Big, fat red chillies, stuffed to the gills with a delicious khatta-teekha achaari masala. Can there be anything better? 

If there’s one thing that Ammiji loves, it’s her chillies. Green ones, red ones, big ones, small ones, teekha ones, sweet ones – all chillies are equal in her eyes. So we’ve taken one of her favorite chillies and used her classic recipe of stuffed chilli pickle to make this traditional Banarasi pickle.

The pleasure of this pickle does not come with biting into it. It comes from slowly coaxing the masala out from the chilli with the help of a spoon, a parantha or your finger, and then mixing it into your food to achieve a heavenly combination. The magic of this pickle does not come from simply eating it. The magic comes from that whole sensory experience of smelling it, deciding upon how much masala you want with each bite, and when you want to break off a piece of the chilli. Our Banarasi Mirch Achaar is just an instrument – you decide how you create magic out of it!

Seasonal fresh red chillies are stuffed with the usual culprits – our pickling spices (mixed in a secret ratio) – to achieve a pickle that will take the place of pride on your dining table. Not only will you enjoy pairing this pickle with your food, but you’ll also enjoy using the excess masala in it in your recipes while cooking in the kitchen. ;)

Ingredients: Fresh Red Chillies, Salt, Black Salt, Red Chilli Powder, Nigella Seeds, Carom Seeds, Mustard Seeds, Fenugreek Seeds, Fennel, Cumin, Black Pepper, Asafoetida, Turmeric, Mustard Oil.

Weight: 300 gms

Price: Rs 400 350

Good for: 12 months

Store in a cool, dry place. Refrigerate for longer shelf life.

This is a simple anardana chutney made with home-dried anardana. Correction: This is a BOMB chutney, with a nostalgic, addictive flavour, and powerful digestion properties. Ek baar iska chaska lagake dekhiye!

As children, each time we used to get an anardana churan or goli home from the vendors sitting outside our school, Ammiji used to shake her head in disgust and make us throw the lot in the bin. But, of course, we were irascible. We returned home day after day with our pockets full of the stuff. “Mitti daalte hain ismein!” Ammiji would scream as she chased us to get us to empty our pockets. And then, seeing that we were not to be deterred from having those vile anardana golis, she came up with this homemade anardana concoction and called it “Churan Chutney” just to get us to have it. And boy, did we love it!

We are calling it the Chaska Chutney though. Chaska, a word that has no exact translation in the English language. The closest you can get to a direct meaning is “addiction”. But this is so much more than that. It’s addictive, hell yes, but it’s a good kind of addictive. It’s an addiction that you wish you’d taken up earlier. It’s an addiction that you’re not going to want to let go of. And it’s an addiction that you’ll happily indulge in, day after day after day.

Ammiji made her own anardana at home from the seeds of wild, sour pomegranates. She sun-dried the seeds at home, and we do the same. (Okay, we’ll admit we dry them out in the oven too when the sun-drying is not going fast enough!) The anardana is then ground up with salt and sugar and digestive spices like jeera and hing are added to enhance the inherently powerful digestive properties of anardana.

This churan-chutney is a supremely efficient digestive. And it’s delicious enough to replace all your heavy, creamy desserts. A small spoonful after every meal will not only help you digest your meal, but will also fulfil any craving for sweets you might have. (Of course, you’ll start craving for this after every meal, but that’s a side-effect you’re just going to have to live with! ;))

The taste is sour and sweet and it’ll make you click your tongue against the roof of your mouth and pucker your lips and WANT MORE!

But a warning: This is a mild laxative when eaten in large quantities. Please, please don’t finish the jar in one sitting, no matter how much you’re tempted to…

Ingredients: Home-dried Anardana, Salt, Black Salt, Sugar, Cumin, Asafoetida

Weight: 220 gms

Good For: 12 months

Store in a cool, dry place, away from sunlight. Always use a dry spoon.

Fiddlehead Fern, Lingudi or Kasrod – the pickle is more exotic than the name sounds. A highly nutritious, short-lived green, found growing wild in the mountains, now available at your table…

The Himalayas are a literal treasure trove. And one of the most unique or exotic treasures to be found there is a curiously shaped green. The Fiddlehead Fern gets its name because of the way the tip of the frond curls inward, forming the spiral usually found on a violin or fiddle. They grow wild in the mountains in late winter or spring, and most locals forage for them.

Fiddlehead fern is known as Lingudi or Lingri in the Kullu valley, Kasrod in Himachal and Kandhor in the lower vales of Jammu and Kashmir. In Assam, the locals stir-fry the greens and call it Dhekia Xaak. In Himachal, especially in the Chamba valley, the locals find the crisp, asparagus-like taste of the fiddlehead most suited to pickling, and so that’s what they do!

Fiddlehead ferns are a rich source of Iron, Vitamin C, Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids. And if that weren’t enough, the greens are also loaded with antioxidants.

Ammiji was a regular visitor to the mountains of Himachal in her younger days. And that is where she fell in love with this unusual pickle. On all her subsequent trips, if made before the monsoon hit, she would pick up some raw Kasrod on her last day there and get it back home. (The greens have to be cooked within 48 hours of being harvested, otherwise they lose their nutrition and taste.) She pickled them in two ways – one with the fiddleheads and a bit of the stem, and she would use up all the leftover stems for another pickle, made with a slightly Kashmiri touch to it. And that is the formula we are following with the batch of fiddlehead ferns we managed to procure.

We have Ammiji’s Kasrod pickle, which has the heads of the ferns and a bit of stem, and the Kandhor pickle which is made solely with stems.

Ammiji’s Kasrod Ka Achaar is a mildly spiced pickle – the star is undoubtedly the Fiddlehead fern. The oil used is cold-pressed mustard oil, and the spices used in this pickle only enhance the grassy, crisp taste of the greens.

Bring home the Chamba valley with this pickle. Eat it as a side to your meals or make it the main star by pairing this nutritious with a parantha.

Ingredients: Fiddlehead Fern, Mustard Oil, Salt, Red Chilli, Turmeric, Asafoetida, Ginger Powder, Mustard Seeds, Cumin,  Caraway seeds, Fenugreek seeds, Nigella seeds.

Refrigerate for longer shelf life.

Weight: 220 gms

Price: Rs 550 500

Aam, Karonda, Green Chillies…the threesome made in heaven! ;)

What’s better than a mango pickle with your parantha? A mango pickle that also has green chillies. And what’s better than that? A mango pickle that has BOTH green chillies AND karondas! That is why we call this pickle the definition of greed – it has everything that one could possibly want!

Luscious mangoes, fiery green chillies and tart, crisp karonda berries make for the perfect combination. The fire in the chillies complements the sourness of the other two star ingredients, making this the perfect pickle to have with your aloo paranthas or rajma chawal or khichdi. The spices used in this pickle are subtle, letting the taste of the main ingredients shine through. There’s a hint of nutmeg, a bite of long pepper, a whiff of star anise, and of course, the distinctive taste of pickling spices.

When Ammiji was asked if we could do a mango pickle with karonda, her first reaction was, “Beta, alu, gobhi aur tamatar bhi daal lo!” (yeah, she’s salty) but then she got serious and asked us to include green chillies in the mix too. And the result was pure delightfulness! Yes, we promise to always follow Ammiji’s advice.

Ingredients: Raw mango, Karonda, Green Chillies, Turmeric, Salt, Black Salt, Red Chilli, Black Pepper, Fenugreek seeds, Nigella seeds, Fennel seeds, Carom seeds, Nutmeg, Star anise, Pipli, Coriander, Cumin, Asafoetida,  Cold-pressed Mustard oil.

Weight: 200 gms

Good for: 9 months

Refrigerate for longer shelf life.

A classic mango pickle, made in Ammiji’s inimitable style. Sun-dried raw mango, spices and very, very little oil…

Ask Ammiji what her favorite mango pickle is, and she’ll sniff and say, “Sukka waala.” And her favorite just had to be done.

Ammiji’s Dried Mango Pickle is made with raw Ramkela mangoes, which are cut up into bite-sized pieces and then spread out to dry under the sun on our terrace. They’re then pickled with the choicest spices and minimal cold-pressed mustard oil. The resulting pickle has the typical tang of raw mangoes, intensified many times over. The spices only serve to complement the inherent concentrated taste of them.

What you have here is a pickle that you’ll love spending your time over, slowly slathering the masala over a parantha and then picking up a chunk to take small nibbles out of it…and then when there’s no mango flesh left, sucking the juices from the left-over piece of mango pit. We don’t mean to make that sound kinda dirty…that’s just the way this pickle is! ;)

Get your hands on this super-tempting pickle, made with Ammiji’s traditional recipe, with handpicked ingredients. Thank us later.

Ingredients: Raw mango, Salt, Mustard seeds, Fenugreek seeds, Asafoetida, Red Chilli, Mustard Oil.

Refrigerate for longer shelf life.

Weight: 190 gms

Good For: 9 months

This is one classic that translates to a guilt-free indulgence. This no-oil pickle goes well with any meal and is the best way to make the most of the mango season.

Ammiji’s pickling prowess extended from the regular to the unusual. But the one ingredient that she absolutely loved playing around with was the popular summer favourite – mango. Chutneys, juices, puddings, desserts, curries and of course, pickles – everything was blessed with the goodness of sweet or sour mangoes as soon as the season started.

We, as children, used to love the mango goodies emanating out from her kitchen – all except one. For our unsophisticated senses and palate, the smell of strong hing was abhorrent, so we never got to taste her Heeng-Aam Achaar. But now, with more experience and refined palates, we asked her for the recipe of the classic which the family used to rave about. And boy, were we in for a pleasant surprise!

This pickle – if you like heeng – can be eaten by the bowlful. We kid you not. Who knew that the umami of asafoetida or hing would complement the sourness of mangoes so brilliantly! Oh, and the bowlful that we’re advising you to eat – you can do so guilt-free. This pickle contains no oil. It’s preserved in a perfectly balanced mixture of salt and spices. And of course, hing. The pickle contains only mango pulp. No seed or seed-skin to struggle with!

Ingredients: Raw Mango, Asafoetida, Salt, Rock Salt, Red Chilli, Turmeric

Weight: 150 gms

Good for: 3 months

Refrigerate for longer shelf life.

The rains hit India, and the entire country goes into a frenzy of deep frying. Because there’s nothing better than to be munching on piping hot pakodas while it’s pouring outside. Unless, the pakodas are accompanied by our brand new Aam Kasundi – that combination is infinitely better than anything else can ever be!

The goodness and sharpness of fermented mustard seeds are combined with the typical flavors of raw mango, green chilli and ginger to make a mustard sauce that’s a Bengali staple. Spread it on your sandwiches, dip your fried snacks in it or put it into your burgers – it’s a dip/spread that is as delicious as it is versatile.

Mustard comes with a host of benefits from promoting heart health to strengthening bones and aiding digestion. And when it is fermented, the goodness just doubles.

Ditch your bottled tomato ketchup in favour of a dip that’s not only nutritious, traditional and delicious, but is also homemade and preservative-free.

Ingredients: Raw mango, Black mustard, Yellow mustard, Ginger, Green Chilli, Coriander, Cumin, Turmeric, Salt

Weight: 185 gms