Arinellikaai Sweet Pickle

On our way back to Madurai from Palani we travelled through a village. A lady was selling these arinellikkai / small gooseberries. In Madurai it is very rare to get these arinellikkai unless we have a tree in the house. So I just bought 2 cups of the gooseberries and brought it home. My husband likes sweet pickles and I like hot pickles. So usually I make both varieties of pickle at home. My daughter calls the hot variety as mom's pickle and the sweet variety as dad's pickle. So when dad's pickle went out of stock in the pantry, I decided to make a sweet pickle with the gooseberries I bought. I just used gooseberries instead of mangoes and this dad's pickle. The pickle was sweet, sour, hot and spicy. That was very delicious and for my utter surprise Sruti tasted it and liked it. She is also relishing it in her daily meal.This is the first time she is tasting a pickle and I am glad that she liked the taste.


Ingredients:
Arinellikkai/ Small Gooseberries-2 cups
Red Chilly Powder-2 tbs
Palm Sugar-1 cup
Salt-1 ½ tbs
Sesame Oil-1/2 cup
Hing-a pinch
Mustard Seeds-1/2 tsp
Roasted Fenugreek Powder-1/4 tsp

Procedure:
1. Clean and wash the gooseberries.
2. Wipe them dry with a clean towel.
3. Cut into small pieces and discard the seeds. This is the tiresome work in making this pickle.
4. Add it to a hand mixer and grate it to fine pieces. Do not grind it to a paste.
5. Heat oil and add the mustard seeds.
6. When they crackle add the gooseberry mixture.
7. Saute on medium flame until it become soft and mushy.
8. Add red chilly powder, salt, hing and fenugreek powder. 
9. Give it a nice mix and add palm sugar.
10. Stir until it melts completely.
11. The pickle will let out oil.
12. Remove from heat and allow the pickle to cool down.
13. Store in air tight jar.

P.S: While using pickles, do not use wet spoon or hold spoon with wet hand. Always keep the pickle closed. Make sure that the pickle remains submerged in oil. If oil is less then refrigerate the pickle. 


Preparing gooseberries:


Clean, wash and wipe gosseberries.




Cut into small pieces and discard seeds.



Grind it in a hand mixer to a coarse mixture. Make pickle as given in the recipe.


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