Whenever it's the season for the large big and fleshy brinjals I make Mums brinjal pickle. They are large, bottle shaped and have only flesh with hardly any seed. The ones we get in the US and UK are fleshier but I worry as to how much cancer causing fertilizer is used to get them to that size. Here in India at least they probably used sewage. Disgusting but safer.
So my help chops the brinjals -- 500 gms is plenty for our home and to give one small bottle to a tenant or friend.After chopping into small cubes I sprinkle salt on it and let it ’ weep’ for a couple of hours.
Then take a large stainless steel or ceramic coated dish so the vinegar does not react with the dish. Put in a quarter cup of oil and throw in mustard seed and jeera seeds. Let them sputter and then put in a tablespoon of ginger garlic paste with a handful of fresh curry leaves. I make the ginger garlic paste fresh, to avoid chemicals once again.
Slice and then cube them
Put in the chillie, haldi powder and mustard seeds and let it fry a bit, then the vinegar and the jaggery instead of sugar. Mum would squeeze the brinjal cubes and throw out the water. I don't. I put in the brinjal and let it simmer for a bit in the masala and then add the sliced fresh garlic cloves.
Chop into cubes and salt them so they 'weep'!
When the pickle begins to catch, I pour in the brinjal liquid and leave it all to simmer and soften. Cover it and put the flame on low and let it simmer. Once you give it a last turn checking on whether the brinjal is cooked, switch it off and leave it in its own heat.
My pickle simmering in Mums cooking dish!
It’s a fool proof recipe and I make it wherever I go. I mean one bottle of Phataks Brinjal pickle is around 3 to 4 pounds in London while making it , I get a large quantity of it, which works out to less than 2 pounds per try using the best of ingredients. My Mum’s fool proof recipe is below. Give it a try -- I have tweaked it a bit using jaggery instead of sugar and apple cider vinegar rather than the chemical stuff sold here. With covid hitting my travel plans I use goan coconut toddy vinegar and it tastes as good. Avoid the chemical -- use it for your toilet bowls!
Sweet and hot Brinjal pickle....
RECIPE
1. Heat 3/4 cup of groundnut oil in a pan till quite hot.
2. Put in 2 tbsp ginger/garlic paste, 2 tbsp kashmiri chilli pwd, 2 tsp jeera, 1 tsp mustard pwd and 1 tsp haldi. Fry well till the raw smell disappears.
3. Now put in 1 kg of chopped brinjal pieces with 2 tbsp salt and 3/4 cup brown sugar. Stir well.
4. Add 1 cup brown vinegar and bring to the boil. Put in curry leaves and 20 pods of garlic sliced. Mix everything well.
5. Close the pan and bring everything to the boil and cook on simmer for around 45 minutes. Check that the brinjal is soft. Cool pickle and fill in bottles.
Here is where I made variations: 1) I used Apple Cider vinegar 2) Used 1 tbspn of minced garlic rather than the 20 cloves 3) cut the sugar down to half the quantity as I am diabetic and use jaggery instead. 4) Used mustard paste in the US rather than powder-- found in Annikas fridge. In India the seeds lightly crushed are fine. 5) Used sunflower oil rather than olive oil or peanut.
Comes out really well with the fat purple brinjal.
Eat with chappaties-- that how I love it!
