Amp Up Your Dinner Table With These 6 Delectable Pickles
Image Credit: Dinner without pickles is incomplete/ pinterest.com

Pickles are a type of condiment native to the Indian subcontinent, prepared from a range of vegetables and fruits preserved in brine, vinegar, or edible oils, and flavoured with Indian spices. Pickles are known as Uppinakaayi in Kannada, Pachadi in Telgu, Urukai in Tamil, Uppillittuthu in Malayalam, Loncha in Marathi, Athanu in Gujarati, and 'achar in Hindustani, Nepali, and Bengali, depending on the region. Indian-style pickle is called achar in Hindustani, according to Mohsen Saeidi Madani.  It is a word derived from the Persian definition meaning "Powdered or salted meats, pickles, or fruits, preserved in salt, vinegar, honey, or syrup”. Pickles have been mentioned in many ancient Indian texts. Pickles made from green mango, green peppercorns, long pepper, raw cardamom, lemon, lime, myrobalan, hog plum, stone apple, and aromatic manjack are described in Trivikrama Bhatta's (915 CE) Nalachampu. Pickles made from green mango, fresh green peppercorns, fresh long-pepper, lemons and limes, turmeric root, mango-ginger root, ginger, radish, bitter gourd, cucumber, lotus root, and bamboo shoots are mentioned in early mediaeval cookbooks such as Lokopakara (1025 CE), Manasollasa (1130 AD), Pakadarpana (1200 AD), and Soopa Shastra (1508 A.D). More than fifty different types of pickles are mentioned in Gurulinga Desika's Lingapurana (1594 CE). Ni'matnama's (1500 CE) cookbook also mentions unique pickles produced from edible flowers. Pickles have a spicy and different flavour that complements the usual meal we eat. A dinner platter without delicious tangy pickles is incomplete.

Here are some pickles you can try for your dinner feats-

Lehsun ka achar

Garlic is a flavour that we all enjoy in our food, so why not make an entire dish out of it? Lasoon ka Achaar is exactly that kind of meal. Garlic is chopped into little pieces and used to make this dish. Garlic paste might also be used. In North India, this is a very common type of Achaar.

Chicken pickle and biryani are a perfect match/ pinterest.com