresh. Let this rest for a day - you can actually try to eat it right away - but the orange skins would still be a little bitter. Give it a few days and the pickle will be perfect!

 

And there it is - Ladies and Gentlemen, my homemade Backyard Oranges Pickle!

 

Enjoy. Peace out!

Apple Thokku

We Indians can adapt so well....we are creatures that make the best use of what we have.

Granny Smith Apples are not so common in India and I had not had one until I came here to the US. These are firmer, sourer (is this even a word?) variety of apples. Our indian tongues are not accustomed to this taste of apples - so what do we do....we make pickles out of it! We add red chiili and lots of oil and make it greasy and pickely...and our tongues love it!!

Last weekend, my inlaws had gone to someone's house for puja and they got a lot of granny smith apples back as prasad. It just sat on my counter for about 3 days - no takers...I had red apples right next to this and plums, cherries, strawberries, watermelon and cantaloupes - all of those were getting over at a steady pace....but not these apples! And I did not want to waste them.

So, I decided I'll make a thokku out of this - I've had that before in someone's house. I used the same recipe I did mango thokku with (click here).

Ingredients Reqd -

Granny Smith Green Apples - 5-6
Oil - If you have 'nalla ennai' - sesame seed oil, use that - But i just used regular olive oil to make this - I can't tell the difference.
Red Chilli powder
Salt
Tumeric powder
Fenugreek seeds - before you start the pickle, dry roast about 1-2 tbsp of fenugreek seeds and grind them to a fine powder.
Mustard seeds
Hing

Wash the apples well and wipe them with a dry cloth or paper towel. Then, cut the apples into big chunks - remove the center. I did not peel the apples. If you prefer, you can peel it - the peel pretty much gets completely cooked - so I just kept it easy.

Add them to a food processor and grate them well. If you don't have a food processor, call you husband - he can grate it for you!

Add about 1 tbsp of oil to a pan. Add mustard seeds when the oil is hot and wait until it splutters. Add hing to the oil - about 1/2 tsp.

Now, add the grated apples and mix well with the oil. Add the tumeric, salt and red chilli powder - 1:6:6 tspoons respectively.

Add some more oil on top and let it cook in medium flame for a while.

As it cooks, you will see it coming together - just mash it a little bit with the back of the ladle as you mix it.

Here, it's pretty much done. Taste and add salt or chilli powder if required. Store in a air tight container and refrigirate. This can stay good for atleast a month - unless you eat it all up earlier than that!

I ate this along with Cauliflower Paratha - and it was good. Loved it. There was a hint of the natural apple sweetness and that mixed with the spicyness of the red chilli powder gives a great taste to the whole thing!

Mango Thokku

It's Mango Season!!!


I got these two awesome green manga's at my indian store yesterday. Wanted to put them to good use - what better than Manga Thokku!

Seasonings required:

Tumeric - 1tsp

Salt - about 5-6 tsps

Red Chilli Powder - 5-7 tsps (You can make it fresh at home by roasting and grinding red chilli)

Hing - Peringayam - about 1/4 tsp

Fenugreek Seeds - 1tsp

Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp

Sesame seed oil - about 1- 11/2 cups - for best results, use only sesame seed oil.

Peel and grate green non ripe mangoes. Now, you can use a food processor - but food processors tend to grate more finely and I somehow like the hand grated version - kind of holds up better.

The mangoes I used were actually a little yellow in the inside but it was still pretty firm.

Dry roast about a tsp of fenugreek seeds. Remove from pan. Do not fry them too much and don't make them too dark - that would just make the whole thing bitter. Roast them till nicely done.

Remove the fenugreek seeds from the pan and then dry roast the hing a little but. Again, don't burn them.

When these are done and cooled down a little bit, grind them to a find powder. We will add this at the end to the thokku.

To a pan, add about 1/2 cup of oil. When the oil is hot, add about 1tsp of mustard seeds. When they splutter, add about 1tsp of tumeric powder to the oil. Heat up for about 30 seconds.

Add the grated mango to the pan and mix it up with the oil. Now, add about 5tsp of salt and about 6-7tsp of red chilli powder. That's right - kick up the salt and spicyness!

Turn off the flame to a low-medium and just let this cook for a while. Mine went on for a little more than an hour.

You can see how the texture of the thokku changes as it gets cooked.

As the thokku cooks, you can see less of the grated pieces, they kind of come together now.

Keep stirring every now and then.

When you feel that it has reduced to a good consistency, add the fenugreek and hing powder and stir it well for about a minute. Don't cook it for long after you add the powder. Switch off the stove.

Here you have it - homemade manga thokku!

Store this in a totally dry glass or plastic container. Store it in your fridge - this should last you for a few months technically. But, in my house this will be over before maybe next week!