Indian pickles are a treat: spicy, salty and indescribably delicious. They are served at most Indian meals, but taste especially amazing with dal and rice. If you’ve been to an Indian restaurant, you’ve probably had some served to you alongside poppadum and chutney. But those restaurant pickles, and in fact all storebought Indian pickles (which are easy to find at Indian grocery stores), fall terribly short when compared to a homemade pickle. Not only does a homemade version taste much better, it also has something that those off-the-shelf versions, which are heavily pasteurized, don’t: probiotic bacteria. I never saw myself making homemade pickles until a few years ago when I began digging deeper into the benefits of probiotic foods, like sourdough breads and sauerkraut. I had grown up eating Indian pickles, and everyone at home, including Jay, loves them, but even so we only ever bought them at the store. As I looked deeper into the process of making pickles, it seemed a shame not to try making a version at home that would have the added probiotic benefit. Unfortunately, in India, too, making homemade pickles is a dying art and I couldn’t really find any good recipes online. So over the years I’ve created my own recipe for lime pickle or nimbu ka achaar, which is my favorite Indian pickle, tweaking this and that and arriving at a flavorful condiment we love. (Also check out this carrot pickle or gajar ka achar).
Why you’ll love this Indian lime pickle
Delicious. If American pickles steeped in vinegar is what you are used to (and those are delicious, I’ll admit), you are in for a differently delicious treat with an Indian pickle. Indian pickles tend to be saucy (I like mine especially so), and you eat just a tiny amount at a time, using it mainly to flavor the food. So if you were eating dal and rice with a pickle, you’d mix a tiny bit of the pickle in with the dal and rice. Some Indian pickles can be incredibly spicy but my version is far from that; in fact it has just the right combination of tart and spice to make you fall in love. Gut-friendly. Indian pickles are fermented in the hot sun and contain tons of gut-friendly bacteria. In fact, that’s why our grandmothers and great-grandmothers took such care to make them each summer, so we could reap those health benefits year-round. Storebought versions lose that benefit because they have to pass health checks and are heavily pasteurized, which kills off the live cultures. Easy recipe. It might sound like a painstaking thing to do, making pickles at home, but the process really can’t be easier. Putting the recipe together takes minutes, in fact. You do have to remember to leave your pickles out on a hot, sunny porch or stoop for a week, but that’s not really work and it’s a job you could easily enlist your kids to help with.
How to make an Indian lime pickle
What to serve the lime pickle with
Dal and rice are a perfect meal to serve this pickle with. I’d serve this with a simple and easy tomato dal and basmati rice or jeera rice. Check to get new recipe updates by email.
If you do see mold develop on the pickles at any point, discard it immediately. Or serve it with this Masala Khichdi.
More delicious Indian condiments
Recipe card
