Amla Pickle Recipe (Indian Gooseberry Pickle)

You will love this instant amla pickle recipe if you are crazy about pickles and want them to be ready-to-eat immediately. This pickle is a deadly combination of yummy and healthy. Indian gooseberry or amla is loaded with vitamin c, which is very essential for iron absorption by our body. Now I am a total pickle buff and have always LOVED pickles; I can have my whole meal just with a pickle and chapati. Earlier, I used to buy readymade pickles a lot but then I got conscious of the osteoporosis risk we women face. Apparently we women are born with lesser bone density than men and tend to lose bone mass as we age. So then I cut down on readymade pickles as they contain way to much salt which is bad for the bones. Excess salt and oil are the main evils of readymade pickles as they are used to extend pickle’s shelf life.

I love watching videos of recipes and had recently watched an episode of Pickle Nation and was amazed at the effort the womenfolk were putting in to make those mouth-watering pickles. More than that I was marveling at the patience of the people in the house who had to leave those pickles alone for days if not months. Inspired by that episode, I made lemon pickle and forbade everyone to open the bottle. I don’t know if anyone else in the house was affected or not but that was the toughest one month of my life. I don’t think I’ll be making non-instant pickles too much. :D

Devansh has inherited my liking for most vegetables but not so for this amla pickle. My husband, Kalpesh also likes this pickle; in fact he can eat sliced amla just with some salt. But Devansh steadfastly refuses to eat this pickle. So I have to be sly about feeding it to him. I sneak in a small piece of amla pickle in one bite of chapati and sabzi. Now amla has such distinct sour and pungent taste, it overpowers the taste of sabzi and our man protests that I have cheated and fed him amla. But luckily he is old enough to be bribed and threatened if he refuses to eat the amla pickle. ;-) So we negotiate and settle for amla pickle in every other bite, interspersed with curd and koshimbir (kachumber) bites. One of the many perks of parenting, you get to hone your negotiation skills. :P Hope you all enjoy this simple, instant amla pickle recipe, which is healthy and can be devoured by everyone in the family.

Amla Pickle Recipe (Indian Gooseberry Pickle)

Print Recipe

This amla pickle recipe is instantly made using vitamin c-rich Indian gooseberries can be used to prepare ready-to-eat pickle in a jiffy.

Author Mukta Tikekar

Ingredients

• 8-10 amlas Indian gooseberries
• 1/3 rd tsp mustard seeds rai
• 1/3 rd tsp hing asafoetida
• 1/3 rd tsp haldi turmeric powder
• Half tsp red chili powder
• 2 tbsp oil
• Salt to taste

Instructions

• Cut amlas in thin slices and transfer them to a bowl. (I prefer to make this pickle in small batches as I prefer slightly crunchy amla pickle. You can use more amla if you want to make more pickle at one time.)
• Add haldi, hing, red chili powder, and salt. (If you’re making this pickle for grownups or if your kids eat spicy food, you can use more red chili powder.)
• Heat a tadka pan (kadhai) and add oil.
• When oil heats up, add mustard seeds.
• After mustard seeds start to splutter, add a pinch of haldi, hing, and red chili powder.
• Pour this tadka (tempering) on the sliced amla. (Pouring hot tadka softens the pieces a bit. If you want to retain the crunchiness of amla, allow the tadka to cool down. In which case, you can prepare the tadka before you cut amla.)
• Mix the pickle well and refrigerate in an airtight container.

Notes

Tip:
Do not store pickles in plastic containers. Salty and acidic food kept in plastic containers causes the harmful chemicals that are used to make plastic to leach into the food. Always store pickles in glass or ceramic jars.