There may be many people like me who like pickles very much. During my childhood, pickle was an essential item of the meal, no meal was complete without it. It was a must with congee( pej ) of boiled rice which is usually served between breakfast and lunch at around 11AM in Konkani homes. People use many vegetables to prepare pickles e.g. mangos , lemons , bimbal , bitter gourd , bamboo shoots, cauliflower , green chillies , gooseberries etc. At my home, everybody is pickle lover, so we have at least 2-3 kinds of them all the time. There are some which have very less short shelf life like this one.
Bilimbi ( bimbal in Konkani) tree is commonly seen in backyards of many houses here. Bimbal is sour in taste. Children like to eat them raw with little salt. They are used in many recipes as souring agents. These are available throughout the year. The tree bears hundreds of fruits. Since bimbal fruits grow abundantly, this pickle is prepared whenever a large quantity is required for any function on a short notice. Once prepared, this pickle should be used within 4 – 5 days. Only the light green firm bimbals are used for this pickle. As they grow, they become soft and yellowish in color and not used.
Ingredients: 1 cup bimbal pieces 2 tea spn salt 4 tea spn chilli powder 1-2 tea spn mustard seeds 1/2 tea spn fenugreek seeds 1/2 tea spn asafoetida powder 2 tea spn oil
Method: Take the light green bimbals. Cut them into 1 cm. thick round pieces. Mix the required quantity of salt with these pieces and keep it aside for about 2-3hrs allowing the bimbals to soak the salt. Take the oil in a small pan and heat it on a low flame. Add mustard, fenugreek and asafoetida. When mustards starts popping, cool them to room temperature and grind to powder. Add this powder to the bimbal pieces along with chilli powder. It is better to store the pickle in refrigerator as it gets spoiled early outside.
Sometimes it becomes big challenge for me to come up with a nice lunch which can be carried in lunch boxes. It has to be fast (as I get only 2 hrs to cook both lunch & breakfast, eat and get ready), not repetitive, and also taste good when reheated. So I often end up making things like tomato rice, lemon rice , avrekaLu rice , puliyogare etc. But it gets really boring after a while. I don’t like to cook ahead, like previous day and rice- dal combination are very messy to eat at office. We are not yet adjusted to eating out, I never did it even when I was in India and here I don’t think we have enough options to suit our palate and budget. So whenever I find any such rice items that suit my lunch boxes, I try them.
This is one such item I found in Kannada magazine. I started buying gooseberry frequently after I discovered nellikayi saru . So I always have a pack in my freezer. So putting this whole dish together is a breeze. Its a nice change to the puliyogare . I have been cooking this for a while now, but squeezing in time to take this picture was another circus for me. Finally I am glad it is here :).
The fastest way to cook this is – Keep rice and gooseberries in pressure cooker to cook. The rice from previous day can be used (although I prefer cooking fresh rice) – When that is cooking, get everything else like spice powder etc ready, so once rice is cooked, you can put the dish together in minutes.
PS: This is not any traditional recipe, although it has many similarities to “traditional puliyogare ” – if there is any such thing!!!.
Ingredients: 2 cups cooked rice(make sure grains are separate) 3 big amla 1/2 tbl spn + 1 tea spn chana dal 1/2 tbl spn urad dal 1/2 tbl spn black sesame seeds 1 tbl spn dessicated coconut 1/2 tea spn fenugreek seeds 4 red chilies 1 tea spn jaggery 1/4 tea spn tamarind extract (increase the amount if you wish to make more sour) 1/2 tea spn mustard seeds 5-6 curry leaves 1 tbl spn peanuts Oil/ ghee Salt
Method: Cook the amla in pressure cooker(for fast cooking). I cooked it along with rice in pressure cooker when I was making rice. Discard the seeds. Crush the pulp slightly. I like some small pieces because it enhances taste. Heat oil and add 1/2 tbl spn chana dal , urad dal , black sesame seeds, fenugreek seeds, dessicated coconut and red chillies. Take care not to burn anything, you can fry them one by one if you wish. Grind to a powder along with jaggery. Heat oil and add peanuts, 1 tea spn chana dal . When they are fried, add mustard. When mustard starts popping, add curry leaves. Add amla, tamarind exact, 1/4 cup water, salt and let it cook for few minutes till it becomes thick. Now add the ground powder and cook for 1-2mins. Finally add the rice and mix well. Serve hot.
Serves : 2-3 Preparation time : 25 mins
