Heena's Kitchen Diaries: Amba Haldar Pickle | Fresh Mango-ginger / Raw Turmeric Pickle

AMBA HALDAR / AMBA HALDI / MANGO-GINGER TURMERIC is a winter delicacy. This fresh version is available in root form and has many medicinal uses and is a natural blood purifier and improves immunity towards seasonal changes.

As kids we grew up seeing our mom and grandmom getting their hands yellow whenever they peeled the Amba Haldar during the winter's. Amba haldar is consumed during the winter months in our household, apart from the undhiyo, moola nu shaak and other winter delicacies. It gives the required heat to the body and purifies the blood and has more herbal properties. I personally love to eat the Amba haldar pickle and so does my family. Our daily lunch accompanies a spoonful pickle whenever it is in season.

BENEFITS
Amba Halder has warming properties, its consumption warms the body from within and fights against the seasonal changes and builds immunity to withstand the harsh winter climate.

It is the freshest available in winter's, but nowadays many stores carry them all year long, it may be locally grown and not that plumpy and juicy as the ones you get in winter.

If you tend to get sick due to seasonal changes a lot and if it suits your body temperature without increasing your body heat then it is good to consume all year long in less quanity or whenever seasonal changes occur.

It is the best taken in this natural form and maximizes its benefits too.

INGREDIENTS

Amba

Haldar

Hand gloves

Oil to grease

Chopping board

peeling knife

Knife

salt

lemon

clean and dry glass container

TIPS TO BUY AMBA HALDAR
Amba haldar is available in root form so it will have various nodes coming out from a single root. Try to buy a root which has developed nodes or less nodes for ease of peeling.

PROCEDURE

Step 1 : Thoroughly wash the amba haldar under tap water and pat dry over a dry kitchen towel.

Step 2 : Apply oil on the chopping board, knife and your hand generously to avoid stains OR wear hand gloves. I personally do not find the gloves comfortable during the chopping process, but if you are comfortable then wear them.

HOW TO AVOID YELLOWING OF HANDS AND WORK SPACE WHILE HANDLING TURMERIC ?
As the nature of Turmeric / Haldi / Haldar it will color any surface it touches. So the trick here is to oil the surfaces and things that comes in contact during the process. So before oiling I like to proceed with keeping all the ingredients mentioned ready before hand and within easy reach to avoid staining other surfaces.

I reuse leftover excess oil from frying and cooking for this purpose. You may reuse or use fresh/new oil too.

Step 3 : Now with a peeler OR knife peel off the skin properly.

Step 4 : Once all the skin is peeled off the Amba haldar cut them in equal length and make thin long slices as shown OR cut thin rounds too, whatever you are comfortable with.

You can use more oil to grease hands if required.

Step 5 : After all the amba haldar is cut, wash your hands properly with hand soap a couple of times, clean and pat dry properly before proceeding. Now take the glass container, fill it with all the cut amba haldar, sprinkle salt and squeeze lemon juice, mix well and close the container. Now let this marinate sit over the kitchen counter to ferment for two days, it is ready when you see some liquid at the bottom of the container due to the marination process. You can now refrigerate it for storage.

I make it fresh in small batches during season, it stays good for almost 6 months or more if stored properly and a clean dry spoon is used each time. Avoid wet / watery hands OR spoons to keep it fresh longer. Shake if often when refrigerated to keep it fresh and as is.

STORAGE
To keep Amba Haldar fresh do shake the container at often intervals if not using daily and let the juice spread evenly to avoid getting it moldy and bad.