Spicy Lemon Pickle (Instant version)

When life gives us lemons, let us make lemon pickles and enjoy them!!!

Lemons are nutrient power houses packed with key vitamins and minerals, Vitamin C being the prominent one.  Lemons are very popular household items not only because of their culinary and health benefits, but also they are very widely used as cleaning agents, home fresheners, insecticides etc.

There are many variations of making Indian style lemon pickle.  In today’s blog, I will share the most common recipe I follow to make the “instant” Tamil Nadu style spicy lemon pickle.  Many of my friends have tasted this version and given thumbs up so it should be good.  This version contains less salt and oil and has no preservatives.  You can eat it immediately after you make this, but it tastes the best after 2/3 days.  Store it in the fridge and make sure you finish it within a month, and make a fresh batch when done!

Maybe it is just me, I personally prefer to make lemon pickle with thick (and rough skinned) lemons that has lesser juice as I do not want my pickle to be too sour (I also have sensitive teeth).  I normally make lemon pickle with the Eureka lemons (slightly elongated with thick skin). You can also use Meyer lemons (with slightly more juice) or any other variety that is available locally. But today, I made it using Ponderosa lemon (citrus hybrid of a pomelo and a citron) as it is the season and it is readily available here in the US (bought 3 for a dollar!). Ponderosa lemons are really huge and have very thick skin and resemble the taste of Kadarangai, or Wild Lemon.

Now one silly question before we jump into the recipe.  Close your eyes, and imagine (just imagine) that you are taking a sip of undiluted, unsweetened, freshly squeezed lemon juice.  Concentrate, and observe the sensation in your mouth. Are you salivating?  I do all the times!  Maybe it is nothing to worry about, and actually something to feel good about as published in a research conducted on humans to measure how empathetic an individual is. The more you salivate on this experiment, the more empathetic you are!!!

If you want the recipe for a sweeter version of this lemon pickle, please visit this link. And read the Notes section for numerous tips and variations to this recipe.

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Spicy Lemon Pickle (Instant version)

Finger licking, healthy, tasty, yet simple instant Spicy Lemon Pickle recipe from Senthil's Kitchen!

Course pickle

Cuisine Indian

Keyword Lemon, Pickle, Spicy

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 5 minutes

Total Time 25 minutes

Servings 10 people

Author Senthil Sadasivam

Ingredients

• 3 Lemons boiled, cut into small pieces
• 1 tsp Mustard seeds
• 2 Red chilies broken
• 1/2 tbsp Jaggery powder
• 1/2 cup Sesame oil

To make pickle powder

• 5 Red chilies
• 2 tsp Mustard seeds
• 1 tsp Methi seeds
• 1 tbsp Chili powder
• 1 tsp Sambar powder optional
• 1 tsp Turmeric powder
• 1 tsp Hing powder
• Salt to taste

Instructions

1. Boil the lemons in hot water for about 5 mins. Cut the lemon into tiny pieces, remove seeds.

2. Grind the pickle powder ingredients to a semi-coarse consistency in a food processor (mixie).

3. Heat half cup sesame oil in a pan and when it is hot, add 1 tsp mustard seeds and when it splutters (you can also chose not to let the mustard splutter…), add broken red chili pieces and fry for few seconds, and then add the pickle powder and give a quick stir for about 15 seconds in low flame. Add the cut lemon pieces and jaggery and fry for about 3 mins till all moisture is gone and oil oozes out.  Adjust salt (and sweetness) if required.

4. Cool the contents for 30 mins and transfer into a bottle and store in the fridge. If you are going to finish it off in a day or two, refrigeration is not needed.

5. Please read the Notes section for exciting tips and variations to this recipe.

Recipe Notes

• Sesame oil (preferably cold pressed) is the soul of any South Indian pickle, use in liberal amounts.  You can also try mustard oil if you want a different taste.
• Sambar powder adds an interesting twist to any pickle recipe, feel free to add some sambar powder when making any pickle.  You can even fully substitute sambar powder instead of the pickle powder, pickle made with just sambar powder tastes amazing, trust me!
• You can slightly increase the amount of mustard and methi seeds in the pickle powder mix and see if you like the higher concentration of mustard and methi flavors in your pickle.  You can also use yellow mustard seeds if you do not want your pickle to be of darker color.
• If you want your pickle to be less sour, you can squeeze out and remove some juice.  My mom does this sometimes (if we end up with very juicy lemons) and the removed juice is put to good use (lemon rice).
• More jaggery can be added to the pickle if you want a sweeter version.