POONDU OORUKAI/GARLIC PICKLE

Homemade pickles are a great way to cut down sodium in diets. These are much better than the store-brought ones loaded with salt, preservatives, and oil. These days even a couple of weight loss programs recommend a low-sodium diet. If you are at a risk of getting diabetes or pre-diabetes or even if you have a stressful job, cutting down excess salt intake is also very important with along cutting down on refined foods. Lately, we have also been cutting down on sodium. I didn’t make any major changes in our diet except that we go for the unsalted version of nuts and chips and always look for the low-salt version of any foods we buy. I also started using sea salt instead of regular table salt for the past few months. Sea salt is a naturally low in sodium and moreover just a little of this can be added in places where larger amount of salt is used. The only thing I cannot control is our intake of pickles, especially my hubby’s :(….he needs to have pickle with every meal, so I started making pickles like garlic, tomato and mango pickle in batches and now we are having them instead of our usual ones. I saw some recipes for garlic pickles in a couple of sites and this is my own version of this pickle. I love this pickle with mixed rice varieties, particularly with briyanis.

INGREDIENTS:

1. Garlic cloves, around 10-12 if bigger cloves are used.

2. Sesame oil, ½ cup.

3. Sea salt, 1 teaspoon.

4. Chili powder or paprika powder, 2 teaspoons.

5. Mustard seeds, 1 teaspoon.

6. Lemon juice, ¼ cup.

7. Curry leaves, a spring.

8. Crushed jaggery, 1 teaspoon. (optional). The pickle tastes good even without the jaggery.

9. Asafetida, ¼ teaspoon.

To roast and grind:

1. Fenugreek seeds, 2 tablespoons.

2. Coriander seeds, 2 tablespoons.

3. Mustard seeds, 1 teaspoon.

PREPARATION:

Roast the ingredients given under the roast and grind category and grind everything into a smooth powder and keep aside. If bigger cloves of garlic are used, slice them into even pieces. Heat a pan with the sesame oil. Add the mustard seeds and let it splutter when the oil turns hot. Then reduce the flame and add the garlic, curry leaves, salt, all the ground powders, chili powder, salt, and asafetida and mix everything well. Let it cook for 10 minutes under low flame until the garlic is cooked. Then add the lemon juice and jaggery and cook for a few more minutes and switch off the stove. Transfer into airtight containers once cooled. This pickle can stay fresh for up to 3-4 weeks when stored in the refrigerator. It can be had as a side dish with rice, idlis, dosas, and chapathis.