Jujube Pickle ( Koli Achara)

As grandma's little helper, one of the most coveted tasks was helping her get the jujubes prepped for making the pickle every year. Kilos of Jujubes would be washed, sorted, cracked open to check for infestation, and left in the sun for 2-3 days during which the stock would diminish exponentially.  At the best, only a quarter of it made into the pickle jars. The jars were themselves cleaned out in record time. Only a minuscule quantity would remain hidden by my grandmother and we would wait for it to be miraculously taken out once in a while. While we kids always denied our involvement in the mystery of the disappearing jujubes, all the gluttony left its tell-tale signs in the form of stomach upsets and persistent coughs. 

As a result, we were often suspended from guard duties and the jujubes would be sun-dried only when we were away in school. But the tantalizing smell of ripe jujubes is something that is hard to miss. And we kids would always sniff out the hidden stash and devour them. Over the years, the number of pickles being made at home decreased. And so did the quantities. I myself did not miss them much as I rarely had them.

Then came the lockdown and suddenly pickles were back on the plates. With veggies in short supply, pickles, and papads filled in the gaps. I found out that I quite enjoyed the process of making pickles, especially the quick ones. Sharing one of my favorites - 

Jujube Pickle 

Ingredients -

• 750 gm of jujube
• A lemon sized ball of tamarind
• 200 gm jaggery
• 1 tbsp of fennel seeds
• 1 tsp of cumin seeds
• 1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds
• 3-4 dry red chilis
• 1/2 tsp salt

Pre- Preparation - Wash and dry the jujube in the sun for a day or two. 

Remove the small stem sticking to the berries and crack them open to check for insect infestations. This also allows the seasoning to penetrate properly.

Allow the jujube to dry for another day in the sun.

Preparation - Soak a lemon-sized ball of tamarind in 1/2 cup water for 1 hour. Smash the tamarind and strain the liquid. (Use the discarded solids to shine your brass/copperware.)

Dry roast 1 tbsp of fennel seeds, 1 tsp of cumin seeds, 1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds and 3-4 dry red chilis each separately till they turn aromatic. Allow to cool down completely before grinding into a medium-fine powder which is sometimes referred to as the 'khatta masala' or the 'achara masala'. Each household has its own version.

Cooking - Heat a non-reactive saucepan and remember to keep the flame low. Add the tamarind extract. Allow it to come to a boil before adding 200 gms of jaggery and salt as per taste. Once the bubbles start to appear, add 2 heaped cups of the partially dried jujube. 

The mixture will continue to froth and foam for some time before starting to acquire a stringy consistency. At this stage, it needs to be stirred continuously.

Once the strings start getting thicker, add a tsp of the khatta masala. Mix for a minute or two before removing from the flame.

Allow to cool down completely before storing in a glass jar. The shelf life of this pickle is directly proportional to one's willpower but it lasts about 6-8 months when stored in an airtight jar in a cool dry place.

Now, for a zero waste recipe that one will need to use up the bits sticking to the saucepan. I personally find it too flavourful to be wasted.

Once you have transferred the jujube pickle to a jar, add half a cup of hot water to the saucepan to dissolve the jaggery and spices sticking to it. I usually leave in 4-5 pieces of the pickled jujube for extra flavor.

Put another pan on the burner. Add a teaspoon of mustard oil.

Once it gets smoking, add 4 medium-sized tomatoes that have been washed and quartered. Saute on high for 2 mins.

Sprinkle salt and cover for 3-4 mins on low flame. Open the lid and mash the tomatoes with a heavy spatula or spoon. 

Once tomatoes are mushy, transfer them to the other saucepan in which you made the jujube pickle. Turn the flame to medium and cook the mixture till the sauce thickens.

Taste the sauce and adjust the salt/jaggery/seasoning as required. Switch off the flame.

In another wok, add 1-2 teaspoons of mustard oil. Once it gets smoking, add 1/2 tsp pancha-phutana and broken dry red chili. Once the seeds stop spluttering, add a sprig of curry leaves. Pour it over the tomato khatta/chutney. 

Serve it with rice, roti, paratha or any other kind of Indian bread.

Note - This masala is also used to season the various kinds of 'Khatta' like Amba(mango) khatta, Sapuri(pineapple) khatta, Karamanga(starfruit) khatta, etc.

 

Koli achara /Ber ka achar/Kuller Achar ( and a whiff of nostalgia )

'Koli' or 'barakoli' used to be one of my favorite fruits during the school days. I still prefer it to strawberry, raspberry, blueberry or for that matter, any other berry on this planet. Almost everything about it was so much fun. Eagerly gobbling a few of the still green ones and spitting them out in disgust, waiting for them to take on that slightly golden hue which signaled the ripening stage, throwing stones/beating the branches with long sticks to pluck the ripened berries from the tree, all accompanied with the admonishing from elders who forbid us to eat them before Saraswati Puja. Growing up in a small town like Rourkela where there were lots of 'barakoli' trees in almost every neighborhood, we surely had a great time. It was considered quite cool to snatch some berries from a neighbour's tree while the occupants of the house were having their afternoon siesta. And thankfully nobody branded a bunch of kids as 'kleptomaniacs' in those days.

Once Saraswati Puja was over, one would find the fruit being sold everywhere in the local markets. Though it was less fun as compared to savoring the first (read 'stolen') berries of the season, we still consumed them till we got stomach cramps or sometimes even a bad cough. But still these minor side effects did not deter us kids. Finally it would be time to pickle the berries. The ladies of the house would wash and dry the berries before pickling them. And we would finish more than half of the stuff even before they reached the pickling stage. So, my grandmother would pickle the remaining lot and keep it out of reach. Somehow she managed to ration the stuff so that it lasted almost the entire year. Aaah, those days were quite magical.

But these days we always buy our pickles off the supermarket shelves. Neither do they have the taste which my grandmother's pickles had nor will my kid have any such memories to hold on to. Maybe that's why I made this pickle so that he can experience some of the magic though in a much subdued manner. Here is the recipe -

Preparation Time - 15 mins (this is the coking time only, the drying process takes days)


Ingredients -

• 250 gms koli/ber
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1/2 tsp fenugreek/methi seeds
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp fennel/saunf seeds
• 3-4 dry red chilis
• 1 cup jaggery
• 4-5 tsp mustard oil
• 1/2 tsp salt or to taste

Preparation - Wash and clean the berries. Dry them a bit so that the surface moisture evaporates.

Crack open each one and check for insects. This is the most time consuming part but one has to be careful while doing it.

Sprinkle turmeric and a little salt on the berries. Mix thoroughly and sun dry for 3-4 days.

Cooking - Dry roast the mustard, fenugreek and fennel seeds. Once cool, grind them into a powder.

Separately dry roast the red chilis and cumin seeds. Once cool, grind them into a powder.

Heat the oil in a wok. Add the jaggery and the red chili-cumin powder. Sprinkle a few teaspoons of water. Once the jaggery melts and starts bubbling, add the dried berries. 

Cook for 2-3 minutes or till the jaggery thickens. Remove from flame and sprinkle the mustard-fenugreek-fennel seed powder and mix thoroughly.

Allow to cool down completely before bottling it up. Stays good for an year or even longer (that is if you can control the urge to gobble it up).

Note - Some people also prefer to make this pickle by cooking the dried berries in jaggery to which some chili powder has been added and finally adding a tempering of pancha-phutana or panch-phoran at the end.

Pancha-phutana or panch-phoran is a mix of mustard, cumin, fenugreek, nigella and fennel seeds in equal proportion. It is very frequently used in Odia and Bengali cuisine.