Achar (or Pakistani/Indian pickles) are a spicier version of a regular pickle (basically like most Indian foods). It’s a spicy condiment that we loveeeeee pairing with rice and lentils or a good vegetable flatbread (paratha)! yums! And this Gajar ka achar is soo soo good! My nani (grandma) used to make the long fermented version which takes a couple of days to make. And I mean I don’t check up on the plants in my house that often, how am I supposed to remember checking up on this? Entered a 20 min version. You will need a stove top, a glass jar, carrots and spices. That’s it! let’s begin!
A QUICK PICTORIAL GUIDE TO MAKING PICKLED CARROTS OR GAJAR KA ACHAR
So Pakistani/Indian pickles are mostly made using mustard oil. It enhances the flavor of all the spices and works really well as a preservative. Since mustard oil requires preheating, I usually start with this step and then move on to cutting my carrots. This achar is usually made in winters when really nice red sweet carrots are in season back in Pakistan. (Also why you will see me posting a lot of gajar ka halwa in winters on instagram). I fortunately had access to these Pakistani carrots which taste amazingggggg! Regardless, I’ve made this recipe with regular carrots as well and it turns out just as great. Let’s start cooking the Achar. In the wok/pan which has the Mustard oil, add your curry leaves, cumin seeds, black and yellow mustard seeds, fennel seeds and chopped garlic along with whole red chilies. I know it sounds like a lot of ingredients, but you probably already have a lot of them in your pantry. We are going to fry this till the garlic gets to a nice golden color. Once we reach the nice golden color, we are going to chuck in all our carrots and powdered spices like salt, turmeric and red chili powder and flakes. Can you imagine this was that easy? Go ahead and stir around those carrots in the wok with the spices. Cook it for a good 5 mins, for the spices to coat the carrots and the carrots to soften up. Then add green chilies and cook for another 5 mins. After 10 mins, we will turn of the flame and squeeze some lemon juice all over our carrots and cover them up. Once the carrots have cooled down, I am going to transfer them into an airtight glass jar and keep it in the fridge. Serve with lentils and rice, or aloo ka paratha, yumm!! It can last indefinitely in the fridge but to give you a date, it can last for up to 3 months in the fridge. I am not very confident of leaving this outside as the oil quantity for this achar is quite low compared to regular achars.
Substitutes
You can use regular oil instead of mustard oilYou can use 2 tbsp tamarind pulp instead of lemon but you will have to add it with the carrots so that it cooks as well
RECIPE FOR GAJAR KA ACHAR – PICKLED CARROTS RECIPE
