Pork Pickle Recipe / Panniyearchi Achar

My Pickling bug continues and this time its Pork Pickle :) :)  Recently while emptying my freezer I found a packet of pork and thought of pickling it. I followed the chicken pickle recipe with slight changes. Worth the trial and we loved it. I highly recommend to use boneless pork pieces without the fat and increase or decrease the oil according to the pork pieces you use. Like I say in all my pickle recipe posts, you can keep pickle at room temperature, if you avoid adding water while preparing it. Always remember to use a clean sterilized dry bottle to store the pickle and always use a dry spoon to take the pickle.

Pork Pickle Recipe / Panniyearchi Achar

Ingredients:

Boneless Pork without fat - 500 gms

Ginger - 2 tbsp, chopped

Garlic - 2 tbsp, chopped

Curry Leaves – 2 sprigs

Salt to taste

Kashmiri Red chilly powder – 3 tbsp

Turmeric powder – 1 tsp

Asafoetida powder / Kaayam – 1 tsp

Fenugreek powder / Uluva podi - 1 tsp

Garam masala – 1 ½ tsp

Sugar – 1 tsp

Vinegar - ½ to 1 cup

Gingelly oil / Sesame Oil / Nallenna – ¾ cup

Method:

• Wash, clean and drain pork pieces. Add salt, turmeric powder and pepper powder and let marinate the pork for 1 hour.
• Heat oil in a pan, splutter the mustard seeds. Then add ginger, garlic and curry leaves and sauté well until golden brown.
• Add the marinated pork and fry till the pork pieces are light brown in colour.
• Lower the flame and add the powders and mix well till the raw smell goes.
• Add vinegar to taste and cook on low flame till the pork is cooked and the gravy is thick.
• Sprinkle sugar and check for salt and turn off the heat.
• Once the pickle is cooled transfer it to a clean dry bottle and use. 

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Spicy Barbecue Sauce Recipe

I always keep a bottle of barbecue sauce in my kitchen and I add a little when I make chicken for pizza topping or in sandwiches or while grilling chicken, fish etc.  I used to make homemade Tomato Sauce when tomatoes are in season … When I saw this Barbecue recipe in a burger book, I tried it and it came out really good. It is easy to make but a little time consuming and definitely healthier than the store bought ones as it does not contain any preservatives … Here is how I made Spicy Barbecue Sauce…

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Tomato Jam Recipe

My mom was an expert in jam making and I have already posted her Mixed fruit jam and Banana jam recipe... But this Tomato Jam was something new I learned from my mother-in-law... she used to make it frequently and she passed her recipe to me... recently while flipping through my recipe collection I noticed this one and realized that I haven’t made it in years!.... It was my hubby’s favorite jam while he was a kid and he used to eat straight from the bottle and still does the same :D.... Try this tomato jam when tomatoes are in season but make sure not to overcook it.... if you cook more it will become very hard and sticky after cooling....  

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Pazham Jam Recipe / Banana Jam Recipe

I grew up watching amma making different kinds of jam according to the seasonal fruits available. The varieties she made included mixed fruit, pineapple and Pazham (banana) jam.... and if you ask me which is my favorite, the answer without hesitation will be Pazham Jam :)...I love it to the core... This banana jam we made while I was in Kerala last summer, I know almost a year back :D… When I went for a short visit to my aunt’s place she had lot of Palayan kodan pazhams in her backyard.... I ate a lot of them and then she made a bottle of jam for me as she knows how much I like banana jam :)...

Pazham jam is a Kerala specialty and it is best made out of Palayan Kodan pazham (sorry I don’t know the English translation), a smaller variety of bananas available in Kerala. The jam get’s its deep reddish colour from the quality of the banana used... unlike other regular jam’s pazham jam will be little watery in consistency and if you cook more it will become very hard and sticky.... You can use other types of bananas but the colour and the taste will definitely vary....

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Uppumanga / Salted Tender Mangoes in Brine

I think Uppumanga (Raw mangoes in brine) with kanji along with a kanthari mulaku (bird’s eye chilly) is the Malayali’s favorite comfort food... right?? I know my husband will not agree with it :D...  Almost a year ago when Sarah of Vazhayila posted this recipe it triggered my childhood memories...  But I never got tender mangoes (kannimanga) here...  so this year when I saw some green mangoes I decided to make it with that... so I selected the smallest thin skin mangoes available and made Uppumanga and now I am a happy girl having it with kanji and making uppumanga curry and chutney! Traditionally uppumanga is preserved in a big bharani (earthen pot).... In one of my old recipe books it’s written that to prevent it from fungal attack, in the old days people make a pouch with clean sand in a cloth and tie the bharani with this sand pouch and the Uppumanga preserved this way lasts yearlong! If you don’t have a bharani use clean glass bottles, make sure to add enough salt water to cover the mangoes.... My aunt told me to add little coriander powder tied in a clean cloth in the brine to givethe mangoes and the brine a lovely smell.... Always use clean sterilized bharani / jar to preserve mangoes and use a dry spoon, else you will see fungus attack....

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Passion Fruit Squash Recipe

Like I have said in many of my passion fruit recipe posts, my appa collects and freezes passion fruit pulp for me which I then bring back to Kuwait. Since my son loves passion fruit juice appa always tells me to make juice for his grandson....  alas little does he know that his daughter uses most of the pulp for her baking / desserts or wine than for making squash for his grandson :D.... But this time I made sure to make some squash as I received many requests for the squash recipe... Amma used to make passion fruit squash using this recipe.... Potassium meta bi sulpahte is used to preserve the squash, so that you don’t need to store this syrup in the fridge.... But if you are making small quantities I suggest not to use preservatives and to keep the juice in the fridge and it will lasts months.... Do make this squash if you get hold of some passion fruit and also you can use this squash to make fabulous cocktails with rum or vodka.... 

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Beetroot Squash

Back home Amma used to make a variety of squashes with the seasonal fruits available like Grape, Mango, Orange, Lime, Passion fruit etc. Here in Kuwait as fruit juices are easily available, I never bothered to make squash at home until recently as my son drinks a lot of juice.... Now I started making it at home so that I can at least avoid giving him packet juice which contains lot of preservatives....also he is such a picky eater who refuses to eat any veggies so the only way to include some veggie in his diet is through juice :D...he loves to drink this juice as his mouth and lips become red after drinking this :D.. This juice tastes like Grape juice and is healthy too.....

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Manga Achaar / Minced Mango Pickle (Sweet)

Had this Minced Mango Pickle at my sister in law’s place on my last vacation and I really loved this slightly sweet and tangy mango pickle. Wrote down the recipe from her. Since its mango time now and I got some really nice raw mangoes I made it recently.  It is really good with rice, Kanji (rice gruel), chapathi or stuffed parathas with yogurt. A perfect companion when you are out of some curries or you are on Lent …

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Mixed Fruit Jam

All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel Mother ~ Abraham Lincoln

Like I said in my previous post, to celebrate my mom’s birthday I chose to share a couple of recipes that she was an expert in. Today would have been her 58th birthday and we terribly miss her absence. I always wanted to be like her in all aspects of life-whether in behavior, looks or in cooking skills…. I really don’t know how successful I have been in following her footsteps… Today on her birthday I am sharing her Jam recipe with you…..We never used store bought Jams at home…. Mom always used to make Pineapple Jam, Pazham /Banana jam (my favorite) and Mixed Fruit Jam depending on the season and availability of fruits…. Recently I also made Mixed Fruit Jam …so here is the recipe for Mixed fruit Jam…




Mixed Fruit Jam

Ingredients:

Mixed Fruits-2kg (You can use a mix of any well ripe fruits that are available, like Apple, Banana, Ripe Papaya, seedless black grapes, Pineapple, peach, strawberry etc)
Sugar-2kg
1” long Cinnamon sticks-6
Whole cloves-24 nos
Citric Acid-1 tsp



Method:

• Clean and chop fruits. Put them in a heavy bottom pan along with just enough water to cover the fruit pieces. Boil till the fruits are tender.
• Turn off the heat and cool the fruits completely and puree this in a blender and strain. (If you like to have some fruit bites in your jam you can completely omit this process and continue cooking by crushing the fruits with the back of a spoon).
• Add sugar, cloves, cinnamon and citric acid to the fruit pulp and boil the mixture.
• Remove any scum that may appear on the surface.
• Stir constantly with a wooden spatula till it thickens.
• Turn off the gas, cool slightly and pour into sterilized glass bottles placed on a wooden planks to avoid the breakage of bottles.

Note:
How to find out if the Jam is ready:

• A drop of jam put into a glass of cold water will gel.
• If you lift the spatula and allow the jam to pour, it should flow together.
• Pour a few drops on to a plate; if it spreads easily, then the jam is not ready; if it stays firm without moving,the jam is ready.

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