Lime pickle

[Geoffbrick]

Just finished my Rogan Josh,and thought would finish my naan with a bit of lime pickle.Found it almost bitter,anyone else had a similar experience,or is it taste of team losing at Wembley.Got Rogan Josh right though.

Cheers Geoffbrick

[Peripatetic Phil]

I love hot lime pickle, and eat it by the tablespoonful, but I will never forget offering some to a Vietnamese friend in the Mandeer restaurant in London; his faced screwed up so much that I thought it might actually turn inside-out !  I suspect that our individual reaction to the putative sourness of lime pickle is genetically conditioned, probably modified by subsequent exposure in those individuals for whom the genetic element does not rule out a repeat experience.

** Phil.

[Geoffbrick]

Phil
  Note your comments re the lime pickle,so wanted to like it(Pataks),but oh so bitter,wonder if eaten with warm peshwari naan may help.Note from other posts at various times that others absolutely love it??!!!
  Geoffbrick

[JonG]

Has anyone a recipe for making lime pickle? Shouldn't be too hard I would have thought?

[Peripatetic Phil]

I don't have one, but I'm fairly sure when I chatted to Mr & Mrs Bari at Christmas that one of them does, although in practice they buy theirs in giant drums.  I will ask next time I see one of them.  Or you might like to try the following, which I filed away when Chinthe stopped producing their wonderful Burmese pickles, but which I have not yet got around to trying.  I fear I never will now, as the recipe is predicated on the fact that one has a permanently sunny window in summer, which may well be the case in Burma but which is highly unlikely in Cornwall   I now use Khanum's by choice -- not as good as Chinthe, but at least available.

Burmese Lime Pickle
Ingredients

    4 green limes, quartered
    2 teaspoons salt
    2 tbsp. oil
    1-inch piece ginger, cut into 4 slices (candied ginger works nicely)
    1 tbsp. white or cider vinegar
    2 tbsp. sugar
    1 tbsp. paprika
    1 teaspoon garam masala
    1 teaspoon cumin seeds
    2 cloves garlic, sliced

Instructions

Make in the summer. They marinate/pickle in a sunny window for 1+ months.. Squeeze 1/2 the juice from each lime. Mix the lime pieces with 1 tsp. of salt and put them in a jar with a tight lid. Leave in a sunny window for 4 days. (I recommend adding something between the jar and it's lid because the salt tries to rust the lid. A piece of plastic or fabric would probably work.) Rotate the jar occassionally (daily) to keep everything mixed up. Save the extra lime juice for another purpose. Add the remaining 1 tsp. salt and mix and let the limes pickle in the sunny window for 1-2 months. turn the jar around to mix everything up every couple of days. Heat the oil, add ginger and stir fry until the ginger is lightly browned. Add vinegar, limes and the juice from the lime jar. Mix and cook until the vinegar evaporated (2-4 minutes or so). Add the paprika, garam masala, cumin and garlic. Stir fry from about 3 more minutes. Place in a clean jar and cover with a tight lid. Can store on the shelf or will keep indefinitely in the refrigerator. Serve with a Burmese or Indian meal.