Thursday

PICKLE - METHIA-NU-ACHAR ( MUSTARDY MANGO )
This, too, is a traditional parsee recipe and as the mango season is practically round the corner and I make this pickle every year from the organically grown mangoes in my garden.....I thought to include it here.
This pickle keeps very well or three years at least......provided you always handle it with a clean dry spoon. You should also try to sterilize the bottles in which you would store it...as that lengthens its keeping date.
8 KG MANGOES
2 KG MUSTARD OIL + 2 KG SESAME SEED OIL
750 GMS FENUGREEK (METHI) SEEDS
125 GMS RED AND YELLOW MUSTARD SEEDS
20 GMS ASAFOETIDA
750 GMS CHILLI POWDER
1 KG SALT
Chop the raw mangoes into 2 inch pieces (hard work I assure you). If you have a meat cleaver it would make your job easier.
Apply turmeric and salt and leave in a bottle all night to perspire. This makes the mango give up its water content. The next morning spread the pieces on a cloth to dry in the sun for a couple of hours.
At the same time also soak the methi seeds overnight. They also need to be kept in very hot sun for 3/4 hours.
The methi seeds need to be ground coarsely.
Take one kg of the mustard oil and heat . Add the asafoetida and rai and sarso. Remove from the fire and add the balance oil. Add the balance spices and the mango pieces and mix thoroughly. Bottle in clean, dry pickle jars. There must be an inch or two of oil floating on top for the pickle not to spoil. After a month the pickle will be ready to eat.

3 comments:

  1. Anonymous8:49 PM

    Hurrah! I have lost my methia achar ni recipe, and this looks great.
    A question -- I was taught to always heat the oil to the temperature that will blacken a chappati or a rice-grain, cool it and then use that for pickle. Is that not necessary?

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  2. I had said "heat 1 kg mustard oil" please read that as "to almost smoking point". The mangoes and other ingredients have their own heat which "cooks the oil". You must keep it for at least a month before you start eating it.

    roda

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  3. Anonymous11:21 PM

    really looking forward to trying this once again - we used to get Kohla's methis nu achar, but after Adi Kohla died, it's just not the same.
    thanks, roda!

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