Garlic Pickle

Garlic is very commonly grown here in Nepal. So, no wonder if it is used as one of the most important condiments when it comes to preparing our vegetables and pickles.

It is used in our foods due its many health beneficial reasons also not just the strong scent or flavor it bring in our food. Ours is a pickle site however, we give you some health benefits related to the condiments, spices, fruit or vegetables we make pickles, soon. Now lets talk about garlic pickle.

Ingredients :

Garlic : 8 pods

Red chili : 4 dry

Fenugreek seeds : half tea spoon

Sesame oil : One cup

Salt : ½ teaspoon

Lemon : 4 medium size 

How to convert all these ingredients into pickle ?

• Peel all the garlic cloves.
• Dry them under sun.
• Take a small glass bottle of 500 gram capacity.
• Squeeze all the lemon juice in the bottle.
• Add salt and garlic in it and with lid on.
• Keep it aside for four days.
• After four days heat the oil and fry chili on it.
• Then grind the chili.
• Dry fry fenugreek seeds separately  and then make its powder.
• Now put chili and fenugreek seeds power into the glass bottle along with the oil.
• Shake the bottle properly and keep aside the pickle bottle in a cool and dry place of the kitchen.
• After four days you can use it as pickle

Now your pickle is ready.

Health benefits of Garlic

There are many sites which are dedicated to the health benefit of garlic. Taking a clove of garlic thins your blood and it's good for those who suffers from the blood pressure. Garlic is good for so many health issues. It's good for cold and flu, skin and hair, blood purifier, cancer, blood pressure and heart problems. According to the World’s Healthiest Food, "all types of health benefits from garlic described combine together to make this allium vegetable helpful in reducing our risk of numerous cardiovascular diseases. Including in this list are: heart attack (myocardial infarct), coronary artery disease (CAD), high blood pressure (hypertension), and atherosclerosis. In addition, it is worth noting that the everyday flexibility of our blood vessels has been shown to improve with intake of garlic."

Radish Pickle

Radish now a days are available around the year. We do not have to wait for particular time for its season to enjoy this pickle. Radish is another widely used vegetables to make pickles and no wonder there are time perhaps more than 20 - 30 ways to convert it into a pickle than just one. Here I am going to talk about just one of the variety of radish pickle.

Ingredients :

• Radish : 800 grams
• Fresh chili : 150 gram
• Salt : 3 teaspoon
• Fenugreek seed : 2 teaspoon
• Dark mustard : 3 teaspoon
• Mustard oil : two tablespoon
• Turmeric powder : 1/2 teaspoon
• Glass Bottle : 1 kg [ 1000 ] capacity

How to convert it into a juicy and acidic pickle ?

• Clean radish by running  clean water over it. Clean and remove anything you are uneasy with. You can keep some of the the radish leaves.
• Cut it in about two inch long and half inch width. Size can vary as per your likeness also.
• Let it dry under sun for whole day so that it dries out most of its water.
• Also cut the fresh chili, into two and then let it dry with radish on a flat bamboo  basket.
• Heat a pan on high gas and then dry fry fenugreek and dark mustard, separately. Fenugreek color has to be golden brown from it natural yellow color. Let it cool down before you make it's powder. Keep them in a glass bottle.

1. Dark mustard seeds gives the acidic taste to this radish during that 15 days maturation. If the pickle is not sour and acidic enough then there must be less of mustard on it.
2. Do not get surprised if you see so much juices forming in glass bottle over the next couple of days. Those juices will help pickle taste better. Shake bottle carefully if you want it to reach in the area where there is less juice in bottle.
3. Do you know even the salt grain on the rim of bottle can cause the lid not to tighten properly ? so remove the bottle rim with clean cloth before you use the lid.

• In the evening, when the radish and fresh chili drys enough it's time to keep them in a bottle.
• Mix everything in a big bowl. Like radish, chili, salt, powdered fenugreek and mustard seeds, little bit turmeric powder and a tablespoon of mustard oil. Put one tablespoon of mustard oil inside the glass bottle. Role the bottle so that the oil will spread every part of it. Now you put all the mixed ingredients into that bottle.
• Keep the lid airtight properly, so that the essential flavor and gas will remain inside the bottle.
• Keep the bottle in a place where it gets sufficient sun in the next 15 days.
• Your pickle will be ready in 15 days. Bottle pickle like this can be consumed for couple of weeks one it gets ready.

Grandma's wisdom  :

1. Dark mustard seeds gives the acidic taste to this radish during that 15 days maturation. If the pickle is not sour and acidic enough then there must be less of mustard on it.
2. Do not get surprised if you see so much juices forming in glass bottle over the next couple of days. Those juices will help pickle taste better. Shake bottle carefully if you want it to reach in the area where there is less juice in bottle.
3. Do you know even the salt grain on the rim of bottle can cause the lid not to tighten properly ? so remove the bottle rim with clean cloth before you use the lid.

Green Tomato Pickle

Tomatoes are grown abundantly everywhere in the world. This also could be that I consider myself one of the luckiest one alive, if I am; in a place where tomatoes are available around the year. The only difference is, its real season or not. If its not its season then price of this fruit is higher but if its season then juicy and succulent fruit is always available within your budget range. Whatever the case, there is no doubt it's available around the year. One thing I must tell you you can’t find unripe tomato in the market around the year like we can find the juicy ripe ones anywhere in vegetables market, although it's a fruit.

This fresh and seasonal pickle and can be served very little in quantity for each person who is on the table to eat rice.Because it is abundantly available, it will be no doubt there is a  recipe of a pickle of this fruit. Tomato pickles and Nepali food is so interlinked, it's hard to separate it from one another it's part of our food culture here in Nepal.

Ingredients :

Green tomatoes : Four , big size

Salt : ½ teaspoon

Green chilies : 3 or 4

Garlic : 2 cloves

How to convert it into a pickle  ? 

• Boil and peel the green tomatoes.
• Let it cool for a minute or so before you peel it.
• Peel garlic.
• Chop chilies or you can break it to two also.
• Put salt, chili, garlic and peeled tomatoes into a mixture and then switch on the mixture for 20 seconds only.

Now your pickle is ready !  

Chick Peas Pickle

Normally pickles are made out of vegetables and fruits or spices or condiments. Its rare that we make pickles out of grains. I mean grain being the main ingredients of the pickles instead of the side ingredients. So its interesting if we tell you we can make pickles out of chick peas also. 

What ingredients are needed to make a chick peas pickle ? Here are the ingredients we need for serving of 6 - 8 people. 

Ingredients :

Chick peas : 100 grams of white & soaked overnight ]

Mint : 15 leaves of

Asafoetida : one pinch
Green chili : 3 - 4 pieces

Garlic : 4 - 5 cloves

Lemon : one medium size

How to convert all the above ingredients into pickle ? 

• Put everything into a grinder and grind it well.
• Squeeze the lemon juice on it and mix it in a bowl. 

Now, your pickle is ready !

The recipe is shared by Ramina Bajracharya. She is a fashion designer working in RD Chahat, a mother. She is also a food lover herself. She belongs to Newar community, who are well known for their culinary art as they have mastered the art to tease the taste buds of gourmet.

Lemon Pickle

Now a days lemon is available in the market around the year I am hoping in your area too not just here in Kathmandu, Nepal. This fruit in the picture which I term lemon is not yellow but its as acidic, juicy and citrusy as lemon by all its nature.  

Lemon or Muntala, fresh hot chili, salt and nice flavor added by timur is that combination of pickle which can make anyone go mouth watering. Bottled lemon pickle can be ready to consume  only after 60 days of bottling of making it but some prefer it when it matures enough. That enough maturation times seems to be minimum of a month keeping it under the sun during winter time or two months after making it. However I start  eating it after ten days.

Ingredients :

Lemon [Green or yellow ] : 350 grams
Fresh chilli  [dallo khurshani : 200 grams
Black salt : 2 tea spoon
Sea salt : 3 teaspoon
Timur : one teaspoon
glass bottle : 500 gram capacity of clean and dry

How to make it ?

• Grind Timur and mix it with two types of salt.
• Cut each lemon in four or eight pieces. Immediately mix it with mixture of salt and timur in a plastic plate or glass bowl.
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  Make two piece of small round chili [or four piece if the chili is big and long shape. Make sure it has to be super hot].
• Mix the chili, lemon salt and timur proper in a bowl or plate.
• Now fill the bottle, fill it very tightly that you can see juices coming out and filling the bottle during the stuffing process
• when the bottle is filled up to the rim then cover the lid tightly.
• Keep the pickle bottle in a place which gets enough sun for the next two months so that it matures properly under the winter sun. this pickle can be used for more than a year if it last !

Now your pickle will be ready in two to three months depending on the season.

Note :

• Make sure the lid is made of plastic not metal.  Metal lid will spoil scent as well as taste of the pickle. 

• Make sure the lid it properly airtight. This is another way to keep its true flavor inside the bottle. Even the grain of salt on the rim of bottle can cause lid not to tighten properly. So in case of doubt clean the rim with soft cloth and then put the lid.

• Avoid using any utensils that is made of metal when you deal with lemon. Lemon changes its taste and flavor when it comes in contact with metal. Best way is to use glass and melamine  when you work on lemon pickle. 

Tomato Pickle

It is almost a culture here in Nepal to make and eat tomato pickles. It is a part of our food making it a national pickle. Now, a days tomatoes are available around the year so we can eat it any time of the season. It's easy and fast to make It can be converted into pickles very easily and time required is almost ten minutes. 

I would like to recommend you to use tomatoes that are from Panchkhal or Kavre area tomatoes which grows the best tomatoes in the country looks like the picture in the above. Tomato pickles are tasty if its the smaller size or grown in cooler areas compared to big size which are grown in hotter places. Here  are the ingredients to make tomato pickle.

Ingredients  

Tomatoes : 4 - 6 medium size

Hot green chili : 2

Salt : 1/2  teaspoon

Sesame seed : 2 teaspoon of 
Timur : four piece only

Garlic clove : 1-2

How to convert it into a tasty pickles ?

• Roast tomatoes, chilies and garlic on a pre heat pan and shake the pan constantly, roll the tomatoes so that its skin gets golden brown from all sides after rolling on hot pan.
• When it's done, gas off and let it cool for a minutes.
• Roast sesame seeds on a dry pan.  Put it into the grinder and grind it finely.
• Peel the skin of tomatoes and put everything in the mixture.
• Grind it for a minutes only.

Now, your pickles is ready.

Note : You can also add green coriander or mint, as per your liking on the mixture and then grind it.