CHANA, METHI NE KERI NU ATHANU/ CHICKPEA FENUGREEK & MANGO PICKLE

Isn't Summer the best time of the year? Time for the holidays, time to pickle and preserve. I remember my summers as a kid. My mother would make pickles, buy the grains and pulses and clean and stock them. Big sacks would arrive and we kids would play and jump on them. 

But I digress.. This post is about the yummy Gujarati pickle Chana Methia nu Athanu. The best I've had was made by my Grandmother-in-Law, my husband's Nani. I've tried to imitate and incorporate the wonderful flavors that we enjoy in her pickle. This is one of the simplest and swiftest pickle I know. The best part is that it does not need to soak the sun, it cooks by itself.

Ingredients:

Chickpeas, 1 cup

Fenugreek Seeds, 1/4 cup

Raw Mango, 1 cup, cubed into small pieces 

Peanut Oil, 1.5 cup

Pickle Masala, 1.5 cups

Garlic, 2 cloves

Turmeric Powder, 1 tsp

Salt, 4.5 tbsp

Glass Jar to store the pickle

Procedure:

1. Thoroughly wash the chickpeas and fenugreek seeds separately and then soak them in water separately with some salt added to it for 9 hours. Salt helps in softening them. After 9 hours, wash them under running water again and change and soak in fresh water again with some salt added for another 9 hours. Again each of them separately.

2. Wash and pat dry the raw mango. Cut it into chickpea sized cubes. Put them in a bowl, add turmeric powder and salt and mix well. Keep this aside for a day.

3. After about 18 hours of soaking the chickpeas and fenugreek seeds and the 24 hours marinated mango cubes we now need to get rid of the moisture completely. Place them on a paper towel and leave them overnight. 

4. After drying them completely, take a bowl, add in the chickpeas, fenugreek seeds and cubed mango pieces. Mix well.

5. Next add in the pickle masala and mix thoroughly. 

6. Heat oil in another pan, once hot add in the garlic cloves whole. If you garlic pieces in your pickle, you're welcome to add chopped garlic. I only wanted a mild flavor so added the whole cloves, turned off the heat and let my oil cool completely. Then removed the garlic and poured in the oil into the prepared pickle mix bowl. Mix thoroughly.

7. Take a glass jar and sterilize it. Add in the prepared pickle and ensure there is a layer of oil on the top to preserve the pickle. The pickle will be ready in 5 days. You dont need to put it out in the sun or cook it.

8. Enjoy the pickle with parathas, theplas, khichdi, dal rice or just about anything.

Note: It is important to dry out the main ingredients and get rid of the moisture. If this isn't done well, the pickle may go bad. Also, when storing the pickle, one needs to ensure that its covered with a layer of oil on the top, it will help store it for long without getting any fungus. This pickle is preserved in this fashion will easily survive for 12 months.