Time For Pickles

Storing Pickles

This hot summer is time for pickles- the King of all Pickles, that is, Mango Pickles known as Avakaaya. Of course the pickle made from Gongura(a kind of sour leaf) is the Queen and nothing beats it   No function, or feast is complete in our India especially our Telugu States with out the pickles. Of all the pickles, mango pickles are the most popular ones. 

For us Telugu people making pickles from Mangoes or red chilies or raw tamarind or Gongura is nothing less than a sacred ritual or doing meditation. It is done with lot of care. 

Every family has its own secret recipe, ingredients and its own traditions connected with pickling. The grand mothers take care to see that these are followed every year and are handed down to the next generations.

The ladies have to take bath, wear clean clothes, clean the kitchen or the area of operation, tools and ingredients to be used thoroughly. Pickles are also stored with great care in big ceramic or glass jars covered with clean cloths. Once in a week or fortnight, required portion is taken out for daily use in smaller containers. 

I still remember my granny making huge amounts of pickles storing them filled in very big ceramic jars in the pantry and touching them only after a bath. No one else is allowed to touch them. 

All this because one careless mistake will spoil the pickles which other wise can be stored for an year and many years if need be.

I have already talked about the  proper storing of pickles in my introduction to pickles in my previous posts. 

No matter how many containers, jars or bowls we have, we women are always looking out for the latest ones so that our tables look great while dinning. Here I am going to show you the latest storage containers meant for our table. 

It is pickle caddy with two glass bowls. 

As you can see there is a plastic caddy which can be opened when needed and closed tight after stacking the bowls one upon another. The glass bowls (thank God for that!) have plastic lids (which I don't like much as it is meant for pickles). One more thing is it is available in only one colour.

It is easy to carry to table, very handy and easy for storing. Stacking up of bowls one upon another also saves space. 

What is good is the price. It is very affordable. All in all I felt it was a good buy.

Apart from  pickles we can serve chutneys, dips or even sauces or crispies in them. 

So do you want to have one too?

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Colourful Plates

I always make it a point to spend some time browsing or window shopping some of the stalls in exhibitions or sales. Many a time I could pick up some unique pieces of crockery or other such items. A recent addition to my kitchen are colourful ceramic plates for serving:

This is like Chinese Cabbage. I loved this. This is from China.

I loved the above two plates with their shaded colours. They will definitely add colour to any setting. What do you say?

Keep watching for some yummy recipes.....

GRATER

We women keep on buying some gadget or the other for using in our kitchens. Well I makes our lives easy and reduces our time and energy spent on cooking. Here is a small one I bought. Its a grater. It is also known as a shredder. Well I have other big ones but could not resist this.

This can be used for grating, cheese, butter, garlic, ginger, carrots, cabbage etc as well as dry coconut. The shreds are very fine, so I use it more for grating ginger and garlic as I don't have to grind them to a paste when the quantity used is very little and also when I don't have much time. I also use it for grating carrots, radish, dry coconut for garnishing. 

It has a peeler on one end. I feel it is a handy tool and much cheaper. What do you say.

Storage for Pickles n Chutneys-2

Here are some more containers for storage of pickles and chutneys....

 

This is a set with three jars and a tray. It is white and blue and matches my kitchen linens and dinner set. It can hold very small quantities and is useful for storing and serving chutneys or pickles. Its ceramic and thus easy to clean.

 This is the tray to hold the jars.

This is the pattern on one side of the jar.

This is on the other side and the lid is pretty too. It came quite cheap and I bargained on it heavily. 

You know, one should always go in the last days of any sales or exhibitions. All that is breakable will be sold at lesser prices and we also can bargain. It costs a lot for the sellers to pack it and transport. More over there is always a chance for breakage. Thats how they are also glad of selling it off at a rice which is ok for both the seller and the buyer. Hmm but the best pieces are always sold out in the first few days. No arguments on that.

Storage for Pickles n Chutneys-1

We Indian women are always thinking of our homes and perhaps our kitchens most of the time. LOL! We are always buying some gadgets or the other and also utensils or kitchen ware. Our men folk are really irritated with us. They just refuse to come with us for shopping. I think sometimes they are even horrified at the amount of money and time we spend on such things. But then, no lady wants to be caught with ill matched linens or wares. Right? The presentation of a well cooked dish is equally important. So we are so bothered about the kitchen ware.

Recently I happened to visit an exhibition. I was just browsing through and then I found some interesting ones. some of them I am going to share with you now:

 These were two little jars I found in blue. We call them Jaadi in Telugu. I have white and blue crockery, so I thought these would go well with them.

 

 Here is a closer look at the small pattern of flowers on the jar.

 This white and black one was what caught my eye in the first place. I wanted another one but this was the last piece. I Hestitated for a long time but then gavein to my temptation and bought it.

 All three of them together. I think I can use them for pickles and chutneys. These ceramic jars are good for storage of, acidic things like vinegar, tamarind etc, and any other such things which corrode metals and dangerous to store in plastic or metallic containers. Though they are breakable and one has to handle them with care, they are easy to clean and cheap too.

 

Fruit Forks Set

I recently bought a fruit fork set. I just could not resist it.

 

 

The holder is designed like a brinjal and all the forks have tiny brinjals as handles. Arent they cute? So now you know why I could not resist buying them.....