Marwadi Pickle with Unripe Grapes

Marwadi food is so close to my heart. Growing up with Marwadi friends and neighborhood, I am always fond of taste of Rajasthani food. I love food cooked in ghee, achaar, moong papad, gatte ki sabji, kanji vada and everything about the flavours and the taste. So this pickle is the reminder of all those good days I spent with my friends. Recently my sister prepared Marwadi mango pickle so I decide to try it with grapes. I absolutely love to prepare different types of pickle (achaar). I try to make seasonal as well as the pickle which can be stored for the whole year. This is the first time I tried the flavours of Rajasthan in my pickle. I saw few recipes on Youtube and made changes as per my taste. I used raw (unripe) grapes instead of mango as I got a huge yield of grapes from my grapevine. I pull the grapes just before they ripe so they are still raw. The pickle turned out super delicious. I made extra pickle masala so next time I can just rub it in with anything like carrot, mango, grapes and make instant pickle.

In my house, no meal is complete without pickle on the side. You must have seen my pickle recipes for Instant Carrot Pickle,  Instant Chile Pickle, Instant Grapes and Mango Pickle, Gunda or Lasoda Mango Ginger Pickle, Chana Fenugreek Mango Pickle and all these pickles are not possible without using this Gujarati pickle masala. I always keep masala ready in my pantry so when I find mango or lasoda (gunda) or carrot, it takes me few minutes to prepare fresh pickle.

I am using grapes, but you can use raw mango. Wash and completely dry 1 kg. mango. Then cut in to bite size pieces and then follow the same process as below. I have made double masala but you can reduce the size to half for 1 kg. mango.

Preparation Time:  45 minutes

Cooking Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:
5 cup grapes
2 ½ cup pickle masala

Pickle Masala:
6 tbsp methi (fenugreek) seeds
2 tbsp sauf (fennel) seeds
15-20 lavang (cloves)
6 tbsp rai kuriya (split mustard)
2 tbsp kalongi (onion/nigella) seeds
2 tbsp haldi (turmeric) powder
8 tbsp lal mirch (red chili) powder
1 tsp hing (asafoetida)
8 tbsp salt
Oil

Procedure: 

1. To prepare masala, first roast methi seeds on low to medium heat for 1-2 minutes until slightly brown. Remove it in a bowl.

2. In the same pan, roast sauf, lavang and split rai (kuriya) for 1-2 minutes, it will take out all moisture. Mix in a bowl with methi. Let it cool down.

3. Grind to coarse mixture. Now add kalongi, haldi, lal mirch, asafoetida and salt to this mixture. Mix well.

4. Clean and air dry unripe grapes. There should not be any moisture or water on the grapes or it will spoil the pickle.

5. In a big bowl, mix grapes with masala. You can taste the salt at this time and adjust accordingly. Mix everything with clean hands. Keep this on side for full day. I kept this under direct sun light for 2-3 hours.

6. Fill this in clean dry bottle.

7. If you are not storing for whole year then you can add regular oil. But if you want to keep the achaar for long time then you need to heat the oil before adding to pickle. Heat oil until it comes to smoking point then turn off the heat and let it cool down completely and then add to pickle bottle. Heat enough oil to cover the pickle and 1 cm above the pickle level. I store it in fridge and it stays good for long time.

This pickle is full of flavours from fennel, nigella seeds, cloves. It is absolutely delicious! I am sure once you try this, you will agree with me. Do try for sure.

Whenever you take out pickle. make sure the rest of the pickle is still under oil. Always use clean spoon to remove pickle. Serve this spicy and tangy pickle with any Indian curries, roti or paratha and pulao or biryani. When achaar is finished and there is leftover oil, you can use it make achari paneer, aloo or any other veg curry.

Also let me know if you have any questions regarding the dish.

Thank you for visiting my website. Until next time!

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