Pickle perfect: Meet these Mumbai women who continue to follow age-old tradition of making lip-smacking achaars

When she was growing up, Borivali-based Kalpana Talpade remembers how her mother used to take her to her grandmother's home where all the women in a ‘wada' in Marine Lines would come together to make pickles and papads. "We used to not make papads but we used to make pickles like muramba, which has only sugar and mango without any spice," she reminisces. While she has discontinued making it over the years due to different dietary requirements in her home to avoid sugar, she still makes the chunda but with jaggery. Over the decades, she has moved quite a few places in the city before settling in Borivali but continues to carry out the summer ritual to make a variety of pickles from mango, lemon and chillies. It is a solitary activity that she thoroughly enjoys much like many other women in Mumbai, who don't have the luxury of sitting together because they lead busy lives.

In fact, Talpade had just finished making a fresh batch of pickles before we spoke to her. "I have just finished making an instant pickle today with mangoes. It is also made during marriages in our community, and sometimes we also add cauliflower, carrots and other vegetables to it," shares Talpade, who belongs to the Pathare Prabhu community. "I make a pickle out of prawns and shrimps regularly just like I make mango pickle but instead of mango, I put them in it and for sourness I use lime juice," she adds. It is important to remember to keep the oil level one inch above the pickle, Talpade instructs beginners. The Mumbaikar, who recently got dry surmai from Alibaug, says she has already made a curry out of it but will also use it to make a delicious surmai pickle any time she wants.

As mangoes enter the market right now, the Borivali resident, who is also a cookbook author of Kalpana's Kitchen: A Pathare Prabhu Recipe Book, regularly visits the one in her neighbourhood to get her stock of mangoes to make pickles for the season. "I buy it from the market here and they not only wash and clean the kairi but even grate it if you want," she shares. Talpade says since there are many Gujaratis in the area, the mango sellers are aware of their requirements to make chunda and that makes it easier for her to make pickles too. So, it is no surprise when the city-based author, who also has a YouTube channel called Kalpana's Kitchen for 11 years now, loves preparing chunda, which she prepares by drying in the sun instead of cooking it on fire, another popular method used by people, because the shelf life and flavour are better, according to her. Apart from the chunda, she also makes gud-aamba, another instant pickle that is made from jaggery and mangoes and has a short shelf-life but many takers, especially the ones who come to her food pop-ups.

Like Talpade, even Urvashi Dama is getting ready to make chunda for the season; it has been delayed by a few weeks as the weather decided to play spoilsport recently. "I buy the big raw mangoes from the nearby market in Matunga to make chunda. However, it should be sunny, but the weather is not good right now," says the Dadar resident. She is indicating the untimely rains Mumbai has experienced in the last few weeks, which means that pickle-making for many like her has been pushed by a few weeks till early or mid-April, when the sun will be at its best. "Once sugar is added to the grated mangoes, you are supposed to keep it in the sun for at least 15-20 days because it is entirely made in the sun and the sugar has to melt completely for it to be ready," she explains. After that, she adds some jeera and chilli powder to it.

Dama, who belongs to the Sindhi community, says most of the pickles she makes are ones that the Gujarati community makes because she hails from the neighbouring western state. The pickle-making process is something that she has always enjoyed doing on her own and it comes from her love for cooking. "Among others, I also make Gor keri, which is a sweet pickle made out of jaggery and mangoes," she adds. While the Dadar resident used to earlier make as many as 5 - 10 kilos every summer, she has now reduced the amount considerably to only a few kilos.

Interestingly, the Mumbaikar comes off making a delicious carrot pickle that Dama and her family indulge in during the winter season. It was just after she made a traditional Sindhi wedding pickle made from white onions, when her daughter tied the knot in December and is a common occurrence ahead of celebrations. The carrot pickle called ‘Ari', which is made with water and not oil like other pickles, includes fresh green garlic available during winter; with the usage of water comes a shorter shelf-life and the need to be finished quickly but since everybody in her home loves it, they don't need a reminder. "I am the only one in my family who loves pickles the most. The others don't eat chillies as much, so the sweet pickles are what I resort to," laughs Dama, while recounting how much she loves spicy pickles and still manages to enjoy some of it here and there.

It is no different for Saroj Doshi. The 75-year-old has been making pickles for the last 25 years and enjoys every part of it. Come mid-April, she will start making her pickles when the sun is at its hottest, after getting the big mangoes from the market near her. "I like to go to the market myself and buy the mangoes and since they have known us for so many years, they even make separate bags for different kinds of pickle, they know I make," she narrates. Doshi is a stickler for the recipe and method and so she likes doing it on her own but when it comes to the tougher bits, she takes the help of her house help, who willingly joins in to help the septuagenarian.

While Juhu-based Doshi is a member of the Gujarati community, her family isn't a fan of the sweet pickles like chunda and gor keri pickles like Talpade and Dama make and restricted herself to them and made spicy ones for them. In fact, she has her own creations and those that have been made in her family for many years. While she has always liked to experiment, she has stuck to the family favourites for the last 12 years, as she gets older. The pickle in her home is made from mangoes, mustard oil, chilli powder, turmeric powder along with fenugreek. It is then stored for the rest of the year and is also the very same finger-licking pickle that makes her children and grandchildren call her and ask for it and that is what melts her heart. "The joy that my family gets from eating the pickle I make is what makes me really happy," shares Doshi.

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