Lemon Pickle

What do you do when life gives you lemons? Well, I made lemon pickles rather than making lemonades as the conventional wisdom suggests! When my friend Loann so kindly gave me a bagful of juicy lemons picked from her yard, I was at a loss initially how to make use of it. Then I came across this easy method of making great tasting pickles by Sanjay Thumma. And this turned out to be simply superb that we couldn't have enough of it.

Recipe adapted from Vahrehvah
Ingredients:
Lemon - 15 nos, big
Turmeric - 1/2 tsp
Garlic -  1 tbs, minced
Chilli powder - 1/2 cup
Fenugreek powder- 1/4 tsp
Salt - 1/2 cup
For seasoning:
Oil - 1/2 xup, preferably sesame oil
Mustard seeds -1/4 tsp
Dried red chillies - 5 nos
Hing - 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves - 2 sprigs


Method:
Take the juice of 5 lemons. Wash, dry and cut the rest of the lemons. Mix all the ingredients along with the juice. Store this in a dry container for 5 days. You need to stir and mix this well every day with a dry spoon.
By the 5th day, once the lemons have become soft and supple enough, prepare the seasoning as below and add it to the pickle and stir it in.
Making the Seasoning:
Heat a pan, add the oil and when the oil is hot enough  add all the ingredients listed under seasoning, in that order. Turn the heat off when mustard seeds stop popping. Let the seasoning cool down.

Since we are not adding any artificial preservatives in this, it is better to keep it refrigerated after adding the seasoning.