Instant Cucumber pickle / Kheera achaar

Pickles are a craze for us south Indians. Many want to have their first bite of dinner or lunch to be with any pickle. Be is with hot rice or even with chapathis. Pickles with perugu annam is also very common. The yummy taste of cold curd rice with spicy pickle! yum!!
Pickles like avakaya, usurkaya are prepared carefully only one time of the year when the mangoes are in abundance or you get lots of gooseberries (amla) and stored very carefully for the rest of the year.
For us who live here away from home, where we don't get good mangoes...we turn to store made pickles, which are OK sometimes, but for the most part aren't good when stored for long. That's when we turn to these instant pickles, which aren't that difficult to make and can be eaten instantly!
I put up an recipe for an instant Mango pickle before.
Here is an instant pickle made with crunchy salad cucumber....yes I am not kidding, the green cucumber which we eat as salad can also be made this way as pickle. It taste good, is crunchy when eaten immediately.
Makes for a good side item for a party or a pot luck.
I made it to my taste...please increase or decrease quantities according to yours!!


Ingredients:

1 + 1 1/2 cucumber, chopped to small pieces
about 1-2 tbsp of oil

To dry roast and grind to powder:

1 tbsp mustard seeds
1/2 tbsp methi seeds

To add to chopped cucumber:

1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tbsp chilli powder
1 tbsp amchur powder
salt to taste

For Tempering:

6 cloves of garlic, chopped
1/2 tsp urad daal
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp jeera
5-6 dry red chillies, broken
1/2 tsp Hing, asfoetida, inguva
bunch of curry leaves

Method:

Peel and chop the cucumber to small pieces, smaller than bite size pieces preferably.

Dry roast the mustard seeds and methi seeds and grind to powder.

Chop garlic and heat oil for tempering. Add the chopped garlic, urad daal..let it brown.
Add the mustard seeds and jeera...let them splutter.
Add the red chillies, hing and curry leaves, when they splutter add it to the chopped cucumber.

Add the rest of the ingredients like salt, turmeric, red chilli powder and amchur powder to the cucumber. Mix well.

You will notice that when its first mixed, the pickle is thick, but slowly the juices from the cucumber start coming out and the pickle will become juice. After one day, it will be more juicy, thats why it doesn't store good for long.
Serve immediately with hot steamy rice, perugu annam (dahi rice, yogurt rice), roti or chapathi or as a side item. Can be kept in the refrigerator for 2-3 days. I wouldn't suggest storing for more than that. Make sure that no water touches the pickle, or it will deteriorate even sooner.

Enjoy!!!

Sending it to Nivedita @ Nivedita's Kitchen for CMT - Pickle, started by Jagruti of Joy of Cooking.

And also to Torview @ TorviewToronto for Food Palette Series - Orange.

Also to Preeti @ Khaugiri for "ONLY" - Festive food, started by Pari @ Foodelicious.

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Mukkala Avakaya / Mango Achaar (Tiny mango pieces in Tangy Mustard paste)

Mukkala Avakaya / Mango Achaar (Tiny mango pieces in Tangy Mustard paste)

Its very hard to find a good avakaya in any store. There is nothing better than home made avakaya. I have never tried making it at home. I always get mine from India or whenever my Mom is here she makes it here. But where do we get good green kachcha mangoes? For us here in Nashua, we don't get nice ones. We get some green mangoes, but they always end up being slightly yellow inside, which mean they are not totally kachcha or raw. This means that they would be slightly sweeter and not sour. For this reason my Mom adapted this way of making avakaya, that is by using amchoor powder to make it sour even if the mango is slightly sweet.
Usually avakaya is made by cutting the whole mango thru the seed, but since we didn't have any such sharp and big equipment to cut thru the seed, we cut it into small pieces. Also in India, special kind of oil is used, but here we used regular canola oil.
I always thought making avakaya is a very big work, but if you are making it in small quatity, its very easy. It will keep good for a few months if kept in the refrigerater. And also make sure that you don't let any water touch the avakaya. Always use a dry spoon or hand when touching the bottle outside or inside.
Always dry the bottle completely before putting the avakaya in the bottle.
We made it enough spicy for us, adjust spice according to your taste.
 
 

 
Ingredients:
 
2 green mangoes, chopped tiny with the peel on
1 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 cup red chilli powder
salt to taste
 
1/2 cup mustard seeds, ground to powder
1/4 cup amchoor powder
 
Tempering:
 
4-5 garlic cloves, crushed (optional)
1 tbsp urad daal
1 tsp methi seeds or menthulu
1 tsp jeera
1 tsp mustard seeds
4-5 dry red chillies, broken
1/2 tsp hing
a bunch of curry leaves
1cup oil
 
 

 

 

Method:
 
Chop mangoes and keep aside. Grind mustard seeds to powder. Add red chilli powder, turmeric, salt, mustard seeds powder and amchoor powder to the chopped mango. Heat oil in a pan, add garlic and saute for 10 seconds. This is optional tho. You can directly add urad daal, jeera, mustard seeds, methi seeds, hing, curry leaves and red chillies to the oil. When they start spluttering, remove from heat and let cool. When cooled, add it to the chopped mango and mix well. This can be enjoyed immediately or can be keep aside in a cool dark place overnite before eating it. Sometimes immediately you cannot see any juices, but after sitting aside for couple of days, you can see the juices. Serve with hot rice, but can also be eaten with chappati, idli, dosa, bajjis etc.,. Enjoy!!!
 
 

 
Tip: Make sure the oil is cool enough, otherwise it couple spoil the avakaya. Make sure that no water touches the avakaya, otherwise it could spoil.
 
Prep time: 1 hour

Sending it to Complete My Thali - Pickle...Hosted by Nivedita's Kitchen started by Jagruti of Joy of Cooking for a good cause!!

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