Summer has already started to take its step slowly towards South India, particularly here in Chennai. The weather is hot now itself and hey…. its time for…. “PICKLES”. Yeah, summer is the right time to prepare pickles and store it throughout the year. Pickles…. makes my mouth water now itself. Generally, we use to prepare different type of pickles in different methods, how their mom’s and grand mom's were used to do. For the past one week, am seeing lot of lemons heaped in vegetable stores, which is also for nominal rates. The Fresh Yellow color was so inviting and I set my mind to buy it a lot. But, what can I do with such a large number? Yes, I prepared my mindset to prepare Lemon Pickle, after a lot of mood swings, since my SH, won’t even touch it, because of doctor’s advice. But for me, I always have a special craze for pickles, not just lemon alone but for mango and gooseberries too.
My mom use to prepare pickles at home in large quantity, as my dad and brothers won’t even touch the store-bought ones. So, we always go for home made pickles. I like to share here now with you all, a recipe by my mom. This, Lemon Pickle Recipe, doesn’t have even a drop of oil in it.
Ingredients:
Cooking Instructions:
Wash and clean the lemon with lot of water, to remove dirt in it. Drain the excess water and pat dry.
Cut each lemon into two halves and cut the halves again into two halves and now cut the quartered lemon again into two halves (i.e., cut each lemon into 8 small chunks).
Once you finish off with cutting all the 12 lemons, add all the lemon chunks to a clean, well washed pressure cooker. Next take one cup of of drinking water and add it to the cooker.
Then pressure cook it for exactly two whistles in high flame(else the lemon will turn bitter) and switch off the cooker. Let the pressure settle down.
Now in the meantime, take 12 red chilly and remove the stems and discard it. Add red chilly to the mixer jar. Measure the salt and add it to the mixer jar along with chilly.
Grind this mixture into a fine powder. Wipe the walls of the mixer jar, (where the powder would have stick to it) with a clean dry spoon. Keep it aside.
Open the pressure cooker and remove the lemon chunks with a slotted ladle and put it in the colander for a while to cool. Reserve the hot lemon juice / water(which you see below in the last pic) in the pressure cooker (do not discard the water since we need to add it in the pickle).
Once the lemon chunks are cooled down, take every chunk and scrap off the gooey part with a spoon or with clean dry hands and discard it. Reserve the lemon zest separately in big bowl to prepare the pickle.
Now add the grinded mixture along with the lemon in the bowl. Add 1/4th or 1/3rd cup of the reserved lemon water (which is reserved in the cooker) to it in the bowl. Add 1/2 cup of drinking water to it and mix well.
That’s it! our Lemon Pickle – With No Oil is ready! Transfer the mixture to a clean glass jar or some air tight containers. Keep it in sunshade just for 2 to 4 hours (highly optional). Let the mixture to sit undisturbed for one or two full days. After one or two days, the lemon chunks would have absorbed most of the spices and water in it. Check for salt (you feel slightly salty since the water has absorbed). If you feel more salty, you can add 1/4th cup of drinking water to it and mix well.
Now, refrigerate it and use it with Curd Rice! Always use clean dry spoon to take pickles!
Ingredients:
| Lemon – Medium Sized | 12 |
| Dry Red Chilly | 12 |
| Rock Salt | 1/3 cup |
Cooking Instructions:
Wash and clean the lemon with lot of water, to remove dirt in it. Drain the excess water and pat dry.
Cut each lemon into two halves and cut the halves again into two halves and now cut the quartered lemon again into two halves (i.e., cut each lemon into 8 small chunks).
Once you finish off with cutting all the 12 lemons, add all the lemon chunks to a clean, well washed pressure cooker. Next take one cup of of drinking water and add it to the cooker.
Then pressure cook it for exactly two whistles in high flame(else the lemon will turn bitter) and switch off the cooker. Let the pressure settle down.
Now in the meantime, take 12 red chilly and remove the stems and discard it. Add red chilly to the mixer jar. Measure the salt and add it to the mixer jar along with chilly.
Grind this mixture into a fine powder. Wipe the walls of the mixer jar, (where the powder would have stick to it) with a clean dry spoon. Keep it aside.
Open the pressure cooker and remove the lemon chunks with a slotted ladle and put it in the colander for a while to cool. Reserve the hot lemon juice / water(which you see below in the last pic) in the pressure cooker (do not discard the water since we need to add it in the pickle).
Once the lemon chunks are cooled down, take every chunk and scrap off the gooey part with a spoon or with clean dry hands and discard it. Reserve the lemon zest separately in big bowl to prepare the pickle.
Now add the grinded mixture along with the lemon in the bowl. Add 1/4th or 1/3rd cup of the reserved lemon water (which is reserved in the cooker) to it in the bowl. Add 1/2 cup of drinking water to it and mix well.
That’s it! our Lemon Pickle – With No Oil is ready! Transfer the mixture to a clean glass jar or some air tight containers. Keep it in sunshade just for 2 to 4 hours (highly optional). Let the mixture to sit undisturbed for one or two full days. After one or two days, the lemon chunks would have absorbed most of the spices and water in it. Check for salt (you feel slightly salty since the water has absorbed). If you feel more salty, you can add 1/4th cup of drinking water to it and mix well.
Now, refrigerate it and use it with Curd Rice! Always use clean dry spoon to take pickles!
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