Eating mangoes along with your meals is a tradition as old as time in India. Whether you slice them and put them on the side of your plate, or whether you add them to a dal or make a sabzi out of them, mangoes are that irresistible and indispensable part of any summer lunch. And that is exactly why Ammiji used to make the Aam ki Launji.

This recipe is not quite the traditional UP recipe, and nor is it a Punjabi recipe, but a curious mix of two. Mangoes are cooked with a little sugar till soft and then spiced up with a special combination of masalas. What comes out of the kadhai is a jammy concoction, with thick chunks of mangoes and a syrupy consistency that is perfect for wiping clean with rotis.

The versatile Aam ki Launji goes well with any meal, be it rice and curry or sabzi.

Ingredients: Mango, Sugar, Salt, Rock Salt, Fennel seeds, Cumin, Fenugreek seeds, Garam masala, Red Chilli, Turmeric.

Weight: 200 gms 

Best before 3 months.

Refrigerate after opening.

When you think of a typical Indian ghar-ka-khaana, you picture a thali in your mind, rice, roti, papad, dal, sabzi and the necessary pickles and chutneys as accompaniments. Each element has a role to play and chutneys are those character actors which make the entire scene fun and palatable. But sometimes, character actors steal the show and the accolades. And Ammiji’s Amla Chutney is one such character actor!

Amla or the Indian gooseberry is one of the few fruits that does not lose its potency when subjected to heat. Cooking does not diminish its powers. It is a storehouse of nutrients, widely regarded as medicinal and therapeutic in all of its forms, whether its raw, dried or cooked like in this delicious chutney.

In Ayurveda, amlaki is the nectar – the remedy to all ills, and the rejuvenate. It is one of the richest sources of Vitamin C and a good source for iron and other vitamins and minerals too. It is anti-aging and beneficial for all organ systems in the body, especially the respiratory system.

Now, can something so beneficial be so delicious? When taken raw, amla is sour, almost bitter. But when cooked up, as it is here, it assumes a delectable profile, with perfectly balanced notes of sweet, sour and spicy.

Ammiji’s Amla Chutney is a perennial favorite in her household. It’s omnipresent at her dining table and no meal is complete until she’s made sure that everyone’s had a spoonful or two. This chutney goes well with everything from dal-chawal to parantha’s to a dip for your lavaash.

Getting your daily dose of Vitamin C has never been so deliciously easy!

Ingredients: Amla, Sugar, Black salt, Cumin, Red Chili, Cinnamon, Brown Cardamom.

Weight: 250 gms

Good for 6 months. Refrigerate after opening.

The Indian wonderberry, Amla, now pickled according to Ammiji’s strict instructions…

Everyone, and we literally mean everyone, is aware of the tremendous powerhouse that our indigenous amla is. It is one of the richest sources of vitamin C. And the best part – none of that vitamin C is lost while we turn it into delicious food! Here at Ammiji’s, we use amla in our Chyawanprash, we make a superb chutney out of it, we dry it up to make powder for our kaadha, and now, we’ve gone on and pickled it up!

Ammiji was very choosy about the amlas that she would put into her pickle. None of those big, fat juicy amlas were chosen – they were put away for other things. She chose the tiniest, tartest amlas – babies, almost – because she felt that they would taste best in the pickle. And like always, we bow down to Ammiji’s wisdom.

So here’s Ammiji’s Amla Pickle, pickled her way, with the tiny bite-sized amlas she would have chosen.

P.S: did you know that this pickle will provide you a good dose of Vitamin C AND good gut bacteria?

Ingredients: Baby Amla, Salt, Red Chilli, Fenugreek seeds, Mustard seeds, Fennel seeds, Nigella seeds, Mustard Oil

Weight: 300 gms

Price: Rs 400 300 (inclusive of taxes)

Good for: 8 months

Refrigerate after opening. (This pickle contains no preservatives.)

Always use a clean, dry spoon while scooping out Ammiji’s delicious pickles!

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.

We turn onions into gold with this chutney. Layers of slowly built flavor; a sweet and spicy umami taste that you won’t be able to resist.

Any seasoned cook will tell you the magic that a medium slow flame will do to onions. Slowly browning them till science takes over – caramelization turns the natural sugar present in onions into new, simpler sugar molecules and the Maillard reaction ensures that layers upon layers of flavor and aroma are built up. You don’t need to know the science to know that the result is a mellow, melting, soft hot mess! Pungent raw onions have turned into sweet, brown gold.

Ammiji’s recipe for her classic Onion Chutney takes that sweet, brown gold, adds more layers of flavor to it with garlic and ginger, and then even more with curry leaves, resulting in a condiment that’s too complex to describe, but is one of the best things you’ll ever scoop out of a jar. The natural sweetness of caramelized onions is magnified by the addition of organic jaggery, and then balanced by the tanginess of amchur, anardana and tamarind. So much goodness in one little jar – you have to taste it to believe it!

Ammiji’s Caramelized Onion Chutney is as desi as it comes – so it’ll go with any of your regular meals. But it’s also versatile, so there’s ample room to get inventive with it. Layer your burgers and sandwiches with it for a seriously good umami kick. Add it to your cheeseboard (pair it with cheddar and you’ll be in heaven!), add it to a marinade instead of barbeque sauce, stir it into a stir-fry, or just eat it plain. The sky is literally the limit when it comes to this gorgeous chutney. One of our favorites here at Ammiji’s kitchen, as you can undoubtedly tell. :)

Ingredients: Onion, Garlic, Ginger, Jaggery, Dry Mango Powder, Pomegranate seeds, Tamarind, Curry Leaves

Weight: 175 gms

Price: Rs 500 400

Good for: 6 months

Keep Refrigerated. (This chutney contains no preservatives.)

Always use a clean, dry spoon while scooping out Ammiji’s legendary chutneys!

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.

Admit it, the only time you pick up French Beans at the sabziwala is when you want to use it in stir-fries, or as a side to your grilled dish. No? Okay, then maybe once in a blue moon, you’ll make the tepid beans-alu or the more interesting poriyal.

Well, we’ve found a way to include these power-packed string beans into your daily diet! Presenting Ammiji’s French Beans Pickle – crunchy, nutritious string beans pickled in classic Indian spices and mustard oil. They make an excellent addition to your plate whether you’re piling up the dal-chawal or the biryani.

French beans are high in folate and fibre, and they contain a decent amount of protein too. Indulgence here will be totally guilt-free!

Ingredients: French Beans, Salt, Turmeric, Red Chili, Pipli, Mustard seeds, Nigella seeds, Coriander seeds, Cumin, Fenugreek seeds, Mustard Oil.

Weight: 170 gm

Good for 6 months

Refrigerate for longer shelf life.