Kashmir – chinar trees, undulating hills and meadows and the fragrance of saunth and hing. Kashmiri cuisine is about delicate flavours and minimal ingredients – and that is what we have tried to capture in this pickle.

The humble but exotic Kohlrabi or Gaanth Gobhi is presented to perfection in Kashmir’s Monji Haaq, and this pickle tries to replicate that. Kohlrabi is high in nutrition and low on calories – it is a powerhouse of antioxidants and Vitamin C and is often referred to as a superfood. It is available only during a short, limited season – so we decided to make the most of it!

This pickle goes especially well with rice and curries.

Ingredients: Kohlrabi, Garlic, Salt, Black Salt, Red Chilli, Ginger Powder, Mustard Seeds, Mustard Oil.

Good for 3 months.

Refrigerate after opening.

Weight: 200 gm

A treasure hidden in plain sight – that’s what Ammiji calls the common Indian kitchen staple, ginger. And this is her delicious ginger pickle – supremely digestive, low on salt and oil.

Ginger is the one staple that Ammiji always keeps plenty of in her kitchen. It goes everywhere – from her tea to her curries and from her stoveside to her bedside. According to her, ginger has the power to cure everything – be it nausea, a stomache or a niggling cold. As children we were force-fed strong ginger juice sweetened with a little honey every winter evening, and brined ginger was a part of every salad that we saw on the table.

And one of the pickles that always graced Ammiji’s table was this simple Ginger pickle. Thick cut ginger, dried out in the sun till slightly hard and then pickled with very little oil and spice.

We tried out different recipes for a ginger pickle (no, please don’t tell Ammiji that!), but the one thing that we used as a touchstone was the clean taste of every bite of Ammiji’s original pickle. And so, that’s the recipe we finally went with, even though it was a minimal one!

Ammiji’s Ginger Pickle is the perfectly crunchy side to your meals. Each bite will not only bless you with the incredible power of ginger, but will also enhance your meal experience.

Ingredients: Ginger, Salt, Red Chilli, Turmeric, Aniseed, Fenugreek seeds, Nigella seeds, Coriander seeds, Mustard seeds, Mustard oil, Lemon juice.

Weight: 150 gm

Price: Rs 350 280 (Inclusive of tax) 

Good for: 12 months

Always use a clean, dry spoon to scoop out Ammiji’s pickles from the jar!

The Indian wonderberry, Amla, now pickled according to Ammiji’s strict instructions…

Everyone, and we literally mean everyone, is aware of the tremendous powerhouse that our indigenous amla is. It is one of the richest sources of vitamin C. And the best part – none of that vitamin C is lost while we turn it into delicious food! Here at Ammiji’s, we use amla in our Chyawanprash, we make a superb chutney out of it, we dry it up to make powder for our kaadha, and now, we’ve gone on and pickled it up!

Ammiji was very choosy about the amlas that she would put into her pickle. None of those big, fat juicy amlas were chosen – they were put away for other things. She chose the tiniest, tartest amlas – babies, almost – because she felt that they would taste best in the pickle. And like always, we bow down to Ammiji’s wisdom.

So here’s Ammiji’s Amla Pickle, pickled her way, with the tiny bite-sized amlas she would have chosen.

P.S: did you know that this pickle will provide you a good dose of Vitamin C AND good gut bacteria?

Ingredients: Baby Amla, Salt, Red Chilli, Fenugreek seeds, Mustard seeds, Fennel seeds, Nigella seeds, Mustard Oil

Weight: 300 gms

Price: Rs 400 300 (inclusive of taxes)

Good for: 8 months

Refrigerate after opening. (This pickle contains no preservatives.)

Always use a clean, dry spoon while scooping out Ammiji’s delicious pickles!

Raw, crisp chunks of guava, pickled in subtle spices to give layers of tang and flavour.

What’s a winter season if you haven’t sat in the sun in the afternoon, having a pre-lunch snack of freshly cut guava sprinkled with some rock salt? As children, Ammiji’s verandah was the place where we would get all our winter pre-lunch goodies at. She used to start her day early, finish her housework quickly and spend the afternoon out in the sun, peeling oranges, slicing up amrood and urging us to eat it all.

 One day, one of her sons, while munching on a piece of guava, jokingly remarked that he wished that such crispy, tangy guavas were available the year round. The next day, Ammiji pulled out her pickling pitara and set about chopping up a whole lot of guavas. We sat with her, surrounded by guavas, and filched a lot of slices – she usually turned a blind eye to this and then later pretended that we had finished the entire lot! Soon, two barnis were full of guava, spices and oil, happily sunning themselves and Ammiji sat back with a satisfied smile.

From then on, the guava pickle was made every winter – to see us through the summers. In keeping with the tradition, we’ve put a big batch of Amrood ka Achaar too. This pickle is being made in Amritsar under Ammiji’s supervision. The guavas are from an orchard nearby and the mustard oil is custom cold-pressed. Only select, premium and hand-sorted spices are used in this pickle.

 Amrood ka Achaar will add that special tang to all your meals. Munch on it between bites of your meal, and make your meals more interesting and nostalgic…

Ingredients: Guava, Cold-pressed Mustard Oil, Black Salt, Raw Turmeric, Red Chilli, Cumin, Coriander, Black Pepper, Mustard seeds, Nigella seeds, Fenugreek seeds

 Weight: 250 gms

 Price: Rs 550 450 (inclusive of taxes)

Good for: 6 months

 Refrigerate after opening. (This pickle contains no preservatives.)

 Always use a clean, dry spoon while scooping out Ammiji’s delicious pickles!

Harnessing the immensely powerful benefits of raw turmeric in a delicious pickle that’ll make you ask for more…

By now, most of us know about the health benefits of incorporating raw turmeric into our diet. The west has only recently realized what we Indians have known for ages – turmeric is one of the top-notch superfoods ever. It is a powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory and has shown to prevent and control the onset of various chronic diseases. Our grandmother’s age-old haldi-doodh nuska may now be enterprisingly called a turmeric latte, but that doesn’t detract from the benefits of haldi.

 Raw turmeric is a powerful root. And Ammiji knew it. Which is why we always had this pickle at our table during the summers. In the winters, she added fresh raw turmeric to a lot of her sabzis and the summers saw her pushing the jar of the turmeric pickle that she had prepared in the winters towards us.

This pickle is made with a simple, no-fuss recipe that preserves the character of the raw turmeric root and yet adds a delicious tang to it. Add it to your daily meals for a boost to your health and gut.

 Ingredients: Raw turmeric root, salt, red chilli, mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, asafoetida, lemon juice, mustard oil.

 ]Weight: 200 gms

 Price: Rs 400 300 (inclusive of taxes)

 Good for: 9 months

 Refrigerate after opening. (This pickle contains no preservatives.)

 Always use a clean, dry spoon while scooping out Ammiji’s delicious pickles!

A rare and exotic pickle, made in the traditional Marwari way. Chunks of chickpea flour, pickled with raw mango…need we say more?

 The regional cuisines of India are a veritable treasure trove of fantastic recipes. Some of those recipes have crossed state and country borders to become mainstream, while some still languish in near-obscurity, waiting for someone to dig them up and employ them. Rajasthan is known for its traditional fare – the dal-baati-choorma and the ubiquitous gattey ki sabzi. Some enterprising ancestor took the delicious chunks of gattey and pickled them too, and this is the pickle we bring to you. Gattey are supple lumps of chickpea flour and spices, first steamed or boiled and then dipped in a curry, fried or served up in some concoction. We have taken those gattey and pickled them in raw mango and spices. The result? So delicious that you won’t stop dipping into the jar!

 It's a long laborious process to make the gattey just exactly right. From kneading the dough just right, ensuring that it’s just the right texture, and then shaping the gattas to boiling them gently, ensuring they don’t break and firm up enough but not too much. Making these is like standing on the edge of a precipice – one misstep and you’re gone and there’s no return. The gattas are forgiving in a curry, because there’s ample liquid to soak them up and soften them, but in a pickle, you have to make them exactly how you want them to be in the first place. The gattas then soak in raw mango juice for a couple of days, for an infusion of flavour before being pickled in raw mango, oil and select spices.

 A jar of Ammiji’s Gattey ka Achaar is a delight the minute you open it. The fragrance of spices and mango assail you instantly and the taste – that has to be tried to be believed. This pickle will go well with any meal you’re having. (We confess that we had this pickle even with breakfast during our trials!) This is not a recipe Ammiji was familiar with, but we sent one of our initial lots to her for approval and we could hear her smile over the phone when she poured in her tweaks. When Ammiji is happy, we’re happy.

 Ingredients: Gram Flour, Raw Mango, Salt, Mustard seeds, Fenugreek seeds, Nigella seeds, Asafoetida, Fennel, Turmeric, Coriander seeds, Red chilli, Cold-pressed Mustard Oil

 Weight: 300 gm

 Price: Rs 900 800

 Refrigerate the pickle after opening. Always use a clean, dry spoon to scoop up Ammiji’s pickles.