Oscar woke me up at 5am this morning and made me get out of bed and let him outside just so he could go and sleep on my brother and sister-in-law's car (they have come down from Bury St. Edmund to visit for a few days. They have a nice car). I was wide awake at this point, and so decided to do some morning cooking whilst listening to Frank Sinatra and waiting for Tesco to open so I could get some fenugreek seeds.
I made Spiced Courgette Chutney to begin with, using the delightfully humungous courgettes picked from my garden; then I made a batch of Beetroot Relish, and then 4 batches of Caramelised Red Onion Chutney.
I finished this craze of cooking with some Indian Lime Pickle. I took some pictures to show you, although unfortunately, some clever sod hasn't invented smelling cameras, so I will have to tell you that this pickle smells so good, having to wait a month before I can try some seems like torture.
I started off with some limes. 10 limes made one batch according to the recipe book, but I use 20 at a time and double everything else. That makes about 6/7 12oz jars. Ish.
I fried the limes in some oil, on a low heat, until they gave off a strong zesty smell. That took about 2-3 minutes. I removed them from the pan before they started going brown.
Once they had cooled a little, I quartered them, and cut each quarter into three or four cubes. I must stress how dangerous this part is; I almost lost an eye to a potent mixture of hot oil/lime juice. Could've been disastrous...
I put some more oil in the pan, and added (from the red blob and going clockwise) chilli powder, ground fenugreek, asafetida powder and turmeric, and fried. Amazing smell. I fried these for about a minute.
I added the chopped limes, heated it all through until the oil started bubbling, and then I spooned it into hot, sterilised jars. I now have to wait a month before they can be sold/opened, as they need a fair amount of time for the flavours to develop and become irresistible.
I think it looks really pretty, but then I am biased. But even if I wasn't biased, I reckon that could be some of the most beautiful lime pickle.
Hope you're all well,
Ruth
