Narthangai is known as citron or bitter lemon in English. This pickle is extremely easy to make and taste very delicious with curd rice. Today we will learn how to make Narthangai Oorugai/citron pickle following this easy recipe with step wise pictures.
Narthangai Oorugai-Citron Pickle
Prep Time : 20 mins
Yields:1 1/4 cup
Recipe Category: Pickle
Recipe Cuisine: South Indian
Author:Padhu Sankar
Recipe Category: Pickle
Recipe Cuisine: South Indian
Author:Padhu Sankar
Ingredients needed
Citron/Narthangai – 1/2 kg (unripe)
Dried Red Chillies – 20 grams or 20 red chillies (long variety)
Rock Salt – 120 grams
Hing/Asafoetida (katti perungayam) – 15 grams
Turmeric powder – 1/2 tsp
Fenugreek seeds – 1 tsp
Oil- 1/2 tsp
Preparation and Method
Wash narthangai and wipe it dry with a towel. Cut into spirals and then into medium sized pieces. Remove the seeds as much as possible.
Dry roast fenugreek seeds and keep it aside.
Heat 1/2 tsp of oil, roast asafoetida and remove from the pan. (katti perungayam/compound hing give a nice flavor to the pickle, so if you can get katti perungayam, it is preferable to use that instead of ready made hing powder).
In the same pan, roast red chillies and keep it aside.
In a mixie, powder hing and fenugreek seeds together.
Powder salt and red chillies separately.
Now mix red chilli powder, hing + fenugreek powder, turmeric powder and salt together.
Add the powder to the cut narthangai and mix well. Keep it covered. Mix well with a dry spoon every morning and keep it covered.
As the skin of the citron lemon is very hard, you can use it after 4-5 days. Make sure to mix it everyday.
Storage – Store it in a glass bottle or in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Stays good for more than a month.
If you want to store at room temperature, heat 2 tbsp of oil, add mustard seeds, once it splutters, add to the pickle and mix well. Use it within 10 days. Make sure to mix it well everyday.
Enjoy it with curd rice (thayir sadam).
Check out more Pickle Varieties
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Easy pickle recipe for beginners lik me..
Why can't we keep it in room temperature for a long time ,,any solution for this ,,,generally I keep.my lemon pickles out
A pickle recipe that requires pickles to be refrigerated doesnt make sense at all.
Very true but now a days, they are adding all kinds of chemicals to the fruits and veggies to make them grow quickly, increase their shelf life. So it is not like earlier days when we can keep all the pickles at room temperature. At times they might get spoiled.
Padhu, so we refridgerate after five days, right? First five days it is at room temperature to get pickled? Thanks.
Not required usually but now-a-days, they add all things to make it grow faster, so at times it gets spoiled. Normally
we don’t keep narthangai, lemon, vagu manga etc in the fridge.
Padhu, turned out delicious.. Have made another batch as it wasn’t difficult to make. I can’t eat other pickles due to acidity but this one I can. Thanks a lot.