Hog Plum Pickle (Ambade Hindi)

Hog Plum Pickle (Ambade Hindi)

Tender hog plums make yummy pickles. Here's a quick recipe to make yummy hog plum pickle at home. This pickle, called ambade hindi in Konkani is a dry pickle. Ambado means hog plum in Konkani and hindi means a dry pickle. A bowl of steaming hot rice, curds and this pickle makes a scrumptious meal. It can't any better than that..

Ingredients:

  • 15-20 hog plums
  • 1/2 cup mustard seeds
  • 1 cup of red chillies
  • 2 tablespoons of oil
  • 1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
  • A pinch of asafoetida
  • 1/2 cup rock salt

Servings: 15 servings

Preparation Time: 2 hours

Hog plums best suited for making this pickle (ambade hindi):

Tender hog plums that you can bite into are best suited for making this pickle. The more tender they are, the better for making this pickle. 

When the hog plums are tender, you can bite into them and enjoy them along with the pickle. As they mature the pit hardens and with the seed they aren't such a pleasure to eat as the tender ones. However, you can make this pickle/hindi with mature hog plums too. They taste great too. It's just that the tender ones when pickled are a real pleasure to eat.

Hog plum season starts in May. Around last week of May you get tender hog plums. Up until end of first week of June you get tender hog plums abundently. They mature with time. They mature as the days go by. The hog plum season lasts for a few months.

Preparation Method:

1. Wash the hog plums well, wipe them dry with a cloth. Then air dry them until they are completely dry.

There shouldn't be any mositure content, or else the pickle gets spoilt fast.

2. Meanwhile heat mustard in a wok until they start to splutter.

3. Remove off heat and let it cool completely. 

4. Heat a wok, add in oil, fenugreek seeds and let them splutter/fry till their colour changes. Be careful not to over fry them.

5. Once they cool, grind them along with mustard seeds into a fine powder.

6. Fry red chillies for few minutes until it's rawness goes off. 

7. Let it cool completely and make fine powder of it. 

8. Smash, dried hog plums a little and add them into a glass bottle/container.

9. Heat rock salt in a wok, saute it for few minutess until it gets hot uniformly. This step ensures the rock salt has no moisture content in them. If not it'll spoil the pickle.

10. Remove the rock salt off heat and let it cool completely.

11. Once the rock salt cools, add it to the smashed hog plums in the bottle and mix well.

12. Allow the hog plums to stand for 7-8 hours. In this time salt dissolves and you get brine.

13. Then add the mustard powder and red chilli powder to the hog plums in the bottle and mix well using a dry spoon. 

Do not add any water. Also, make sure the spoon, the glass bottle has no moisture content. If there's any moisture present, then all your hard work will go in vain. The pickle gets spoilt quickly.

14. The pickle is ready to use. You can eat the freshly made pickle but it'll be very spicy.

15. The pickle is perfect to eat after 2 days. By then the spice, and the tanginess from the hog plums mix well with the salt to give a nice taste.

16. You can enjoy this pickle for a month or two provided you have taken utmost care while making it. You'll have to store it in the fridge to enjoy it for 1-2 months. If you keep it outside finish it within a week or two.

Other pickle recipes:

Raw Mango Pickle (Ambuli Nonche, Karmbi Nonche)

Tags: Pickle, hog plum, Konkani recipe, Konkani cuisine, Konkani food, ambade hindi.