Indian Gooseberry Pickle

Indian Gooseberry, commonly known in India as Amla (Botanical name : Phyllanthus emblica) is a seasonal fruit. It is well known for its nutritional qualities and is rich in polyphenols, minerals and is regarded as one of the richest source of vitamin C. The fresh fruits can be stored for a few days by refrigeration but can not be stored for long. So we make pickles from the ripe fruits which can be stored for a long time in airtight containers.

There are so many recipes available, but this one is my version of a simple recipe to make Indian Gooseberry pickle.

• Collect fresh fruits and wash them thoroughly
• Boil the fruits for about 5 minutes
• Now you can very easily cut the fruit into five or six pieces and remove the seed
• Keep the deseeded pieces separately and discard the seeds

Add little amount of sea salt to the unseeded gooseberry pieces. Mix well and keep the mix in sunlight for about four to five hours. This will help in removing the moisture content and help long time storage of the pickle.

• About 3 to 4 teaspoon of Red Chili powder. You can reduce the quantity if you don not like the pickle to be spicy.
• About 2 teaspoons of Fenugreek Seeds
• About half a teaspoon of Asafoetida Powder
• Two teaspoons of Mustard seeds mixed with split Black gram
• Salt to taste
• About half a cup of any cooking oil. here I have used Rice bran oil

• Roast the Fenugreek Seeds and half the quantity of Mustard seeds mixed with split Black gram with out any oil in a frying pan
• Allow the roasted ingredients to cool.
• Using a mixer-grinder, powder the roasted ingredients and keep it separately

• Heat a frying pan over medium heat. you can use the same pan used for roasting the spices
• Add half a cup of oil to the hot pan
• Add the remaining Mustard seeds mixed with split Black gram into hot oil. Allow the mustard seeds to crackle
• Add all the other remaining ingredients and mix
• Add the dried deseeded gooseberry pieces.
• Turn over and mix well with a ladle.

Now our Indian Gooseberry pickle is ready

• Remove the pickle from the frying pan and allow it to cool
• Store the pickle in dry air-tight containers

Enjoy Indian Gooseberry pickle with lunch...