No study of south Asian cuisine would be complete without a study of its vast variety of pickles. Believed to have originated in India 4,000 years ago, pickling was one way to preserve food and seasonal produce, especially in nomadic or trader communities where long spells of travel were the norm.
Pickle-making was a domestic art passed down from mother to daughter (and any other female relative who happened to be present while the pickle season was on), and over time it assumed an almost religious air.
Buttermilk, curd, lime juice and tamarind pulp extract were common as pickling bases.
Before the mass manufacture of pickles took away the pungent mystique of home-based recipes, pickles used to get their own cool and shaded storage rooms in most Indian households. There were strict rules on their handling – limited to one person (usually a ‘ritually clean’ woman), who would use a dry wooden or steel spoon to serve out the condiments into smaller containers from the pickle ‘jaadi’ or ‘martaban’ after airing the mix with a good stir.
Now of course, the rooms, earthenware jars and pickling rites have all been consigned to history. A few hundred of the thousands of recipes have survived in Indian kitchens, chiefly because it is cheaper and more hygienic to make them at home when key ingredients are in season.
“Pickles have to be eaten as pickles – they are taste makers and should be allowed to stay that way. The trouble begins when people, finding them irresistible, indulge in eating them as vegetarian side-dishes with rotis, breads, idli, dosa and chips to name only a few, other than curd rice for which it was originally slotted,” says Usha R. Prabakaran, author of Usha’s Pickle Digest .
The Chennai-based former lawyer’s 1998 self-published tome catalogues 1,000 vegetarian recipes (culled for publication from an original collection of 5,000) from across the nation, with several updated versions to suit the modern-day cook.
The spices and oils used in the original pickle recipes were meant to aid specific bodily functions, a fact that has got obscured due to the health scares associated with commercial products.
“Ginger, asafoetida, turmeric are all considered digestives. They are pickled with beans or split peas to make them easier to digest,” says Usha. “Red chillies in small doses have an antiseptic action. Black pepper perks up the appetite and acts as a tonic for new mothers. Turmeric is anti-carcinogenic and an immunity booster,” she adds.
Usha’s Pickle Digest documents nearly 70 recipes of condiments suitable for those with health problems like blood pressure and constipation.
Homemade pickles belong to an era when cooks had the time and purpose (usually an upcoming family function or a holiday break) to make them. India has a tradition of non-vegetarian pickles as well, made from chicken, pigeon, partridge, mutton, prawns, rabbit, beef and pork. These recipes, as with the vegetarian pickles, were most popular before roadside restaurants and mass catering made eating out during travel easier.
As a result of lifestyle changes, some recipes have faded away or have become restricted to a few families as culinary heirlooms. Among the lost recipes are the Rajasthani ‘Panchkuta Subzi’, a spicy preparation of five berries and seeds found across the Thar desert, which could keep for months without refrigeration.
In the south, pickles made with curry leaf seed, stuffed tender mango, drumstick pith, plantain flower and raw brined jackfruit are among those that have vanished from the menu permanently.
Which is why it has become necessary to archive our food heritage more meticulously, says Usha Prabakaran. “It’s strange how the same vegetables/ fruits can be converted into pickles that are diametrically opposite (in taste). But hot or sweet – everybody loves pickle,” she says.
We meet some people who share this passion for making their own pickles in Tiruchi.
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Slow and steady
K. Suriya Narayanan knows why the pickles made by his family can compete with the best mass-produced condiments available in Tiruchi – “Nobody has the patience to sit and cook the pickle mixture on a low flame for an hour anymore. We don’t mind sharing the recipes, because these are the hallmark of our community cuisine,” says the third-generation pickle- and snack maker with family roots in Karur.
Suriya’s maternal grandmother Mrs. Renga Ammal, in her 80s, is the originator of all the pickle recipes that the family has been selling for the past 15 years. “We haven’t written down anything,” laughs Mrs. Sakunthala Kannan, Suriya’s mother. “With Amma around, we just cook from memory, or check with her.”
In addition to the usual raw mango pickles, the family’s Sri Vasavi Snacks Stall in Thillai Nagar also sells in-house creations like ‘Mixer Urugai’ or ‘Kadambam’ (Mixed Pickle) with pressure-cooked chickpeas, peanuts, red beans and lima beans that are tempered with hot groundnut oil that has been seasoned with lime juice, chilli powder and salt.
“These recipes are common to our Vaisya community,” says Mrs. Sakunthala. “We serve pickles not just with rice-based meals, but also with snacks like murukkus and ‘yela vadai set’. Sometimes, if there’s no time to make a vegetarian side-dish for lunch, we just have a spoon of shallot pickle,” she says.
Finely chopped shallots are fried in oil tempered with mustard seeds to which a paste made of tamarind pulp, dried red chillis and rock salt is added and cooked for 45 minutes. Jaggery provides the sweet counterpoint to the chutney-like pickle.
The absence of chemical preservatives means a shorter shelf life for these pickles, which are sold at Rs. 120 per kg. “We prepare only around 3 kg of pickles per week. In the case of seasonal delicacies like avakkai, we buy the mango in bulk and make a big batch. But otherwise, the rest is based on the orders we get,” says Suriya.
With his aunt, mother, grandmother and wife all pitching in to make and pack the pickles, besides running the snack stall, Suriya Narayanan says he is glad he learned the ropes from the womenfolk.
“Paati has shown us the way to our livelihood,” he says.
Flavours of Gujarat
Mrs. Dhanalakshmi Kansara came to Tiruchi four decades ago as a young bride from Gujarat. And all these years later, it is her pickles that keep refreshing her memories of her hometown near Ahmedabad.
“Everyone in our social circle asks me to bring just my pickles and nothing else for any gathering,” says the homemaker.
Picking up recipes from her mother and mother-in-law, Mrs. Dhanalakshmi has learned to adapt them to smaller measures to suit modern needs. “I make around 5 kg of sweet mango pickle (called Chhundo) every year for my two sons and their families in Chennai, and my daughter and her family in Australia. Gujaratis love this pickle a lot, because it is hot and sweet,” she says.
A kilo of peeled and grated ‘kairi’ (raw mango) is mixed with 750 grams of sugar and left to mature in sunlight for 10 days. Powdered and whole cumin seeds, chilli powder fried in groundout oil and a small quantity of salt are added to the thickened mixture, and cured in the sunlight again.
“The colour will change as the days go by. Keeping it refrigerated will make the pickle last longer,” says Mrs. Dhanalakshmi.
A lot has changed in the pickle-making tradition, she says. “Most homes in those days used to have a separate room to store pickles in large ceramic jars. Now those rooms have gone, and we have shifted to glass and plastic containers.”
Mrs. Dhanalakshmi serves a sample platter of four pickles - Khatta achar, chana-methi, Chhundo, and Gur (jaggery) achar. Accompanied by doodhi paratha, a flatbread made with bottle gourd flesh kneaded into wholemeal flour that has been seasoned with chilli powder, turmeric, ginger and garlic and a little oil.
Each morsel is a delicate package of taste that ranges from sweet to tangy and fiery hot.
“Gujaratis tend to pack pickles and breads when they travel, because it may not be possible to get hygienic and nutritious food everywhere. I’m told my pickles are good enough to be sold, but I’ve never thought about it. I just gift a small bottle of pickle to anyone who requests for some,” says Mrs. Dhanalakshmi.
She likes it really hot
Pickles in various stages of preparation can be seen in Lakshmi Srinivasan’s Anna Nagar home, proof of her passion for the hot stuff. The teacher and avid pickle maker is originally from Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh, a region known for its vast variety of spicy condiments.
“My mother used to prepare at least 20-25 kg of pickles when we were growing up. In my grandmother’s day, it used to be more,” says Mrs. Lakshmi. “The taste has changed, because the vegetables are grown differently, and we also use many readymade spice powders. But it’s always better to have homemade pickles,” she adds.
Among her favourite recipes are ‘chinthakkai pachadi’ featuring tender tamarind pods that are coarsely processed with salt and turmeric in a mixer and allowed to rest for three days. The mixture is re-processed after three days, to get ‘thokku.’ To make this into pachadi, Mrs. Lakshmi makes a hot tempering of ground green chillis, mustard, fenugreek seeds and asafoetida for a two to three large spoonfuls of the earlier mixture.
“This can also be used as a base for other gravies,” says Mrs. Lakshmi.
Another of her favourites is Gongura pickle, made from sorrel leaves that are first stir-fried and then re-cooked in a mixture of tamarind extract, jaggery, turmeric powder and salt until it thickens.
“My parents used to be very involved in the pickle-making process right from buying the vegetables and fruit in the market, and getting it cut to the right size,” recalls Mrs. Lakshmi. “I have tried to recreate the taste of Andhra pickles in Tiruchi with available materials,” she says.
* Usha Prabakaran may be emailed on usha.r.prabakaran@gmail.com
