Pickles are part of our daily meals. Side dishes, accompaniments, spreads, Etc are the many ways of describing or utilising them for convenience. Pickles go well with curd rice or chappaties & rotis, Vegetables with spices &, oil form pickle. Salt and vinegar act as preservatives. Pickles are prepared in a traditional way in many House-holds, the recipes are handed down from one generation to the other. As they are meant to store for longer duration, it requires ample care in the making. Handling of pickles, play a major role in maintaining the quality of the pickle. Pickles should be kept away from Water. No direct sunlight is needed. The lid of the container should be kept tightly closed. Mostly pickles are prepared during summer season, & they will be in use till next summer. There are variety of pickles ranging from mango, lime, ginger, garlic, gogu & mixed vegetable pickle.( gogu is a leafy vegetable & gogu pickle is highly popular in Andhra Pradesh) A few pickles are prepared with just sun drying. The vegetable is cut in to pieces after washing, to it salt is added & the container is tightly sealed preferably in an Earthen-ware. Everyday it is opened & mixed thoroughly, till the vegetable softens. Then it is dried in direct sunlight & stored in glass jars. Or other -wise the soften vegetable will get spicy with the addition of the regular seasoning done for pickles. Citron pickle & wild lemon pickle, are prepared in the above said manner. Simple steps of preparing KOVAI PICKLE: {ivy gourd, scarlet gourd, or ‘KOVAI’} Select fully grown well matured hard “KOVAIS” Wash well Trim & cut the “ KOVAIS” into large length wise pieces Clean & pick tamarind & add salt Mix “ KOVAI’ pieces with tamarind paste & soak it for 4 hours Remove pieces from tamarind mixture Grind together tamarind, chilli powder & fenugreek in to a smooth paste Heat oil, add mustard seeds, Bengal gram dal, black gram dal, red chillies & curry leaves Fry well till golden brown, add garlic Add grinded mixture & “ KOVAI” pieces, mix thoroughly Cool& fill in to sterilised bottles Store in a cool & Dry place. Sun dried & deep fried chilli pickle: Wash green chillies & soak them in curd and add salt. Seal the container tightly & keep aside. Everyday open the seal & mix well Continue the process till the curd is completely absorbed by the chillies Then transfer the content into a wide plate & sundry it till it’s colour turns brown After that, store them in an air tight container. Deep fry them whenever required & serve. This is a nice accompaniment with curd rice.
