kerala Lemon pickle/naranga achar

Lemon pickle..naranga achar a photo by {deepapraveen very busy with work..back soon on Flickr.

Lemon pickle and kanji. 
Once in my life I hate this..
Yes during my childhood flue days my amma tortured me with her Lemon pickles and Kanji... may be 20 days in a row on all most every month..see I was a very healthy child..But later I developed a strong passion for Lemon pickles, those were the times when those biriyani"s and fried rice dishes entered into my life, sharing lunch box season begN and my taste-buds started experiencing the culinary expertise of my friends mom"s..yes I rediscovered my passion for lemon pickles.

Few rains back I bought a bottle of lemon pickle(not from India) and it tasted like....and for that I paid sum. So I decided to prepare pickles myself after that not a hard job.

Ingredients. 

Good ripe lemon=10.
Asafoetida(Kayam) powder - 1/4 tsp
Fenugreek seeds(Uluva) - 1/2 tsp
Sugar=1/4 tspoon
Salt = 3 tablespoon.
Green chillies(medium) - 10 nos
Ginger(sliced) - 1 tablespoon
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Garlic pods slit - 8
Chilly powder - `1 1/2 table spoon. (I used only one)
Vinegar - 1 tbsp.
Curry leaves=1 steam.
Sesame oil=1/4 cup.

Method:
1.Wash the lemon properly. Brush some sesame oil on top and steam this for 5 mnts allow it to cool and dry them using a dry cloth.

2.Then cut it to 8 pieces. If it is small lemon make 4 piece out of a single one.

3.Add salt,sugar to the lemon pieces and keep this away for few hours. (It is best if you can keep this mixture for few days on an air tight container. Add one or two lemon leaves and one green chilli silt to this mixture if you plan to keep this for few days and when you are ready to prepare your pickle remove the excess water and lemon leaves from this mixture).

4.Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds followed by fenugreek seeds,curry leaves, turmeric powder,ginger, garlic and green chillies followed by one by one and stir well.

5.Now you can add chilly powder and asafetida and mix well and add 1/4 cup of hot water to this mixture and bring to boil.

6.Reduce heat to low and gently add our lemon slices mixture. Mix well check the salt and remove from heat.

7. Add vinegar and mix it gently. Allow it to cool. Then transfer it to an air tight jar.

8. Pour one tspoon hot oil on top of this pickle and now u can close the jar with tight lid.

Enjoy your pickle.
would u like to have a look at my website: www.deepapraveen.com.All my images are copy righted so write to me first (madhudee@gmail.com) if you want to use them.