Pickles, chutney and papad: frying achar, mango chutney and papad

Mother’s Recipe Mixed Pickle clearly shows what achar is: pieces of mango, carrot and lime, pickled in South Indian style with oil, salt, chili and spices. That is something very different from Dutch sour in vinegar. The salt draws moisture out of the fruit, the oil seals everything in, and mustard seeds, fenugreek, turmeric and hing give the jar its sharp, slightly bitter depth. Traditionally, you let achar mature, often in the sun, until the pieces are soft and the flavors blend together. Mother’s Recipe comes from India, and the jars on our shelf in Amsterdam are the same ones you commonly see in the supermarket there.

Patak’s Mango Pickle is the classic: pieces of mango in oil with spices, salt and heat. Lime pickle is more bitter and almost citrusy, mixed pickle combines different vegetables and fruits in one jar. Patak’s and Pakistani National are brands that Indian and Pakistani families in Europe have been cooking with for generations, and at Patak’s you can also find garlic, eggplant (brinjal) and chili. National sells its mango pickle in a large one-kilogram jar, handy if it is on your table every day.

Not sure which jar to reach for first? Start with a mango pickle, as it goes with almost everything, and place a sweet mango chutney next to it, so you can immediately taste how sharp and sweet balance each other on one plate.

A jar of lime pickle goes a long way, because you eat achar in small amounts at a time: a teaspoon on the edge of your plate, which you dip into with every bite. It goes with dal with rice, with a warm aloo paratha with yoghurt and in South India with curd rice, rice with yoghurt. Mix a pinch through instead of taking a whole spoonful at once, because the oil and salt are powerful. Always use a clean, dry spoon and follow the label for storage after opening.

Mother’s Recipe Samosa Chutney, made from tamarinde, dates, jaggery and roasted cumin, is one of the many faces of chutney. In India, chutney is a broad term: from a freshly ground green sauce that you eat the same day to a reduced, sweet chutney that stays good for months.

Mother’s Recipe Sweet Mango Chutney is syrupy and sweet, with soft pieces of mango. You break off a piece of papad for it, and it is also often served next to phulauri and roti with chicken in Hindustani-Surinamese cuisine. If you want a bit more kick, grab Patak’s Hot Mango Chutney.

Mother’s Recipe Tamarind & Date Chutney is dark brown, sweet and sour at the same time. In India, this type of chutney is often called imli chutney, after the word for tamarinde, and you taste it with samosa, pakora and chaat, the savoury street food with yoghurt and crispy pieces. It is the standard dip with onion bhaji. You can also make it yourself: cook tamarinde paste with jaggery, unrefined cane sugar, a pinch of roasted cumin and some chili powder until it is thick enough to cling to a spoon.

TRS Black Salt, kala namak, gives this green chutney its typically savoury edge. You always make green chutney fresh: grind a large bunch of coriander, a handful of mint, a green chili, a piece of ginger and some lemon juice with a few spoonfuls of water into a smooth sauce, and season it with salt or kala namak. A pinch of chaat masala from Pakistani Shan makes it even a bit spicier. Eat it within a day or two, because the colour quickly becomes dull.

Roasted cumin seeds through spiced yoghurt: that is raita, the cool counterpart of pickle and chutney. Where achar bites, raita soothes, and that is why it is always served next to biryani and next to anything that is spicy. The best-known version is with grated cucumber and mint; squeeze the moisture well out of the cucumber, otherwise your raita will become watery. The recipe for cucumber raita is ready in ten minutes.

SWAD Pappadums Udad Plain are papad as you take them out of the package: thin, hard discs of urad dal flour that you still have to fry yourself. There are three ways, and the packaging says which works best:

A jar of mixed pickle on the table is the start of a thali idea. A thali is a large plate with small bowls around it: dal, a vegetable dish, rice or roti, raita, a spoonful of pickle, chutney and papad, sometimes something sweet. This way you can choose with every bite: something salty and hot, something sweet, something cool, something crispy. This guide will help you get started.

TRS Alphonso Mango Pulp is the fastest way to mango lassi, the thick, cold yoghurt drink with a pinch of cardamom that, like raita, softens the heat of pickle and chili. After eating, or at any other time of the day, make masala chai: black tea boiled with milk, ginger and cardamom. For that you use Tata Tea Premium, loose CTC tea in small granules. Tata is an Indian tea brand that you simply come across in the supermarket in India, and the Tata Tea Masala Chai packet already has the spices in it.