Ginger Pickle / Allam Pachadi

Ginger pickle is known as 'allam pachadi' in Telugu. This is one of the favorites of the Telugu people who relish it as a side dish with idlis, dosas, pesarattu umpa, undrallu, uppupindi or pindi, dibba rotte and many other Andhra delicacies.

Almost everyone in my family relish this pachadi and I frequently make ginger pickle as a side dish mostly for dosas, dibba rotte etc. Ginger is one of the effective treatments for seasonal cold and cough and is rich in medicinal values.

Ingredients

• 250 gm ginger
• 100 gm garlic (optional) - I prefer to do without garlic as no one in our family like the smell of garlic.
• 200 gm seedless tamarind / tamarind extract i.e juice
• 250 gm grated jaggery
• 250 gm salt
• 250 gm red chilly powder
• 3 tsp fenugreek seed powder (methi powder)

For seasoning

• 100 gm vegetable oil preferably gingelly (til) oil or groundnut oil
• 5-8 red chillies
• 2 tsp bengal gram / chana daal
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• little curry leaves

Method

1. Wash ginger well in cold water and peel the skin.
2. Chop it finely, grind to paste and keep it separately in a bowl.
3. Grind garlic bulbs to paste and keep aside in a bowl. Generally, I don't use garlic but as this is very commonly used by Telugu people, I mentioned it as optional.
4. Soak tamarind in boiling water. Note: do not boil tamarind on the stove for long.
5. Let it remain in the water till it cools
6. On cooling grind the soaked tamarind to paste and keep aside in a separate bowl.
7. Grind jaggery to a powder and keep it aside in a separate bowl.
8. Fry fenugreek seeds (methi seeds) without oil till it turns dark brownish in color.
9. Grind it to a powder.
10. Now in a separate big bowl, mix all these pastes, add salt, chilly powder and methi powder
11. Once grind this mixture of pastes for a minute to ensure proper blending of these pastes.
12. Take this mixed paste in a bowl
13. Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds, Bengal gram (chana dal) and red chillies.
14. After it splutters add curry leaves, allow it to cool for a while and then add this seasoning to the paste and mix it well.
15. Store this ginger pickle in a dry air tight container. This will remain for nearly six months.
16. Enjoy ginger pickle with various food items.

Here is another simple way of preparing ginger pickle which can be stored in refrigerator just for a couple of days.

1. Wash required quantity of ginger in tap water and cut it into cubes.
2. Heat little edible oil in a pan and splutter seasoning of mustard seeds, chana dal, little skinless split black gram and dry red chillies. Add ginger cubes to it and shallow roast for a while. On cooling add salt, tamarind or you can even add tamarind extract and jaggery. Grind it to a paste adding water based on the consistency you like.

This is an instant way of making ginger pickle and is equally taste.