Who doesn’t like pickles? And I mean the Indian ones with lots of oil and a combination of masalas. Nowadays we get all kinds of ready made pickles in the market. However during my childhood I remember the whole neighbourhood used to go on a pickle making spree every summer and winter. Summers mean mangoes. As soon as the raw mangoes are of a decent enough size they are ready for pickling. And winters means carrots, cauliflowers, turnips…the list in endless.
Incorporate this achari taste into your food and the result is lip smackingly awesome. The main acahri flavour comes from the combination of five spices. In Bengali we call it paanch phoron. Even if cooking a simple dish such as pumpkin we add the paanch phoron to take the dish to a different level. Also the use of asafoetida is also important. I feel that the best thing about Indian cooking is how we play around with various spices.
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