Puddighanaenae (Dry pickle) Part III (Avallo puddighanaenae) I will be talking on avallo puddighanaenae (Gooseberry dry pickle). As I have already mentioned there are different method of drying used to prepare these kinds of pickle and gooseberry dry pickle is one of them. Here the avallo is first cooked either in a steamer or boiled in water and then de- seeded and roasted. The specialty of these dry pickles is their long shelf life and you can store them without any fungal and bacterial attack for months together. Hence it is always better to have dry containers for preparing these pickles and also while serving use a dry spoon. You can even sundry the bottles in which you want to store the pickle. Even mixi jar in which you want to prepare the dry roasted powder can also be sundried and used. Even salt is also to be dry roasted before addition to the pickle as salt contains moisture. One another point I will like to mention about these dry pickles is that they turn dark in colour as time passes. Need not worry the taste and flavour increases with time.
Ingredients
You need
- 12 gooseberries
- 1 tbspn gingili oil
For preparation of dry roasted powder
- 10 red chillies (or depending on your spiciness level)
- 1 ½ tbspn mustard seeds
- 1 tspn Fenugreek seeds
- 5 tspn Asafoetida/Hing
- 10 tspns Salt (Salt has to be tawa dried before adding)
Method
Choose fresh scar free gooseberries. Wash them well and wrap in a clean cloth for drying.
Transfer the gooseberries to a container that fits inside your steamer and steam them for 5 to 10 minutes. Alternatively you can even boil them in water until cooked.
Once cooked remove them from the steamer and let them cool.
In the mean time prepare the dry roasted powder. First dry roast the mustard, fenugreek and red chillies separately.
Add all these dry roasted ingredients in a mixer grinder and blend them to a fine powder. Now add the tawa roasted salt and asafoetida into the powder in the mixture and just give one turn of your mixer. This is for uniform mixing of salt and asafoetida along with the dry roasted ingredients. This is called dry roasted powder.
Cut the berries as shown in the photograph. Discard the seeds.
Sauté the berries in 1 tbspn gingili oil for a few minutes to remove moisture. Sauté them till they are golden brown in colour.
Now switch off the flame and add the dry roasted powder to the gooseberries and mix thoroughly till all the pieces of gooseberries are uniformly coated with the dry roasted powder.
Later transfer them to a clean and dry glass bottle.
Your avallo puddighanaenae (Gooseberry dry pickle) is ready.
You can start using it after 15 to 20 days.
Shelf life: 6 to 9 months
Tips
For preparing the dry roasted powder it is better to have the mixer washed and dried in the sun the previous day. If you cannot sundry then place the container of the mixer in an inverted position on top of the lid of just boiled water.
Always used dry containers for storing the pickle. Do not use plastic bottles for storing these pickles. While serving the pickle see that you always use a dry spoon.
