Pickled Indian Stew

If you are curious how I develop many of my recipes, here is a hint: Sometimes I go into different grocery stores, buy unique and unusual ingredients, and try to make a meal out of it! Insert how I made Pickled Indian Stew! I truly find cooking with bitter melon to be very exciting. It is one ingredient that, up until recently, I had never tasted, let alone cooked with. I find that despite its harsh biting flavor, bitter melon adds an enriching element to this dish. You will taste the bitterness, but you will understand why it is there. We have 5 senses for a reason!

The best dishes in the world incorporate every sense we have into one harmonious dish, and that is what you will find with Pickled Indian Stew. The sharp pickling sauces and fragrant Indian spices blend perfectly with the vegetables that are sauteed in ghee.

Cooking with Bitter Melon:

Bitter melon is likely one of the weirdest vegetables you will ever see. It is bright green, spiky, and so hard that it takes two hands to get a knife through it to cut it in half. And BOY is it bitter!! One of the most bitter things you will ever taste. In order to calm down the bitterness, I boil the melon for at least 5 minutes prior to sautéing it. It will still add a bitter element to the dish, but it will not make your face pucker and tongue recoil with disgust. To balance out this dish, we add a little heat, in the form of spices, to the stir fry, as well as pickled ingredients to cut through the bitterness.

What Is Ghee, And Why Should You Buy It?

My friends, Ghee is a total game changer. Ghee is a variety of clarified butter that originated in ancient India. The best way I can describe how it tastes is if you took melted butter and added powdered Parmesan to it (though it is not made with cheese). When you clarify the butter, the process removes much of the water in the ingredient, yielding a higher smoking point. What does this mean? This means that you can get the pan hotter without having to worry as much about burning it, where as regular butter burns much quicker. Go get yourself a bottle and experiment! I bet you will cook with it all of the time.

Have you seen the new Le Creuset Stoneware Rectangular Dish with Platter Lid? Such a cool idea to make the lid multifunctional as a serving platter as well!

South Indian Style Garlic Pickle & Lime Pickle:

Indian pickle recipes, or Achar, are frequently used in traditional Indian cooking. It is made by stir frying a variety of spices and aromatics, adding a liquid (usually brine or vinegar), putting it in a jar and letting it ferment over a few days. The flavors become very condensed and pungent (not in a bad way), so use it liberally! You can add these ingredients to a variety of dishes, including rice dishes, pasta stir fry’s, sandwiches and bread dips. They add bite and a lot of pizzazz!

Did you like my ‘Pickled Indian Stew’ recipe? If so, go check out my ‘Vegan Lemon Rice Soup‘ Recipe!