Carrot Pickle-Pickling Like Mommy Dearest

When I was a young teenager, my mother used to pickle veggies/non-veg for me as I started my life as a hostelite some time then...all alone,away from the home and hearth. She knew and boy did she guess right! it was difficult to have the food at the hostel. Her pickles kept me going and I was indeed quite selfish to share with other hostelites at that age as I felt very possessive over mom's hardwork. Of course, later on as a young adult I realized that food is meant to be shared and appreciated :)
 Her carrot pickle was one of my favourites, followed by mango pickle and shredded chicken pickle. The worst part is I never got a chance to learn the recipe from Mummy :(  It's a loss! She was an encyclopaedia regarding cooking and all her dishes were lip-smacking!

Occasionally, I set aside days when I feel like pickling stuff-thus resulted this pretty jar of carrot pickle. Nowhere near mom's...SIGH! So, just guessing or recollecting the ingredients that she would have used, here goes my recipe:-
Carrots cut length-wise like so, three tsp. of chilly powder,a tsp. of fenugreek seeds, half a tsp. of turmeric powder, a tsp. of hing/asafoetida and salt.

Mix these mango pieces with salt and steam it/mix with salt and keep it for a day without steaming. Drain and keep in a large bowl. Heat a tsp. of gingelly oil; then fry the mustard seeds and fenugreek seeds. Then add in all the spices mentioned above along with some shredded ginger, a couple of pearls of garlic and curry leaves. Soon after they slightly bring out their aroma, add in the sliced carrots, toss them about so that the masala/spices would coat each piece evenly, add in the required salt. Add a tbsp of vinegar for preserving. Set them aside to cool and later bottle them neatly. Once they set in, keep them in the fridge.

Any vegetable can be pickled :) it's a matter of individual tastes,likes and preferences!