Instant lemon pickle (elumichai oorugai) is made by pressure cooking lemon and seasoning it with spices, instead of marinating lemon in salt and wait for few days. This method is usually done in marriages as this can be done instantly. Lemon pickle is my favorite among the pickles. Even mango pickle comes next. I love neer nellikkai and vadumanga too but when it comes to these sort of thick pickles it is lemon pickle. Ever since I got married, mom will make lemon pickle and mango thokku and pass it to me. I make mango thokku often as it is easy as well as Vj’s favorite. But this is the first time I prepared lemon pickle. This can be prepared with very less oil. So it has to be kept in fridge and consumed in a month. But since we make this very less, it will not be a problem. Few days back asked mom how to make lemon pickle as I got sick and could not eat anything properly. I felt like having mom’s lemon pickle, so decided to make my own.
We are not fan of store bought pickles, the flavours we make at home is the best and cant even compare both. Usually make quicky and easy thokku like mango thokku, tomato thokku or neer nellikkai. Once I tried a brand from Malaysia called Lingam in which the lemon pickle was so very similar to homemade ones. Sadly it is not available these days. I thought Vj wont be liking lemon pickle that much, but when he had yesterday, he told he liked it very much. Since this is very easy to make, I guess can make often too here after.
Instant lemon pickle recipe
Recipe Cuisine:Indian | Recipe Category: Condiment
Prep Time: 15 mins | Cook time: 20 mins | Makes: 1 & 1/4 cup approx
Prep Time: 15 mins | Cook time: 20 mins | Makes: 1 & 1/4 cup approx
Click here for cup measurements
Click here to read elumichai oorugai in tamil
Ingredients
Lemon – 10
Red chilli, long variety – 20
Asafoetida – 1/4 tsp
Turmeric- 1/2 tsp
Fenugreek seeds – 1 tsp (roast and powder)
Salt – As needed
Sesame oil – 1 tbsp
Mustard – 1/2 tsp
Asafoetida – 1/4 tsp
Red chilli, long variety – 20
Asafoetida – 1/4 tsp
Turmeric- 1/2 tsp
Fenugreek seeds – 1 tsp (roast and powder)
Salt – As needed
To temper
Sesame oil – 1 tbsp
Mustard – 1/2 tsp
Asafoetida – 1/4 tsp
How to make lemon pickle method
- Pierce the lemon with a knife or any sharp item and pressure cook it for 2 whistles with half the salt and very less water.
- Once done, cool down and chop the lemon. Remove any seeds in it.
- Powder red chillies coarsely. I like it coarse just like my mom does, but if you want you can powder finely too.
- Heat kadai with oil and temper with mustard and asafoetida. Add the chopped lemon along with the pulp/juice if any.
- Add required salt, turmeric, red chilli powder, asafoetida, fenugreek seeds powder. Mix to coat the lemon. Just cook until the excess moisture goes off.
Tips
- The cookbook I have says for a lemon, its 2 long red chillies or 1 tsp red chilli powder (if store bought).
- The salt should be same as the red chilli powder (only if store bought is used). And I use rock salt (kal uppu)
- I have fenugreek seeds (vendhayam/ methi seeds) roasted and powdered kept ready, so used it.
- Use bright red chillies for more attractive colour. The one I used was dark in colour.
- Adding asafoetida (Perungayam/ hing) half while tempering and half as such gives wonderful flavour.
- Let the red chilli be crisp so that it gets powdered easily. So you can sun dry it.
- My mom says, elders roast the red chillies, asafoetida (katti perungayam) and methi seeds and powder it, add to the pickle. But I like raw red chilli flavour a lot.
- Keep refrigerated always.
Serve with Curd rice (thayir sadam) the best. I like pickles only with curd rice, but many like it with rasam, parathas, upmas too.
