This is our special Achar / Pickle recipe with a special ingredient which is not commonly used for pickle, by people around and that is Yellow Pumpkin (Mathanga). Anyone who eats this pickle may identify it as mango only but not as pumpkin, unless you reveal so. So we named it as captioned. This can be stored for many days if you follow this recipe and the fact is that the pumpkin pieces will remain as crunchy as ever, unlike the mango pieces which may become soft after few days, and is as tasty as a mango pickle / kadumanga. So why don’t you try out this pickle with the all-time, economically available vegetable around you and boob your guests and let them identify the main ingredient..Hows it ??? So try this exclusive pickle version of our “Manga Illa Kadumanga” and please let us know how it turned out for you, all rite???
Ingredients
Chilly powder – 4 tbsp
Mustard Seeds – 2 tsp
Green Chilly – 3 nos
Curry Leaves – 3-4
Garlic – 10 nos
Kashmiri Chilly powder – 1 tbsp
Hing / Asafetida powder – 2 tsp
Salt – ½ cup or as needed
Fenugreek powder (raw) – 1 tsp
Apple Cider Vinegar – 1 cup
Sesame oil / Gingelly oil – 1 cup
Pumpkin (yellow) – 1 ¼ kg
Method of preparation
Wash and dice the pumpkin with skin, into small pcs, exactly like how we cut for kadumanga. Into a bowl, add the diced pcs along with the salt and mix very well with the hand itself, close and let it rest for 2 hours until the salt is infused into the pumpkin pcs and the excess water is released.
Now we need to make the pickle masala. Into a bowl, add the both the chilly powders, hing, fenugreek and 4 tbsp of sesame oil and mix well with the spoon to make a paste out of it. Now the pickle masala is ready and keep aside.
Into a pan, add the rest of the sesame oil to reach the smoking point. Remove 3 tbsp of oil and keep aside in a bowl (to be used at the time of bottling).
Now add the mustard seeds to splutter. Add the curry leaves and green chilly and saute well. Add the garlic and ginger and saute till an aroma is released. Now add the prepared pickle masala and mix very well. Add the vinegar and a cup of cold boiled water, mix well to let it boil. ‘Am addig ½ tsp sugar also at this time to fully balance the flavours. Now the excess water from the pumpkin is fully released and is to be poured into the pan to boil along, leaving the pumkin pcs. Once done switch off the flame and let the mixture cool. Now add the pumpkin pcs in to the pan and mix very well. Now this can go into clean dry glass/ceramic jars, over which pour the sesame oil kept aside before. Close with tight lids and can be stored outside for a week and refrigerated then, to be on the safer side, for long term use.
Enjoy our special “Manga Illa Kadumanga” and let us know how it turned out for you. This is best to be consumed since a week after bottling. Stays for very long time without being faulty, since we have used sesame oil which has got its own natural preservative and the vinegar used also keeps this pickle fresh for long. Needs more vinegar than other pickles, to balance the sourness, since the pumpkin is not sour.
Let it be any pickle, the spiciness, sourness & saltiness should be just right to make it more delightful. I am sure you will make it more and more, once you do.
Make sure to select the best pumpkin which are not too raw and not too ripe.Watch video
