::My Life My Style::: The Spice of My Mum

Mummy Knows Best

Ok now everyone has their secret recipe to offer in each home so my mum's special is Achar , a sourish , sweet and spicy pickled carrots and cucumber with a hint of ground peanuts and sesame seeds in every bite ....Yummy

Here is the ingredients which could be found in almost every market on the street in Malaysia

Ingredients:

Cucumber ,
Be sure that you find the freshest cucumber sold in the market or supermarkets . It should have a bright green colour to indicate that it's fresh , juicy , a tough skin because that's what gives the bite to the Achar

Carrots ,
This vegetable provides sweetness and an eye catching colour to the dish with long strips of somewhat like thick orange hair poking out from the dish (But who cares it tastes great)

Choose carrots that are quite big and fat long coned shape and doesn't look wilted and dry .

Next ,
Peanuts ,
This ingredient gives bite to the dish and thickens the sauce . The texture will be different all together once peanuts are added

be sure to toast them if bought raw

The heating process blisters the skin so that it could be removed completely . De-shell it and it will turn into a gold peanut when completely cleaned.

Spices ,
Well , I knows what's the spices used in this mixture but seems to be a secret recipe that even I could not get the measurements . As mum said , 'You just have to 'play' with the flavours . So , I can only give the 'rempah' which is

-Turmeric(Kunyit) -Garlic
-Ginger -Shallots(Small onions)

Sesame seeds ;
This actually may look tiny and innocent looking ingredient but the flavour is like whoa.
Actually , it more like gives a better appearance in the Achar and not really alot of flavour

Procedure:

Fry the blended spices in some oil till the ~~AROMA~~ liberates and fill the air . It's like scented oil being burned . Oh ya , I 4got bout adding dried chillies which have been soaking in hot water in 10 mins and blended .

Add vinegar , sugar and salt to taste . My mum added more than a big bottle of vinegar and huge amount of sugar to give it a kick to the taste .

Leave it aside to cool

P.S . This is very important . DO NOT put this sauce in any contact to metal . The vinegar has the ability to corrode(rust) it.