Vadukapuli (Wild Lemon) Red Pickle - Onam Special

I love this pickle. It is spicy, tart and slightly bitter. It cleanses your palette while stuffing yourself during a Sadya, particularly Onam Sadya. So when these lemons were available at the local Kerala store, I decided to try my hand at making this. I decided to try the red version full of spices instead of the white version that usually contains very little or no spices. I have just tasted the one day old pickle and loved it. I am now waiting for it to mature for about a week before digging into it.

Presenting you "The Vadukapuli Pickle"

Presenting you "The Vadukapuli" - see how it compares to the regular lemon.

Ingredients

·        Two wild lemons/vadukapuli lemons (approximately 750 gm). Cut the lemons into 1 cm thick roundels and check if they have thin skins or thick skins. If the white spongy stuff (pith) below the skin is thick, it is better to get rid of that. This is what adds the bitterness to the pickle. So cut out the pulp from the pith and chop the pulp into small (0.5 cm) pieces. Cut out the skin from the pith and chop them up into small pieces. The skin has a lot of flavor and so we should use that. If the lemons have thin pith, you can simply cut them into small pieces without going through the hassle of removing the pith.

·        4 tbsp of finely chopped ginger

·        5 green chillies cut into thin roundels.

·        2 tbsp of Kashmiri chilly powder

·        2 tbsp of regular chilly powder

·        4 tbsp of gingelly oil

·        Salt as per need

·        1 cup of water

·        ¾ tsp of turmeric powder

·        ¾ tsp of fenugreek powder (dry roast 1 tsp of fenugreek seeds and then powder them to a fine powder)

·        ¾ tsp of asafoetida powder

·        1 tbsp of sugar or 1” piece of jaggery (optional)

       

Tempering Ingredients

·        1 tbsp of gingelly oil

·        1 tsp mustard seeds

·        2 sprigs of curry leaves

·        3 whole dry red chilly broken into smaller pieces

Method

·        Take a kadhai (deep round pan) and heat the oil

·        Once the oil is hot, reduce the flame and add the chopped ginger and green chillies. Sauté for around 2 min.

·        Add the chopped lemon pieces and sauté for 3-4 minutes. Add the sugar/jaggery after about 2 minutes into this step.

·        Add salt, turmeric powder, red chilly powder and asafoetida powder. Sauté for another 2 minutes.

·        Add the water and bring the mixture to a boil and add more salt if required.

·        Turn off the flame

·        Now add the fenugreek powder and mix everything well.

·        Heat another pan and add 1 tbsp of gingelly oil

·        Once the oil is hot add the mustard seeds and after they splutter add the broken whole red chilly and then add the curry leaves and fry until the curry leaves are crisp.

·        Pour this tempering including the oil over the pickle.

·        Cool the mixture and then transfer to a storage bottle. Make sure the bottle is clean and sterilized with hot water and has an airtight lid.

·       After transferring the pickle to the bottle, heat and then cool a few tablespoons of gingelly oil and pour this over the pickle so that oil forms a layer on top of the pickle. This will prevent the formation of fungus and the bottle need not be refrigerated. If you already have a layer of oil on the top, do not add more oil. You can add more oil as you start using the pickle and as the layer of oil on the top gets depleted. Store the bottle in a cool, dark and dry place.

·        Use the pickle after about a week or at least after 2-3 days. With age, the lemon skin will become more and more tender.

·        Always use clean and dry spoons to serve the pickle from the bottle. This will prevent the pickle from getting contaminated.

·        If you want this to be less spicy, use 4 tbsp of Kashmiri chilly powder and avoid the regular chilly powder. You can also reduce the number of green chillies.

Go and make that pickle now. Experiment and enjoy.