Onion Pickle

A few days ago, I was wondering why do I dislike making Indian pickles at home. Is it because of that time consuming process? Or is it too much effort like -- bulk chopping, drying in sun etc.? Or that endless waiting while it gets soaked in bottles for days? Or because there's no instant gratification and I have to wait patiently for days? Well, may be perhaps its not my style of cooking, which is usually quick fix meals -- Cut this, cut that, add a little bit of this and a little bit of that, a little fry or boil -- and out of the kitchen! I'm sure its not as easy as it sounds, but I think you know what I mean.

To avoid all the hassle of making pickles at home, I instead prefer visiting an Indian grocery store, pick-up my favorite pickle and satisfy my craving. I've nothing to do with those recipes that are time consuming or with a long list of ingredients, but I'm not cooking them if I can enjoy an equally delicious store-bought product. In fact, I'm not even a serious pickle fan, I can enjoy my meal without any pickle too, but it unquestionably does add a perk to my meal when I have it! While growing up, none of us were too fond of pickles and mom never made it at home too. But I did like it when I tasted it from my friends' lunch boxes during school/college days. Nowadays the store-bought pickles are as good as home-made ones, except my all time favorite ginger pickle. So far, I've not found anything in store thats comparable to my mother-in-law's home-made ginger pickle. So, I don't mind following her recipe and making ginger pickle at home, but only if my hubby comes forward to take the pain of grating that big bulk of ginger!

While browsing a magazine recently, this onion pickle caught my eye, as it looked super delicious in the picture, and appeared to be very simple to make. I surrender when an interesting recipe comes by like this one. May be its my ignorance, but I have never heard of onion pickle until now. Onions as such being such a staple ingredient in Indian cooking, I wonder how were they ignored for pickling! After glancing through the ingredients and instructions, I knew for sure this would come out good, and it didn't disappoint me! It was divine with Curd-rice, and yesterday I couldn't help having a second round of curd-rice with this tongue tickling pickle!

This will stay in fridge for a couple of months.

Ingredients:

• Pearl Onions/Shallots/Sambar Vengayam - about 25 counts
• Fenugreek seeds - 1 tsp
• Jaggery - 1 tbsp (optional)
• Tamarind paste - 2 tbsp
• Chilli powder - 1.5 tsp
• Turmeric - 1/2 tsp
• Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp
• Gingely oil - 1/2 cup (You can substitute with any vegetable oil)

Procedure:

• Peel off the skin from the onions, and chop them to 1 inch pieces. If they are smaller, you can leave them as such without chopping.
• Mix the tamarind paste with 2 cups of water.
• Dry roast the fenugreek seeds and a hot pan, make a fine powder and set aside.
• In the same pan, heat the oil, season with mustard seeds. Once they pop, add the onions and fry in high heat for 3-4 mins.
• Add turmeric, chilli powder and salt and fry for a few mins.
• Now add the tamarind juice, jaggery and increase the heat until it starts boiling.
• Lower the heat and cover for about 20 mins. Once the onions are cooked fully, add the fenugreek powder, increase the heat and keep stirring until it becomes a thick paste.

Enjoy with Idlis/Dosas/Rotis - tastes best with curd rice! Actually, I enjoyed this with plain rice too and it tasted awesome!

Tomato - Green Chilli Thokku

I've been slammed at work lately. Moved to a new project recently and its keeping me busy. I came home late, so was feeling lazy to cook today, and I didn't have much stuff in the fridge too . Tiredness makes me low on inspiration, so wasn't in a mood to be creative either . But all I knew was that all of us were hungry and I had to cook something to fill our tummies before any of us turn cranky :)

My fridge usually is stuffed when the week begins, but it was odd to see my fridge empty on a monday. I had so much planned to get done for the weekend, but can't remember getting anything significantly done. Saturday kind of evaporated. Don't know how, and I guess we've been just lazing around too much with absolutely no mood for outdoors. Sometimes it happens. No matter how nice the day is or how much ever time I have, I get the feeling of staying indoors and watch tv, browse or even just lie on the couch and simply stare the cieling:) It may sound ridiculous, but for the past 2 days this is how I've been feeling myself. I'm typically not that kind of person and usually would like to keep myself occupied as much as possible. But I think occasionally spoiling ourselves helps regain that energy :)

Well, with nothing much left in the fridge, I had to comeup with something that can be of a quick remedy. I was thinking of having paruppu podi (the readymade one) and potatoes for dinner, but then I remembered the Long-Live-The-Shelf Event hosted by Roma. That convinced me to might as well make something on my own instead of paruppu podi so that I can atleast send the entry for the event. This thokku (pickle/chutney) requires nothing but tomatoes and g.chillies and I had enough of them in the fridge. Another of my mother-in-law's collection. It could be enjoyed by mixing with plain-rice (instant tomato rice), or as a side for curd-rice. It tastes divine with curd-rice!

This entry goes for Roma's Long-Live-Shelf-Event.

Ingredients:

• Tomatoes: 5 large
• Garlic - 5 cloves (big size) or 8 (medium size)
• G.chillies - 7 or 8
• Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
• Turmeric - 1/2 tsp
• Tamarind paste - 1 tbsp (add more if the tomatoes aren't that sour)
• Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
• Curry leaves - a few
• Asafoetida - 2-3 pinches
• Oil - 3 tbsp

Procedure:

• Add the tomatoes to boiling water (or microwave for a few seconds) and leave it covered for 5 mins. Peel off the skin, mash them with hands (or puree them in blender).
• Mix the mashed tomatoes, tamarind paste, chilli powder, turmeric and salt well, along with a cup of water.
• Heat oil, season with mustard seeds, asafoetida and curry leaves. Then add chopped garlic and chopped g.chillies and fry until the chillies change color.
• Add the tomato mixture and let it boil. Simmer for 10 mins or until the mixture thickens and oil starts separating. Remove from heat after it reaches a thick consistency
• Mix it with plain rice to make instant tomato rice OR enjoy with curd rice.

This can stay in fridge for a week to 10 days.