Scope

Pickling is a process by which a specific food’s shelf life is extended by using preserving ingredients such as salt, chillies, fenugreek seeds, turmeric, oil, etc. In India, there are a humungous variety of pickles, mango pickle being the most popular and favored one. However, perishable vegetables of different kinds, are also pickled to be preserved for several months, and sometimes even years. Pickles are stored in special jars called jadi as also earthen pots. Pickles (urgayum) are used as a complementary side dish and eaten with curd rice, conjee. Pickles are prepared once a year, especially when a particular vegetable or fruit is in season. For e.g. the period of March-April, which is the months when raw mangos begin to sprout on their trees, is busy month to prepare the mango pickle. A wide variety of mango pickles are
made such as the vada manga (tender mango), cut mango, shredded mango (from large raw mangoes), etc.

India is credited to being the first place in the world where pickling food began 1000s of years – going by the Bhaga Shastra, pickles are known to Indian civilization atleast from 60,000 years ago! “The Indian food scientist K. T. Achaya explains in his A Historical Dictionary of Indian Food that pickling is cooking without fire. He further adds that the Hindu text the Linga Purana (variously dated from 5th to 10th/15th CE) in Kannada language by Gurulinga Desika provides 50 pickle recipes, and achar also finds mention in the King of Keladi “Basavappa Nayaka” (r. 1697–1714 CE) work ?ivatattvaratn?kara.”

Fundamental Concepts and Principles

India has a large variety of pickles (known as achar in Nepali, Assamese, Bengali, Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu, uppinakaayi in Kannada, lonacha in Marathi, uppilittathu or achar in Malayalam, urgayam in Tamil, ooragaya in Telugu), which are mainly made from varieties of mango, lemon, lime, goongura (a sour leafy shrub), tamarind and Indian gooseberry (amla), chilli. Vegetables such as eggplant, carrots, cauliflower, tomato, bitter gourd, green tamarind, ginger, garlic, onion, and citron are also occasionally used. These fruits and vegetables are generally mixed with ingredients like salt, spices,
and vegetable oils and are set to mature in a moistureless medium.

Fundamental Concepts and Principles

Following ingredients are required for making Maroru Vagai Vadu Managai (Another Way Of Bonsai Mangoe) :

  • Bonsai Mangoe (Mavadu) – 10 padi
  • Salt – 3 Padi
  • Chilli – 2 visai
  • Vendhayam (Fenugreek) – ¼ padi
  • Turmeric – 2 palam
  • Kayam (Asofoteida)– 2 palam
  • Oil – ½ padi
  • Mustard – ¼ plam
  • This pickle like other pickles can be prepared and kept as 1 year stock.

Method

Different regions of the country use different methods of preparing the pickle – however, some ingredients that are common across regions, used in pickling are edible oil (such as sesame oil, mustard oil, coconut oil, etc.), salt, turmeric powder, fenugreek seeds (methi), chillies (coarse or finely ground).

This comes as complementary or side-dish when you mix rice with thogayal or curd. This is mostly done once in year and used for the rest of time in that year. The pickle is stable for long time because of the ingredients added such as chilli, salt, Vendhayam (Fenugreek seeds), turmeric, nalla ennai (oil), karayam, and in this salt, nalla ennai, turmeric can be added more always. If you done add more of these ingredients, the pickle won’t be soft and will become black. Take out the seeds of chilli from the chilli powder and these seeds are the reason for the insects to come. The Jadi is the best option to keep the pickles. Also, pickles are kept in sand vessels and stone vessel. If you are putting the pickles in sand-vessel, you have to apply kungaliyam in the inner walls of the vessel for using and the insects won’t come. The process
to make the sand or rock-vessel ready for pickle is,

1) Keep a new sand vessel on stove and heat. After it is heated, pour 5 palam nalla ennai on the hot vessel (some people use candle instead of nalla ennai) . After it is boiled nicely, powder 1 palam kungaliyam and put it in the hot oil. Immediately wrap a cloth on a stick and stir the stick such a way it touches the inner walls of the vessel. Later you can use the same cloth for covering the mouth of the vessel.

Method

  • Bonsai Mango (Mavadu) – 10 padi – These mangoes are chosen and cleaned as said in the previous pickle preparation in recipe no. 266.
  • Salt – 3 Padi
  • Chilli – 2 visai
  • Vendhayam (Fenugreek) – ¼ padi
  • Turmeric – 2 palam
  • Kayam (Asofoteida)– 2 palam
  • In this the salt is grinded to powder, salt, chilli, Fenugreek are individually fried in little oil and powdered like Kumkum powder, and kayam also fried and powdered, and all are mixed, then they are mixed in 3 padi of good water. A big vessel that can hold this chilli water, chilli and mangoes is taken and everything is put in it.
  • Oil – ½ padi
  • Mustard – ¼ plam
  • Using oil and mustard, they are fired and thaligm is prepared and poured in the vessel that has vadu mangai and the chilli water, and mixed very well. This vessel’s mouth is tied by a cloth, and kept for a minimum of 15 days, and shaken up and down.

Hindu Compliance Body

The Hindu compliance body was established under the executive order of The Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism, dated August 14, 2020, order number 10010, under the title Reviving the Hindu Compliance System and Body to create, promote, spread and teach the standard procedures for all products and services that are in compliance Hindu Shastras.

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