Amla Pickle

This pickle was born after my search for the following pickle recipe.

It was given to me by my colleague from Tamil Nadu (Nagapattinam) and the taste was too good! Even since I tasted it, I kept searching online for the recipe but never came across it. Since it was a locally made pickle there was no way I could purchase it too. But the ingredients does give a clue and that is when I chanced upon a similar recipe but without dried vegetables. The dried vegetables will have to wait until the sun is hot again here in Kuwait after the current Winter season!

Amla/ Gooseberry Pickle

Ingredients

1. Amla - 500 gm
2. Chilly - 30 numbers (I used the less hot variant)
3. Fenugreek - 2 tbspn
4. Mustard - 2 tbspn (leave 1/2 tspn aside)
5. Turmeric powder - 1 tbspn
6. Gingelly Oil (Sesame Oil) - 1/2 cup
7. Salt - 1 tbspn
8. Tamarind - rolled up to the size of an Amla fruit (2 tblspn?)


Method

Wash, wipe dry and de-seed amla. Ground it coarsely in your grinder and keep aside. Dry roast items 2-7 and once cooled, powder it well. Soak the tamarind in 1 cup of warm water. Heat the gingelly oil and crackle 1/2 teaspoon mustard. Once mustard starts popping, saute the ground amla for five minutes. Now add the ground spices and saute for a few more minutes. Add the tamarind pulp and let the whole thing simmer until oil starts to separate. Make sure you stir it occasionally to avoid burning it.

The pickle is ready and it is almost as good as the bottled one! But the search continues for the original recipe.. :)