Homemade Lemon Pickle

If you are anything like me, You eat at least curd rice – Tamil nadu style at least twice a week for lunch and almost make rice every day, again Tamil nadu style. All know that there is no serving vegan lunch with rice dishes without pickle. I particularly love pickles and used to buy them from stores. You know, mango pickle and lemon pickle. But after I started cooking on my own and looking at the ingredients of a pickle jar made my head go crazy with the preservatives and unknown ingredients present in it. That’s when I decided I had to make my own pickles at home where I would exactly know what’s in them. Sharing my homemade lemon pickle to you today is an attempt at showing how easy it is easy lemon pickle at home.

To make this lemon pickle you need sometime though – I would call the time passive time. To explain more, you will need days at least 7-10 days of leaving the lemon and salt in a jar with some sun shining on the jar with the lemon and salt occasionally. All you need to do is open the pickle jar and leave it in a sunny place for at least 2 hours every day. But it doesn’t have to be daily after the first 5 days.

The best part is after your 10 days of letting the pickle stew in the salt is the tempering with simple spices that makes the lemon pickle gloriously Tamilnadu style pickle. The smell of gingelly | Sesame oil, roasted mustard and fenugreek seeds and colorful red chilli powder takes the regular salt stewed lemon pickle to next level.

The tempered pickle should be stored in glass jar as well, with no hand contact. Always use a dry clean spoon to take the pickle out and no reusing the same pickle if by chance you had touched it. Helps preserve the pickle for a longer time. But on the same note, seeing how simple this recipe is I’d suggest you do only a little at a time – just enough for it to last for a month or a little longer. Fresh and amazing pickle, always.

Checkout the recipe below –

Homemade Lemon Pickle

Recipe by FhareenaCourse: Quick and EasyCuisine: IndianDifficulty: Easy

Prep Time

10

minutes

Cooking time

10

minutes

Calories

180

kcal

Pickling Time

7

Days

Total time

20

minutes

A super delicious mouth watering traditional homemade lemon pickle that is so easy to make and is free from added preservatives. Perfect side dish for all our variety rice recipes or parathas.

Ingredients

• For Pickling

• Whole Lemons: Washed, dried and quartered – 10 nos. [5 if large]

• Himalayan Rock Salt/Sea or crystal salt – 3 tbsp

• For Tempering

• Mustard Seeds – 3/4 tsp

• Fenugreek Seeds – 1/2 tsp

• Sesame Oil/Gingelly Oil – 3 tbsp

• Red Chilli Powder – 1 tsp

Directions

• Make the Pickle
• Wash and dry the lemons. Cut them into 4 – Quarter them
• Pack the lemon pieces into a clean dry glass jar. Leave some shaking place.
• Add the salt. Close the lid and give a good shake.
• Leave the closed jar for 2 days. Do nothing.
• From the third day, give the closed jar a shake and then open it, leave it in a sunny place for about 1-2 hours. Close and keep inside after this sun time.
• Repeat for at least a week up to 15 days.
• After this pickling period you can use the lemon pickle right away or temper as below. It will stay good for years if you keep it dry and don’t touch with hands.
• Tempering the pickle
• In a dry pan, roast together the mustard seeds and the fenugreek seeds. Cool slightly and powder them in a pepper mill or in a processor.
• In a frying pan heat the oil.
• Add the pickled lemon and saute for a minute.
• Lower the flame and add the chilli powder. Mix well for 10 seconds.
• Add the powdered roasted mustard and fenugreek seeds. Mix and switch off immediately.
• Transfer to a clean dry glass jar. Let it cool completely before you close the lid.
• Store in a dry place and use a clean spoon to take out the pickle always.

Notes

• Use clean and dry glass jars for pickling always. Reuse jam bottles, I always do.
• Use the same recipe for almost all vegetables pickles.
• No worries if you forget keeping in sunny place for a day or two. Just ensure you do. It helps in preserving the lemon and gives the jammy pickle.