Sweet lemon pickle | khatta meetha nimbu ka achaar – A truly amazing pickle. I think for me anything that can be described as sweet and sour works. I like this pairing of tangy with sweet. It gives a kick to our taste buds. That is why I have a soft corner for pickles.

This is my Mausi’s recipe. So my mom and mausi will prepare achar in abundance and then they will split them up. After that, these achar finds way into their kid’s houses. But with me in Jaipur, there is no way these yummy pickles made by them can reach me. So I am left with no other option but to make them myself 😉

you have to eat this pickle to appreciate its taste. perfect blending of spices, sweetness and sour. the syrup of this pickle will take your pulao to another level. you can eat this sweet lemon pickle with your stuffed parathas, poori, chola bhatura, Makka ki roti or whatever you like.

This pickle takes a long time to prepare. So what you should do is that you make it in January or February when lemons are cheaper, best, and available in abundance and then enjoy it after a month. you can have syrup from day one but lemon wedges take some time to get ready.
I have taken these photos after 20 days

How to make Sweet lemon pickle | khatta meetha nimbu ka achaar

ingredients:
1 kg Lemons
900 grams – 1 kg sugar ( start with 900 grams and more only if required. I have added 1 kg)
4 tbsp salt
1 tsp red chili powder
1 tsp garam masala

Note: Select yellow lemons with thin cover for this pickle also called kagzi nimbu. avoid lemons with greenish covers and the ones that appear to have thick skin.
All the ingredients can vary according to your taste and requirement. so taste it after cooking and adjust accordingly.

 

To make Sweet lemon pickle

wash the lemons by rubbing them with your fingers and let them dry completely before starting the pickle.

remove the tip from both sides. you can cut any size as you require. I need small pieces of lemon so I have cut 8 pieces from a single lemon. Remove as many seeds as you can from lemons.

cut all the lemons in the same way.

shift lemons to a steel pan or patila. Add the spices and sugar to the lemons and give it a good mix.

leave aside for 3-4 hours for lemons and sugar to work their magic with the help of salt.
Blending…..

This is what we get after 3-4 hours. all our sugar is dissolved and lemons have oozed out some juice to make a thin syrup.

Now we are going to give it a nice little boil. Switch off the flame immediately after the boil.

This is what the lemons will look like and the consistency of the syrup.

Leave the syrup to cool down completely. This is how it looks after 4-5 hours.

Shift the pickle to an airtight sterilized glass jar

And now comes the most difficult part….

Patience my dear for the pickle to get ready. But don’t forget we can enjoy the syrup right away. I have taken these photos after 20 days