South Indian elumichai oorugai without boiling the lemon. Perfect for small batches to make use of lemon. Quick video, step by step pictures.
When my in laws were here last December, they bought gooseberry. Since I did not notice initially thinking it is lemon, after a week it had to be made use fast. So mami asked me to make pickle with it. She even cut and kept for me. It was very easy procedure than my gooseberry pickle I had posted. I had a thought that I should try the same way with lemon as I love lemon pickle.
When I got fresh lemon last week, also the homemade pickles ran out of stock. Planned to make a small batch of lemon pickle same way as she taught me the gooseberry pickle. It turned out perfect to suit my taste, so thought of sharing my version number2️⃣. Best to make use of lemon quickly as well as make small batch so that it gets over soon.
South Indian elumichai oorugai
Ingredients
- 5 Lemon Small Indian variety
- 1 tablespoon Red chilli powder spicy
- 1 tablespoon Kashmiri red chilli powder
- ¼ teaspoon asafoetida
- ⅛ teaspoon Fenugreek seeds powder Roasted
- ½ teaspoon Turmeric
- ¼ teaspoon jaggery powder
- 3 tablespoon oil
- Salt as needed
Instructions
- Wash, pat dry and cut lemon into small pieces as shown. I avoid cutting through the seeds and take out whole as it causes more bitterness.
- Add salt generously to the cut lemon in a non reactive jar (glass or porcelain)
- I kept it in room temperature through out the day and refrigerated in the night. Every day toss and keep inside fridge itself.
- After minimum 4 days, the lemon gets softened in the salt. This makes the lemon get easily cooked as well as soft.
- To make pickle, gather all the ingredients. Heat a pan with oil.
- Splutter mustard. Add half of the asafoetida. I added fenugreek seeds powder in oil itself.
- Add the soaked lemon to oil carefully. Saute in oil for two minutes to cook it.
- Add turmeric and red chilli powder. mix well and cook for 4 mins in medium flame.
- Once the pickle starts leaving out oil, add jaggery and continue cooking for one more minute.
- Cool down and store in a clean jar. Keep refrigerated.
Video
Notes
- I usually have roasted fenugreek powdered with me in stock, so used it while tempering.
- If you dont, you can roast ¼ teaspoon fenugreek seeds (vendhayam) until fragrant and powder it using mortar pestle. It gets powdered easily as we roast it.
South Indian Elumichai oorugai method:
- Wash, pat dry and cut lemon into small pieces as shown. I avoid cutting through the seeds and take out whole as it causes more bitterness.
- Add salt generously to the cut lemon in a non reactive jar (glass or porcelain)
- I kept it in room temperature through out the day and refrigerated in the night. Every day toss and keep inside fridge itself.
- After minimum 4 days, the lemon gets softened in the salt. This makes the lemon get easily cooked as well as soft.
- To make pickle, gather all the ingredients. Heat a pan with oil.
- Splutter mustard. Add half of the asafoetida. I added fenugreek seeds powder in oil itself.
- Add the soaked lemon to oil carefully. Saute in oil for two minutes to cook it.
- Add turmeric and red chilli powder. mix well and cook for 4 mins in medium flame.
- Once the pickle starts leaving out oil, add jaggery and continue cooking for one more minute. Cool down and store in a clean jar. Keep refrigerated.
Always handle pickle without any moisture in hands/ spoon. Use non reactive material for both storing as well as spooning.
Hi,
It’s very good taste,thank you mam.
How long this can be preserved? I have some 50 lemons, can I use this method?
You can refrigerate and use for 3-4 months. Yes you can do with 50 lemons too, I suggest to divide and store in different bottles so that you can take out only one you use. Keep others in coldest part of fridge, not in the door.