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Naranga Achar / Lemon pickle

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Life without achar/pickle is very difficult. I love to have some achar with rice. Hubby love mango achar, his favorite brand being Bedekar’s, however they are not available here, so he is trying homemade ones. Store brought achar has preservative and is high in salt compared to homemade ones. For a wedding feast or onam feast, you can see 4 or 5 types of achar being served, with the usual achar being mango, lemon, ginger and Indian gooseberries. I am not a fan of mixed vegetable achar or garlic achar. But I love mango, ginger, Indian gooseberries and lemon achar. I also love sweet and sour lemon pickle. 
Making Naranga achar/lemon pickle was not easy at least for me. I spoiled almost 12 lemons in the name of pickle making. Finally I perfected my way of making good pickles. Traditionally there are two ways you can prepare lemons for pickle making. First fry them with little gingerly oil until the skin gets soft and cut them into bite size pieces. Second method is to steam the lemons for 8-15 minutes or until their skin gets soft and then cut into bite size pieces after removing the seeds and the median membranes. One more thing you need to be extra careful of is to not to have any drop of water in bottles or spatulas you are planning to use in the lemon achar making. It is just like egg white which doesn’t like any water drop while being whipped. I was able to get success with steaming method. Lemon that I get here in US has thick skin compared to Indian counter parts; I think that may have contributed to the earlier failures. 

Since I was testing my pickle making skills, I didn’t make it this achar as sweet and sour. Next attempt will focus on that. This time I made a fiery hot lemon pickle which has good tanginess by itself. I made this lemon pickle by steaming the lemons for about 15 minutes and then dried them with kitchen towel and added gingerly or Indian sesame oil, red chili powder, asafetodia, curry leaves, green chilies, garlic, fenugreek seeds and salt. Usually lemon juice is enough to get correct consistency of achar, still if you prefer slightly loosened form of pickle use only boiled cooled water. I didn’t add any vinegar as lemons are tangy by itself. If you want more tanginess add vinegar. I used my mom’s recipe to make the achar. Here goes the recipe. 

One year ago: Methi paratha/Fenugreek leaves flat bread
Print recipe from here

What you need

Lemon/Naranga: 5 no
Salt: 1 tablespoon or to taste
Chili powder: 3 tablespoon
Garlic: 2 cloves
Green chili: 1 no
Curry leaves: 1 sprig
Fenugreek powder: ⅛ teaspoon
Turmeric powder: ¼ teaspoon
Asafetodia: ¼ teaspoon
Mustard seeds: ½ teaspoon
Red chilies: 2 no( halved)
Gingerly oil: ¼ cup
Water: 4 cup

How I made

In a medium sauce pan heat 4 cup water and bring to boil once boiled add lemons and cover and set aside for 15-20 minutes or until the skin gets soft. (If you have Asian steamer in hand take it out and use it now).

Wipe the lemon with dry kitchen towel so that there will be no water. Cut the ends and then cut them in to half and then each piece into half and again into half. So you will able to get the bite size pieces.

In a small pan heat oil and add mustard seeds and halved red chilies once mustard seeds starts popping add green chilies, garlic cloves and curry leaves and fry them until they are crisp. Switch off the flame and add chili powder, turmeric powder, salt asafetodia and fenugreek powder and fry for a minute. To add cut lemon pieces along with juice. And mix everything so that spices get coat to each piece and set aside at room temperature for 24 hours. Then set aside for about 15 days or until chili powder and salt gets into the lemon pieces. (I like to keep them inside refrigerator). 

 Enjoy!

Notes
Make sure to clean the bottle and caps you planning to use for lemon pickle should wash with hot water and dried well without any water content.

Preparation time: 30 minutes + 15 days
Yield: 3 cups
Verdict: fiery hot and yummy
Will you make it again; yes I will

 I am sending this  spicy tangy pickle to Pickle/Achar/Uragayi mela 
hosted by  Hima

4

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  1. Tisha says

    I wanted to try your recipe but I'm a beginner. How long can I keep this achar now that its winter time? Is refrigeration necessary? Will it keep longer is I refrigerate? Do I need to make sure the oil covers all the achar when I place it in the jar? Any other tips you can share would be very helpful. Thanks!

    Reply

    • Swathi says

      If oil cover the achar then it will be fine. Also if you make it more spicy means some extra chili and salt then it will be fine. you can keep this out for few days and then refrigerate it will increase it life.

      Reply

  2. Hima says

    absolutely drooling... thanks for sending the yummy pickle to my event.

    Reply

  3. Faith says

    Mmm, super delicious and healthy! I bet this is so good with so many different things!

    Reply

  4. Rachana says

    Mouthwatering pickle! I so wish to taste this now 🙂 Yumm!!!

    Reply

  5. Suja Sugathan says

    Spicy and tempting pickle.

    Reply

  6. Jay says

    tongle tickling spicy tasty recipe..thanks Swathi for sharing..
    Tasty appetite

    Reply

  7. Chitra says

    Lipsmacking picle 🙂

    Reply

  8. Ellie (Almost Bourdain) says

    Wonderful pickle! My fav.

    Reply

  10. Kairali sisters says

    My fav in achars is this one. Looks good swathi..

    Reply

  11. Priya Sreeram says

    yummy ! will go great with curd rice

    Reply

  12. Joanne says

    I love finding new pickling recipes and this sounds delicious! thanks for sharing!

    Reply

  13. ♥Sugar♥Plum♥Fairy♥ says

    That pickle sure looks fantasticccccc....
    I would loveee to enjoy some steamed rice and actually have made some local mini beans with gooseberries , green bhaji with potato and coocnut and gooseberry coconut chutney with herbs 🙂 this pickle will make a great add on which i will love:-)
    MY mom makes a lot of pickles and i help her , with oil , w/o oil , with juice or with vinegar and what u, and u r rite , meals get wonderful with pickles on the plate!
    those lemons are soo perfectly yellow!

    Reply

  14. Sangi says

    yummy tangy pickle.. the pics make me drool

    Reply

  15. SpicyTasty says

    Mouthwatering pickle.

    Reply

  16. Angela says

    These look so beautiful. I love mango pickles and have not tried lemon. I will have to give them a go.

    Reply

  17. Alessandra says

    I agree, homemade is better, less salt, sugar and no preservatives.

    This looks so good for rice!

    ciao
    Alessandra

    Reply

  18. Chow and Chatter says

    looks great my hubby adores pickles wish I did lol

    Reply

  19. G.Pavani says

    mouthwatering pickle dear..

    Reply

  20. Indie.Tea says

    Yum. I bet your pickles are so good. My mom has made lots of lemon pickle this winter too, with lemons from her trees. They're very flavorful, aren't they?

    Reply

  21. Tamil Home Recipes says

    Great post.

    Reply

  22. Sushma Mallya says

    Beautifully captured, looks v nice:)

    Reply

  23. M D says

    I have a weakness for lemon pickles and urs looks mouth watering and delicious!

    Reply

  24. Priya (Yallapantula) Mitharwal says

    Looks drool-worthy. Just the pic itself is enough to start salivating.

    Reply

  26. Hamaree Rasoi says

    Swathi,
    I hope you have made an extra bottle for me ;-). Sounds spicy and tangy. Love the color

    Deepa
    Hamaree Rasoi

    Reply

  27. Preety says

    love homemade pickle

    Reply

  28. kothiyavunu.com says

    Kidulam!! ente vayil vellam niranjuttoo..ente draftilum undu onnu..have to post it..

    Reply

  29. Reeni says

    So much time and care you put into perfecting these Swathi! They look wonderful!!

    Reply

  30. savitha ramesh says

    Tangy lemon pickle ,very apt for curd rice..love it

    Reply

  31. Renata says

    I have never heard of these pickles, they look so good. I bet my husband would love this!

    Reply

  32. Padma says

    Looks mouthwatering... love to have this with any dish.

    Reply

  33. Elisabeth says

    I've never tried these lemon pickles...so yummy and tasty, love the spices you used to make them.
    I'm a "pickle" fan, so this would be right down my alley!

    Reply

  34. Reshmi Mahesh says

    vayil ninnum vellam vannu...Kiddu pics and recipe....

    Reply

  35. Suman Singh says

    WOW...never thought of making pickle at home and that looks awesome...you made it so easy..thanks for the recipe..

    Reply

  36. divya says

    The lemon pickle looks fantastic. Superb!!! 🙂

    Reply

  37. kitchen queen says

    he he Swathi I am drooling here,Can u parcel some lemon pickle and send me? It looks so tempting and lovely.

    Reply

  38. Priya says

    Slurp, spicy and tempting pickle...seriously delicious..

    Reply

  39. Jaisy James says

    ayyo ithu kanditu vayil ninnum vellam varunnu superbb

    Reply

  40. Shanavi says

    who hates pickle..oh man die hard fan of this tangy pickle

    Reply

  41. Nostalgia says

    Looks yum! Totally agree that store bought pickles are way saltier to the home made ones.

    Reply

  42. sinfullyspicy.com says

    I love spicy pickles with rice too.This looks very yummy!

    Reply

  43. Shama Nagarajan says

    yummy pickle

    Reply

  44. Peggy says

    This looks like a great pickle! I love the heat!

    Reply

  45. Sharmilee! :) says

    Tongue tickling pickle

    Reply

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