Recipe Hot apple pickle

Herbie

Herbie

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This is a recipe given to me by a friend. I have a big old cooking apple tree in my garden and was asking for ideas beyond chutney, mustard, freeze apple sauce and stewed apples for sponge/crumble/pie, etc.

This is her rough family recipe from Pakistan. On a Sunday my friend makes a large jar of minced mixed ginger and garlic paste for cooking during the week but I cheated and used a jar :)

  • Oil
  • 3 tbsp mustard seeds
  • 12 teaspoons of minced garlic/ginger mix
  • 'some' curry leaves (I used about a dozen)
  • ½ tsp turmeric
  • ¾ tsp fenugreek
  • 1/4 tsp hing
  • Salt
  • 4 tbsp chilli powder
  • 3 tbsp vinegar (I used cider vinegar)
  • approx. 3 apples chopped into matchsticks
Heat oil and pop mustard seeds
Add ginger/garlic mix for a few minutes
Add curry leaves and rest of spices (apart from chilli).
Pull pan off heat and add chilli and vinegar, put back on heat and simmer for a minute.
Add hot vinegar mix to apples. Add water/vinegar if too dry.
Leave to cool then put in sterilised jars and this keep for a few months. Best eaten after at least a few weeks.

Photo is pan of pickle waiting to cool. It has now thickened up and sitting in jars.

20170721_113459.jpg
 
Last edited by a moderator:
epicuric said:
Given the origin of the recipe would I be correct in assuming this would be eaten as a relish, a bit like mango chutney? Always keen to learn new uses for apples!
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I'm planning lots of brunches like the one she cooked for me on my last day in London. This is her cooking that brunch of paratha which we had with several pickles and what she called 'omelette' (The pan of tomato/veg/spices was used to make a scrambled egg dish).

I make a variety of bread/pancakes with lentils/rice/chickpeas as I can't have gluten in the house, so I'm not being authentic. I'll also serve this with papadums. Just don't tell me friend! :)

breakfast.jpg
 
Last edited:
Herbie said:
This is her rough family recipe from Pakistan.
Click to expand...

Fantastic - I'm so used to the sweet apple pickles and chutneys we get in the UK. Its great to see a really spicy recipe.
P.S. I edited your posts to display the images full size so we can see them more clearly. If you need help on how to do this please PM me.
 
Thank you Morning Glory (Have Pm'ed you.)

This certainly is not a sweet chutney. We are on our last jar of sweet chutney from last year so this pickle will have to fill the gap until the next lot of chutney is cooked and ready.
 
Herbie said:
This is a recipe given to me by a friend. I have a big old cooking apple tree in my garden and was asking for ideas beyond chutney, mustard, freeze apple sauce and stewed apples for sponge/crumble/pie, etc.

This is her rough family recipe from Pakistan. On a Sunday my friend makes a large jar of minced mixed ginger and garlic paste for cooking during the week but I cheated and used a jar :)

  • Oil
  • 3 tbsp mustard seeds
  • 12 teaspoons of minced garlic/ginger mix
  • 'some' curry leaves (I used about a dozen)
  • ½ tsp turmeric
  • ¾ tsp fenugreek
  • 1/4 tsp hing
  • Salt
  • 4 tbsp chilli powder
  • 3 tbsp vinegar (I used cider vinegar)
  • approx. 3 apples chopped into matchsticks
Heat oil and pop mustard seeds
Add ginger/garlic mix for a few minutes
Add curry leaves and rest of spices (apart from chilli).
Pull pan off heat and add chilli and vinegar, put back on heat and simmer for a minute.
Add hot vinegar mix to apples. Add water/vinegar if too dry.
Leave to cool then put in sterilised jars and this keep for a few months. Best eaten after at least a few weeks.

Photo is pan of pickle waiting to cool. It has now thickened up and sitting in jars.

View attachment 9315
Click to expand...

Very interesting recipe! I do not think I ever saw curry leaves in my life ... here are not. What could I use as alternative?
 
MypinchofItaly said:
Very interesting recipe! I do not think I ever saw curry leaves in my life ... here are not. What could I use as alternative?
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You might be able to order some dried leaves. I use dried but if I'm planning a load of Asian cooking the I get some fresh and freeze some (needs to be in a container otherwise it flavours everything else (curry ice-cream, anyone?).

I don't know of any substitutes, thought don't be tempted to use curry powder! I probably would have left it out if I could not get some, but a google search tells me some kaffir lime leaves, lime zest or bay leaves can be used.
 
Herbie said:
You might be able to order some dried leaves. I use dried but if I'm planning a load of Asian cooking the I get some fresh and freeze some (needs to be in a container otherwise it flavours everything else (curry ice-cream, anyone?).

I don't know of any substitutes, thought don't be tempted to use curry powder! I probably would have left it out if I could not get some, but a google search tells me some kaffir lime leaves, lime zest or bay leaves can be used.
Click to expand...

Bay leaves sounds good to me! Thank you for your suggestion @Herbie
 
jennyb said:
I really like this recipe and I will try it out. :)
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It is lovely. We have eaten a lot of it with curry and/or flatbreads.
My advice is to make sure you use a lot of oil (as with a lot if pakistani cooking) and do consider the strength of your chilli powder! And the sweetness/sourness of your apples! I've made a few batches now and have had to balance the flavours each time (esp.as I have been using cooking-apple windfalls so the sweetness sourness/sweetness has changed with each batch I make).
 
Herbie said:
My advice is to make sure you use a lot of oil (as with a lot if pakistani cooking)
Click to expand...
Its interesting you say that. I have often tried to make Indian style pickles and have not used a lot of oil. They never seem quite as good as the authentic Indian pickle in jars from my local Asian shop - I think the amount of oil may be the key!
 
When I was younger (but not that long ago) I would take a cooking apple, cut it into quarters, remove the core and eat it "as is". If my mum (bless her) was making apple sauce I would sit alongside her and eat the peel as she removed it from the apples. We can't get cooking apples here.
 
Yorky said:
When I was younger (but not that long ago) I would take a cooking apple, cut it into quarters, remove the core and eat it "as is". If my mum (bless her) was making apple sauce I would sit alongside her and eat the peel as she removed it from the apples. We can't get cooking apples here.
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You're hard core :dance: (I wont give up the day job)
 
Herbie am I missing something or have I mis-understood - there doesn't seem to be a cooking time for the apples? Asking because I am poised to have a go at this recipe! :)
 
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