Bhindi--Grated Mango pickle (Bundles of pickles)

 

This is a sindhi mango pickle, a speciality of Shikarpuris (people who hail from the
district of Shikarpur in Sindh). It is absolutely delicious and very different from the
other kinds of pickles.
The pickle is tied up in muslin or cheesecloth bundles and then put in the pickling liquid.
It is also referred to as kadukash (which means grated).

I like to use glass jars for pickling, though plastic will do in a pinch.
Make sure you sterilize the bottles before use.
I boil a huge pot of water and leave the glass bottes and lids in there for about half an hour.
Then i drain them and invert them on a clean towel and leave them overnight to dry.

You need 24 square or rectangle pieces of muslin or cheescloth.
Wash and dry these before using.

Keep your jars and cloth pieces ready before you start to make this pickle.

Ingredients:

4 lbs raw mangoes
about 12-14 tbsps of mustard oil
6 tbsps white vinegar
24 peeled garlic cloves

3-4 tbsps grated gur(jaggery)
salt to taste
3 tsps haldi (turmeric)
6 tsps kalonji (nigella/onion seeds)
30-35 black peppercorns
8-10 tsps saunf (fennel seeds) i like the taste of fennel so i use a little extra, you can reduce the quantity to suit your taste.
2-3 tsps red chilli powder (or to suit your taste)
2 tsps of  methi seed powder(fenugreek seeds)

2-3 glass jars
about 4-5 cups of boiled water

Method:

Boil the water and keep aside to cool.
Heat the oil until reaches a smoking point and then remove from the heat
and let it cool completely before using. This removes the pungency from the
mustard oil.

Mix together all the ingredients listed from gur until methi seed powder
along with 6-7 tbsps of the cooled oil.

Keep aside.
Wash and peel the raw mangoes.

You can either grate them or cut into big chunks and chop them in the chopper.
I used the chopper.
Now mix the grated raw mangoes with the spice mixture very well.

Now arrange everything so you can make the potlis (bundles).

 Take a piece of cloth on a plate and lay it smoothly.

Add about 2 tbsps of the mix on the cloth and tuck a garlic clove in it.

Now fold the cloth to seal in the mixture and tie a knot.

Put these bundles in the jar.
Now mix together the vinegar, the remaining oil and about 2 cups of water
and mix well.This should be at room temperature.
Pour equal amount of this pickling liquid into the jars and then top up the jars
with the balance of the plain water.

 

Make sure that the bundles are totally immersed in the pickling liquid.
Cover tightly.Shake the bottle carefully so that the liquid mixes well.
Keep in a sunny area for about 3 weeks so that it ripens well.

Remove one bundle at a time and open the knot and enjoy the pickle.
I can't wait to have my bundles of pickle happiness :)