Ingredients:
- Lemons – 10
- Lemons for Juice – 14
- Turmeric Powder – 1tsp
- Salt – 120gms
- Fenugreek Seeds – 3tbsps
- Red Chili Powder – 75gms
Preparations:
Wash,
clean and dry all the 24 lemons. Cut 10 lemons only, each into 8 pieces
and
remove the seeds. Take remaining 14 lemons and extract juice. Strain
this juice
to remove seeds. Add the lemon juice to the cut lemon cubes. Add salt
and
turmeric powder. Mix well with a dry spoon. There should be some salt
left at
the bottom—that should be the amount of salt required so that this
pickle can
be preserved for long time (Saturated salt solution, SANTRUPTA DRAVANAM
in
Telugu). Cover and keep it aside for 2 full days. See that this vessel,
preferably ceramic or glass does not come in contact with water. On the
third
day we will make the pickle. In these 2 days the lemon cubes become
soft.
Method:
Heat
a pan and add the fenugreek seeds. Dry roast the fenugreek seeds till
they are
brown in color. Take care and fry only on low flame. Cool the seeds and
powder
them in a mixie jar. To the prepared lemons add the fenugreek seeds
powder and
red chili powder. Mix all well and the pickle is ready. Store this
pickle in a
dry bottle. Once the bitterness of the fenugreek seeds powder minimize
the
pickle is ready to eat.
Points to Notice:
Place
these lemon pieces and lemon juice in a ceramic or glass bowl. Do not
keep this
in a steel or aluminum vessel. As lemon is sour, glass or ceramic bowl
only
should be used.
Note
that we have not added any oil in this pickle. So it tastes fresh even
though
the color is changed to dark. The more this pickle matures the taste
enhances.
There
is another method of preparing this pickle.
To
the cut lemon cubes add the lemon juice, salt and turmeric powder. Mix
well and
see that some salt is left at the bottom of the bowl (Saturated salt
solution,
SANTRUPTA DRAVANAM in Telugu). Transfer this mixture to a clean and dry
glass
jar and store. Whenever you feel like having this pickle, take some
portion and
add roasted and powdered fenugreek seeds and red chili powder. Mix well
and use
once the bitterness of the fenugreek seeds powder minimizes. This way
the color
of the pickle is bright red.
Serve
this pickle with curd rice and enjoy the freshness of lemon.
Sometimes
the lemons may be sourer. In such instances you can moderate this
sourness by
adding more salt, fenugreek powder and red chili powder as per your
taste.
Tips
Lemons
are available all through the year. However they have two seasons in a
year. I
prepare this pickle once in six months during the season. The pickle
prepared
this season is consumed in the next season. By that time the pickle gets
fully
matured, without any bitterness for consumption.
Enjoy !!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
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Gayatri Vantillu said...
