No meal is complete without a spoonful of a mouth-watering, sweet, sour and spicy pickle. Often carrots and radishes are used in salads, but we can also prepare spicy pickles from these veggies. Both carrots and radishes have several health benefits too. Having a bite of pickle not only adds flavour to food but also benefits stomach-related issues. During winter months, we generally eat raw mango pickles, lemon or gooseberry pickles. But compared to these, a carrot-radish pickle is no less in adding flavour to your meal.
Here’s the simple recipe for making Gajar-Mooli ka Achaar :
Ingredients:
Carrot (cut lengthwise) – 2 cups, radish (cut lengthwise) – 2 cups, green chillies – 2, garlic – 3/4 cloves, ginger – 1/2 tsp, Kashmiri red chilli – 1 tbsp, turmeric – 1/2 tsp, dry mango powder – 1/2 tsp, vinegar – 3 tbsp, kalonji – 1/2 tsp, asafoetida – 1 pinch, mustard oil – 1/4 cup and salt – as per taste.
To prepare pickle masala (Ingredients):
Fenugreek seeds – 1/2 tsp, cumin – 1 tsp, ajwain – 1/4 tsp, fennel seeds – 1/2 tsp, coriander seeds – 1 tsp and Rai – 1 tbsp.
Method:
Take a pan and dry roast (rai, cumin, coriander seeds, dried ginger, ajwain and fenugreek seeds) on a low flame. Fry the spices till the aroma starts coming out. Turn off the gas and let it cool down. After this, grind the spices coarsely in a mixer.
Now, put mustard oil in a pan and heat it on low-medium flame. Add fennel seeds and a pinch of asafoetida. Then add garlic, chilli pepper, and ginger and toast it. After this, add chopped radish carrots and mix them well. Cook it for 1 minute until it becomes a little soft. Now, add pickle masala.
After mixing the pickle masala, add red chilli powder, turmeric, dry mango powder and salt as per taste and let all the ingredients cook for another minute. Turn off the gas and add vinegar to the pickle and mix everything well. Vinegar adds sourness to the pickle and it will also act as a preservative. The luscious and finger-licking Gajar-Mooli ka Achaar is ready to serve!
