Serving: 12 to 18 Time: 60 min to 90 min Difficulty: medium

In India we pickle a lot of vegetables and sometimes chicken, goat meat and sea food. Pickling in India is more complex than just braining in or using vinegar as a pickling liquid. We use a lot of different spices like mustard seeds, chillies (both red and green), cumin, ginger, garlic and of course vinegar, oil, lime juice and salt.

Tomato Pickle

Ingredients:

2 1/2 lbs Tomatoes – blanched and skin peeled off and cut into little pieces

2 oz. ginger – ground in vinegar

2 oz. garlic – peeled and sliced

Grind to coarse paste – 1 oz. green chillies, 1 1/2 oz of dried red chillies, 1 1/2 oz. of mustard seeds and 1 oz of cumin seeds in 1/2 to 3/4 cup vinegar.

1/2 oz. turmeric

1 oz. salt

3 to 6 oz. sugar

1cup oil

2 – 3 cups vinegar

10 to 15 small green chillies – whole – slit at the end – optional

Directions:

Mix together the following – ground spices, turmeric, ground ginger in a bowl.

Heat oil till it is smoking hot. Take it off the fire and add the ground spice mix and stir fry for a minute.

Put back on the fire and stir fry for about 2 to 3 minutes till the raw spices smell dissipates.

Next add the blanched and chopped tomatoes, sliced garlic, sugar, salt, slit green chillies and vinegar.

Cook the pickle on a low flame till the tomatoes disintegrate. The consistency should be thick with the oil on top.

Bottle. Let it cool.

Do not store in the refrigerator. Use a dry spoon to take the pickle out.

I got this recipe from Joyce Johar in the late 70s and have made it umpteen times. Tastes fantastic on toast, with Roti or rice. Great as a condiment to a Roast!