Instant lemon pickle is made by pressure cooking lemon and seasoning it with spices, instead of marinating lemon in salt and wait for few days.
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This method is usually done in marriages as this can be done instantly. Lemon pickle is my favorite among the pickles. Even mango pickle comes next.
I love neer nellikkai and vadumanga too but when it comes to these sort of thick pickles it is lemon pickle. Ever since I got married, mom will make lemon pickle and mango thokku and pass it to me.
I make mango thokku often as it is easy as well as Vj’s favorite. But this is the first time I prepared lemon pickle. This can be prepared with very less oil. So it has to be kept in fridge and consumed in a month.
But since we make this very less, it will not be a problem. Few days back asked mom how to make lemon pickle as I got sick and could not eat anything properly. I felt like having mom’s lemon pickle, so decided to make my own.
We are not fan of store bought pickles, the flavors we make at home is the best and cant even compare both. Usually make quick and easy thokku like mango thokku, tomato thokku or neer nellikkai.
Once I tried a brand from Malaysia called Lingam in which the lemon pickle was so very similar to homemade ones. Sadly it is not available these days.
I thought Vj won’t be liking lemon pickle that much, but when he had yesterday, he told he liked it very much. Since this is very easy to make, I guess can make often too here after. Click here – Check out all the pickle recipes
Top tip
- The cookbook I have says for a lemon, its 2 long red chillies or 1 tsp red chilli powder (if store bought).
- The salt should be same as the red chilli powder (only if store bought is used).
- And I use rock salt (kal uppu)I have fenugreek seeds (vendhayam/ methi seeds) roasted and powdered kept ready, so used it.
- My mom says, elders roast the red chillies, asafoetida (katti perungayam) and methi seeds and powder it, add to the pickle. But I like raw red chilli flavor a lot.
Click here to read elumichai oorugai in tamil
Recipe card
Instant lemon pickle
Ingredients
- 10 Lemon Indian small variety
- 20 Red chilli long variety
- ¼ tsp Asafoetida
- ½ tsp Turmeric
- 1 tsp Fenugreek seeds roast and powder
- Salt – As needed
To temper
- 1 tbsp Sesame oil
- ½ tsp Mustard
- ¼ tsp Asafoetida
Instructions
- Pierce the lemon with a knife or any sharp item and pressure cook it for 2 whistles with half the salt and very less water.
- Once done, cool down and chop the lemon. Remove any seeds in it.
- Powder red chillies coarsely. I like it coarse just like my mom does, but if you want you can powder finely too.
- Heat kadai with oil and temper with mustard and asafoetida. Add the chopped lemon along with the pulp/juice if any.
- Add required salt, turmeric, red chilli powder, asafoetida, fenugreek seeds powder. Mix to coat the lemon. Just cook until the excess moisture goes off.
Notes
- Use bright red chillies for more attractive colour. The one I used was dark in colour.
- Adding asafoetida (Perungayam/ hing) half while tempering and half as such gives wonderful flavour.
- Let the red chilli be crisp so that it gets powdered easily. So you can sun dry it.
- Keep refrigerated always.
Stepwise photos
1. Pierce the lemon with a knife or any sharp item and pressure cook it for 2 whistles with half the salt and very less water.
2. Once done, cool down and chop the lemon. Remove any seeds in it.
3. Powder red chillies coarsely. I like it coarse just like my mom does, but if you want you can powder finely too.
4. Heat kadai with oil and temper with mustard and asafoetida. Add the chopped lemon along with the pulp/juice if any.
5. Add required salt, turmeric, red chilli powder, asafoetida, fenugreek seeds powder. Mix to coat the lemon. Just cook until the excess moisture goes off.
Serve with Curd rice (thayir sadam) the best. I like pickles only with curd rice, but many like it with rasam, parathas, upmas too.
Thanks so much for the recipe,looks very interesting
Very interesting recipe…will try it for sure..How long it will stay?
A month in fridge. Should always be refrigerated.
I tried now as i was having all things ready in my hand. Lemon is cooked but thuvarpu was very high.what could have been the mistake?
Hi raks, i follow ur recipes. Can we chop the lemon and then cook for two whistles.because it will be difficult to cut lemon after cooking. Any specific reason to pierce and cook lemon.
Won't cooking lemon make it bitter?
Hope you cooked with salt. If you taste as such it will be like that, but if you add enough salt and red chilli it will be balanced. Also give a day standing time. If it is still bitter, try adding more salt and red chilli and add 1/4 tsp sugar or 1/2 tsp jaggery. Sautee in oil again it will be alright
I was a very starter in making pickle . I tried it today , it came out very well. I was very happy.
Thanks for your feedback
If we salt and spice it right, it wont be bitter.
Yes you can just give a whistle or two, I was afraid we will loose more pulp if we cut and then cook. My mom asked to pierce, so i followed the same blindly.
Hi raks . Can we add the remaining water and juice in the cooker while cooking the pickle..
Yes sure
Hi raks,
The pickle I prepared tastes very very bitter. I have added enough salt and chilli but it still tastes very bitter.
Laxmi, please add lots of chilli and salt, for pickles it has to be more. My mom makes this pickle same way for years and never turns bitter.
Hi Raks, I have plenty of lemon peaks left, can I cut them up in pieces and follow the above steps?
Hi, I am sorry What is lemon peaks?
Hi raks, my pickle seems to be very dry. Do we have to add more oil? Or it just needs standing time.?
You can add the water that is there after pressure cooking. Adding more oil will help too 🙂
Hey..
What if i want to make it sweet? At which stage do i add sugar or shall i make sugar syrup?
I am not sure about adding sugar/ syrup to this. Yet I suppose it is added towards the end.
Love this pickle with sambar or rasam rice.