Namaskar
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It is the winter season and vegetables like cauliflower, carrots, shalgam (turnip) are largely available in the market.
Today we will prepare a Sweet and sour pickle with cauliflower, carrots and turnips.
Kids love this pickle and elders too eat it  with much delight.
Ingredients required :
Cauliflower, carrots, turnips - 1 kg (altogether)
Gur (jaggery) - 300 grams or 1 1/2 cup (when broken in pieces)
Vinegar - 3/4 cup
Mustard oil - 3/4 cup
Dates - 10 to 12
Salt - 2 tsp
Garam masala - 1 tsp
Ginger powder - 1 tsp
Red chilly powder - 1/4 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Heeng - less than 1/4 tsp
Saunff (fennel seeds) - 2 tsp
Rie - 1 1/2 tsp
Methi - 1 1/2 tsp
Jeera (cumi seeds) 1 1/2 tsp
Whole Elaichi (cardamom) - 4 to 5 (peel then crush)
Black salt - 1 tsp
First wash cauliflower, carrots and turnips then cut carrots length wise, turnips and cauliflower into 1 1/2 inch pieces.
Now we need to boil these vegetables.
Take water in a utensil enough to submerge 1 kg of these vegetables completely.
Turn on the gas and wait till water comes to boil and cover the utensil.
Once water starts boiling put the vegtables in it.
Add 1 tsp salt in the water
and wait for the water to come to boil, then boil vegetables for another 3 minutes.
Turn of the gas
and let the vegetables soak in this water for 10 minutes with the lid still on.
Till the vegetables turn soft cut the dates and grind the spices.
Cut dates into thin, long strips.
Keep the vegetables in a strainer to drain out any extra water.
Now place these boiled vegetables on a cloth after removing all the water they keep it in the sun to dry for 2 hours.
If there is no sun then keep the vegetables inside for 4-5 hours to dry with the help of air.
Heat a pan then pour oil in it.
Put Heeng in hot oil, followed by the grounded spices(Saunff, Methi,
Rie, Jeera), turmeric powder then gently stir fry these spices.
Now put in the vegetables.
Add ginger powder, red chilly powder, black salt, salt and garam masala.
Mix all these ingredients properly as you fry them for 1-2 minutes.
Keep a low flame as we do not need to cook the vegetables just mix them with the spices.
Now that we have mixed all the spices, take off the utensil from the gas.
Pour vinegar in a pan, add Gur allowing it to melt.
Cook till Gur dissolves completely in vinegar.
Turn off the gas.
Put Elaichi powder and date strips in the pickle then mix well.
Pour Gur and vinegar in the pickle through a strainer to remove any impurities and mix them properly.
Cook the pickle some more as the Gur and vinegar mix seems a bit thin.
Turn off the gas once the Chashni turns thick.
 the pickle will get more thick after it cools down.
If you still feel that the pickle is not thick enough then cook some more.
As the vegetables release water while beilng cooked then cook till the water is dries up.
If the pickle is water then it gets spoilt very fast.
Sweet and sour pickle with cauliflower, carrots and turnips is ready.
When we add the Gur-vinegar water to the pickle and we need to cook the pickle.
do remember that the vegetables release water when cooked and we need to dry up this water.
Else pickle becomes watery and gets spoilt quickly.
Fill this pickle in a container after it cools down completely.
Wash the container with boiled water and keep it in the sun till it dries completely.
Use a clean and dry spoon to take out pickle from the container.
Water or moisture should not enter the pickle at any cost else pickle will get spoilt.
Sweet and sour pickle with cauliflower, carrots and turnips can be stored and eaten upto 6 months.
Try this recipe yourself and share your experiences with us.
We will  meet again at nishamadhulika.com
