Pickled Fruit Achar

Years back it was the ever famous Cucumber/Timun achar topped with sesame seeds that welcomed everyone with Nasi Briyani or Nasi Kunyit at Malay Weddings. Of late ,pickled fruit achar is fast becoming a famous side dish replacing the famous Achar Timun .Recently I attended two malay weddings whereby I was lucky enough to taste this really sweet, reddish and surprisingly crunchy dish. It was not sour but sweet. The thick sugar syrup have coated well each of the fruits and made it eye catching as well as attractive.It complimented well along Nasi Briyani that was served.


As I browse thru the net for recipes that resemble this dish ,I came across a few, but nothing similar. It was more brownish and I think they have cooked the fruits very soft until one cannot identify the fruits used.But yet I suppose those dishes are special in its own way.
The one I ate , the fruits were crunchy. I think thats what actually made me like the dish,standing out from the rest. So with my experience in cooking , I have created something similar , and frankly any one out there who actually know the real recipe, please .....do come forward and share it with me.Anyways I do think that I have successfully created something nearer to it!!!Cruncy, sweet and with a very thick reddish syrup that compliments the fruits overall.

Best served for any type of functions or festivals,may it be Hari Raya Aidil Fitri or Deepavali.Like all achars, its best to leave the dish at least 5-6hrs in room temperature before serving.



¼ tsp cumin seeds
¼ tsp fennel seeds
5 peppercorns(powdered)
1 ½ tsp coriander powder
¼ tsp nutmeg powder
3 tbsp white vinegar
6 tbsp sugar
A few drops of red colouring

Fruits
220gm red pearl prune
170gm yellow pearl prune
80gm pickled papaya
1 ½ oz raisins

Pounded together
1 nip large garlic
4 shallots
¾ in ginger


Heat up 2 tbsp oil, add in cumin seeds and fennel seeds .After a few seconds add in the pounded ingredients.Saute until aromatic. Then add in peppercorns,coriander powder, nutmeg powder, white vinegar and sugar.Stir faster and dont leave the ingredients to dry. Add in ½ cup water and leave to simmer. In between add in all the fruits. You can also use other type of pickled fruits but make sure you maintain the pearl prunes in this dish.Once slightly thicken, dish out. Leave to cool.Its best served after refrigerating overnight.





Malaysian Delicacies would like to wish all fellow bloggers and friends
SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDIL FITRI


Murukku

The above picture is my entry to the CLICK-Sept 2009 event theme being HEIRLOOM hosted by
Jugalbandi

Am reposting my archive recipe Murukku for the event WYF:Festive Food.This is a secret recipe of my mum which I am sharing with all of you.This murukku is slightly tedious to prepare as rice flour is being used.You cannot use the rice flour sold in the supermarkets but must have homemade rice flour.Yup, remember tasty things doesn’t come easy .LOL.
But don’t sweat , its actually easy to prepare home made rice flour, soak 7 cups of uncooked rice(for this recipe) , in about 6-7 cups of water .Leave it for about 4 hours .Then slowly drain the raw rice in a colander and leave it to dry slightly on a piece of paper. Start grinding in a blender when the rice is 3/4 dried.Dont wait it to thoroughly dry then you will have difficulty to powder the rice flour. Powder and sieve until all the raw rice have been powdered.Sieve again a second time the rice flour, then its ready to be used.As simple as that!! Left over rice flour can be kept longer if its fried.




6 cups fried rice flour
2 ¾ cup fried urad dhall flour
A bit of hing powder
2 tsp cumin seeds (pounded)(Can add more if desired)
2 tsp sesame seeds (optional)
1 tbsp chilli powder (Can add more if want spicier)
125gms butter
1-2 cup salt water or more ( water plus 2 tsp or more salt, stir until salt dissolve)(Enough salt water to combine the flours into a dough)


Method:
For the urad dhall : Use 3 cups of urad dhall and fry without oil lightly brown. Then powder it .You will get the required amount.
As for the rice flour, as I mention before use home made rice flour .Use fragrant rice (beras wangi) to prepare the rice flour.Fry the raw rice flour until fragrant.When you fry the rice flour the amount will decrease, so its always safe to make extra rice flour .Sieve again the fried rice flour and then measure the required amount.
Its very simple , just combine all the ingredients and mix in with butter .Make it into crumbs.Then use enough salt water to make into a dough. Taste a bit to check whether salt is enough.You can add more in the water if not enough.
Heat about 4 -5 cups of oil . Put some dough into the murukku mould . You can straight mould the dough into the hot oil in circular motion and later , break into small parts or use coasters. Mould the dough into each coaster ,then slowly transfer it into the hot oil.Deep fry until golden brown.Leave to cool before storing

Note: Make sure you sieve both the flours twice before using.

For more detailed notes refer my original post: http://malaysiandelicacies.blogspot.com/2007/10/murukku.html





Am sending the recipes Pickled Fruit Achar and Murukku for the event:
WYF:Festive Food event hosted by Simple Indian Food
Pickled Fruit Achar to Culinarty-14 hosted by
Sapienworks
Murukku recipe for the Monthly Mingle Event and picture to CLICK-Heirloom event for the month of Sept 2009.
The Monthly Mingle -Heirloom is at present hosted by Jugalbandi and is Meeta's brainchild.








Comments

  1. Yummy..only you can come up with such interesting recipes..thanks for participating

    ReplyDelete
  2. thanks for your delicious entry, dear sudha.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for the lesson on how to make rice flour. Looks delicious!

    ReplyDelete
  4. thanks for your delicious

    ReplyDelete

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