Nellikai Thokku (Amla Pickle)
Ingredients
Gooseberry – 20 no
Water
Sesame oil – 4 tbsp
Mustard seeds – 2 tsp
Fenugreek seeds – 1/4 tsp
Asafoetida powder – 1/2 tsp
Red Chili powder – 5 tsp
Salt
Jaggery – 1 tsp
Method:
1.Take a pot of hot water, place the Gooseberries into the pot.
2.Cook for 15 to 20 minutes and when the Gooseberries starts opening up and that’s the indication that it is fully cooked. Turn off the stove and remove it from the pot and let it cool.
3.Once cooled, remove the seeds and you can cut the gooseberries into pieces.
4.Transfer the pieces to a mixer jar, if you need you can add little water and grind it into a nice puree.
5.For Thokku, add 4 tbsp of Sesame oil, 2 tsp of Mustard seeds, 1/4 tsp of Fenugreek seeds, 1/2 tsp of Hing or Asafoetida powder, 5 tsp of Red Chili powder and give it a quick stir.
6.Now, add grounded Gooseberry puree and mix it till all the ingredients are combined well.
7.Add 3 to 4 tsp of salt, it will require more salt as Gooseberries are quite savouring so we need to balance the flavour.
8.Now, crumble a tsp of Jaggery and stir it with the mixture till it is blended with the mixture.
9.Stir it till you get the dark rich brown colour. You can add more oil if you want to store it for a longer period of time.
Your Nellikai Thokku is now ready. You can store and refrigerate this in a glass jar.
