Preparations:

Select cucumber which is firm and raw. Wash, clean the cucumber & let it dry completely. Taste the cucumber and its seeds for bitterness. Cut the cucumber into even sized pieces along with the seeds.

Take mustard seeds onto a paper plate and microwave on high power for 20 seconds. Stir the seeds once with a spoon and again microwave on high power for 20 seconds. Stir the seeds once with a spoon and again microwave on high power for 10 seconds. Cool the seeds till they are warm to touch. Take the seeds into a mixie jar and grind them to make powder. No need to sieve the powder, use it to prepare the pickle. In a clean and dry bowl mix well salt, mustard powder and red chili powder.

Method:

Take a clean and dry ceramic bowl. Take a deep plate and add 50ml of oil. Add few cucumber pieces to the oil in the plate and fully coat the pieces with oil. Add these oil coated cucumber pieces to the prepared spice mix. Coat the cucumber pieces with the spice mix and place them in the ceramic bowl. Like this finish with all the cucumber pieces and spice mix. Cover the bowl with a dry plate and keep it aside for nearly 4 hours. After 4 hours mix the pickle with a clean and dry spoon and add the remaining oil to it. Mix well and transfer to a clean and dry jar. The pickle will be ready for use once the mustard powder used loses its bitterness.

Points to Notice:

Do not roast the mustard seeds in microwave oven for a long period because they will turn bitter. Just when they are warm to touch remove it from oven and let them cool a bit and powder them. There is no need to sieve the powder as it will be just having the right texture for making this pickle.

Use a ceramic or glass bowl only to keep the pickle in.

Take care to use all dry things only while preparing the pickle so that the pickle will last longer without getting spoiled.

If the cucumber is slightly…. bitter, then also you can make this pickle. After fermenting for 2 to 3 days the pieces will not taste bitter. 

Important Point:

Salt is the main ingredient which will decide for how long the pickle remains fresh without spoiling. If the pickle comes in contact with water it will not last long. Here in this recipe we have used all dry ingredients only. But there will be water in cucumber pieces. So we have to ensure that the water in the cucumber pieces will not spoil the pickle. For this we have used a new technique.Coat the cucumber pieces with oil and then coat them with the prepared spice mix. When you add the oil coated pieces to the spice mix it will stick to the oil on the pieces. As the spice mix is having salt, each cucumber piece will get the required amount of salt. Thus the pickle will never get spoiled if you are using right quantity of salt. However unlike mango pickle this dosaavakaya will not last for more than a month.

The pickle will be ready once the mustard powder loses its bitterness. It is advisable to use the pickle

Prepare this pickle and serve to your family members.