Mix Veg Pickle

During Pongal festival (celebrated in TamilNadu in Jan during Sankranti), lot of fresh turmeric gets accumulated in the households. We use it for the following festivals & also during bathing as a natural antiseptic. This time try using it for pickles. Also during this harvest season we get fresh carrot, ginger, mango-ginger (called 'mangai inji' in Tamil - it tastes like a hybrid of raw mango and ginger) and other vegetables. Let's make an awesome pickle with fresh turmeric, ginger, mango-ginger, lemon and carrot. Raw mango is optional, but it is included in the pickle pics attached. This pickle tastes great with chappathi, sambhar rice and curd rice.

Ingredients:
Ginger : 100g
Fresh turmeric finger : 4-5
Mango-Ginger (mangai Inji) : 100g
Carrot : 1 medium
Lemon : upto 4 or 5
Fresh raw mango : 1 small (optional)
Green chillies : 100-150g (adjust as per your taste)
Vinegar : 100ml
Turmeric powder : 0.5 tsp
Crystal salt : 100 to 150g apprx
Red chilli powder : 50 to 75 g apprx (adjust as per taste & green chillies added)
Asafoetida : 1 to 2 tsp
Mustard seeds : 1+1 tsp
Dhaniya seeds : 2 tbsp
Saunf/Sombu (fennel seeds) : 1 tsp
Jeera : 1 tbsp
Fenugreek seeds : 1 tsp
Gingley oil : 200 ml



Method:

1. Chop the ginger, turmeric fingers, mango-ginger, carrot, raw mango and green chillies into juliennes (short thin strips). Chop the lemon into small pieces (remove the seeds). Add salt and turmeric powder to it, mix well and let it marinate for 2 days. But keep mixing it often for 2 days.
2. You need to dry roast Mustard seeds (1 tsp), Dhaniya seeds, fennel seeds and jeera and make a coarse powder. But dry roast them separately as each of them take different time to heat up and release fragrance.  We perform this step so that these ingredients release their fragrance and it adds to the taste, and secondly they leave moisture and thus helps in longer shelf life of the pickle. Also dry roast Fenugreek seeds and make a fine powder.
3. Now add the spice powders prepared in step2 (except for dry roasted fenugreek powder) and red chilli powder to the marinated veg juliennes. Then heat 100ml oil in a small pan and add mustard seeds (1 tsp), let it crackle. Switch off the flame, wait for few seconds and add it to the veg juliennes.
4. Add asafoetida, dry roasted fenugreek powder, vinegar and mix well.
5. Add the remaining oil also and mix well. (If you do not like the raw flavour of oil, you can heat the oil till it is warm, then cool it and add it).
6. Now that we have added all our ingredients, mix it very well and let it marinate for 2 to 3 days. But you have to mix it well 3 times a day (i.e. morning, afternoon, evening) with a dry spoon/spatula.
7. You can adjust salt/oil/red chilli powder if required as per your taste. Transfer it into a dry pickle jar or dry air tight container.

You can store this pickle in fridge for upto 4 or 5 months.