"Bimbul" Pickle (Bimbla Nonche)

“Bimbul” is a konkani word for this wonderful small, green coloured tangy fruit. In southern parts of India, they are found in the backyards of most homes.

Local people eat this sour fruit, raw with salt and chilly powder. We "Amchis" (konkani speaking people) generally use them in curries in place of tamarind. The other options are to make pickles and “gojjus” and “pacchadi” out of it.

I did some research on the net to find the English and Hindi equivalent names. I found out that its botanical name is Averrhoa Bilimbi and is known as “cucumber tree” or “tree sorrel” in English and “Bilimbi” in Hindi.

I got these home-grown "bimbuls from a friend of mine and the recipe from my neighbour ! It turned out so delicious, that I thought of sharing it.

 

Ingredients:

Bimbul	15 Nos
Oil	3 tsps
Mustard seeds	1 tsp
Methi (fenugreek) seeds	¾ tsp
Curry leaves	1 sprig
Chilly powder	1-2 tsps
Hing (asafetida) water	1 tsp
Jaggery powder/Sugar	1 tsp
Salt	As per taste

Method:

Bimbuls

1. Wash the Bimbuls and pat them dry with a kitchen towel.
2. Cut these Bimbuls into fairly thick (about 3/4 inch) slices and keep aside.
3. Heat the oil in a non-stick pan. Add to it mustard seeds and methi seeds.
4. As soon as the mustards seeds start spluttering, lower the heat and add curry leaves and chilly powder. Stir it well and immediately add the cut bimbul slices.
5. Stir it till the bimbul leaves its water and shows slight discolourtion.
6. Now add hing/asafetida water, salt and jaggery powder. Give it a good stir. At this point, bimbul slices would have slightly wilted. Switch off the gas.
7. Allow it to cool and then store it in an air-tight glass bottle and refrigerate it.

Pickle being stir fried

Ingredients kept ready

 Makes: One small bowl


Note:

• It goes well with curd rice, dal-rice and also with chapattis. It goes well with “pej” (Konkani word for hot rice-congee/kanji).
• This pickle will last for a month when refrigerated and stored in an air-tight glass container.
• The amount of chilly powder used is as per one’s taste. I used 11/2 tsp in this recipe.
• Hing water is hing paste dissolved in water. You may also use Hing powder.

For more info on Bimbul, see here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Averrhoa_bilimbi