Red Apple Pickle | Instant apple pickle

R & Me are big pickle fans, we always buy a bottle of Priya's Urugai no matter where we are, that crazy. But after marriage comes the idea of making pickle at home. For a person like me who can make pickle at home, I am sure anyone can. I always am this person who would love to wind up all the kitchen work under an hour and that includes cleaning, washing etc. Pickles usually have a long process and I love the shortcut version of instant pickles which still hold and develop lots of flavours. I have few other instant pickles which are a big hit at home Tomato Pickle & Mango Pickle. So the other day I had nearly 2 dozen apples and was wondering what to do with them and I was not looking at a sweet recipe so I got this idea of doing a pickle with apples. The result was fabulous, R loved it so much that he had it with his dosa, idly, rice, chappati and even with  curd ;-) the red apples did have a slight sweetness to them I balanced it with lemon juice. 

INDIAN APPLE PICKLE RECIPE

Recipe Source - Own
Prep & Cook time - 15 mins

Ingredients

Red/ Green Apple - 2 large, cored and chopped into small pieces
Oil - 4 tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - 1 spring
Fenugreek/ Methi seeds - 1 tsp (roasted and ground to powder)
Urad dal - 1/2 tsp
Hing - 3 pinches
Red chilli powder - 1/2 - 3/4 th tsp (Adjust as per spice tolerance)
Kashmiri red chilli - 1 tsp (adds colour)
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Lemon juice - 2 tbsp (this adds tartness)

Method

• In a wide pan dry roast fenugreek seeds in medium-low flame for 2 minutes until a little golden, cool and then ground to powder using a mixer/ motar
• Core the apples, chop into bite sized chunks, add 1 tbsp of lemon juice and give it a good mix along with salt, set aside. This helps in the apples from de-colouring.
• In the same pan add oil, once its hot splutter mustard seeds, curry leaves, hing, ground fenugreek powder, red chilli, kashmiri red chilli, turmeric and salt.
• To this add the prep'd apple chunks and toss well let it cook for just a minute switch off and let it cool completely, Now add remaining lemon juice and mix well
• Store in an air-tight container and enjoy for upto a week

Cooks Wisdom

- Make sure you do not chop apple too fine as it might become mushy. And do not keep apples in flame for more than a minute it will turn very soft and cook very fast
- This pickle is an instant one and hence would last for upto a week in a refrigerator. Take care to use a clean and dry spoon to use the pickle this helps in its shelf life.
- You can adjust spice according to your taste. As red apples on the sweeter side, so I have balanced with lemon juice.