A Sweet And Spicy Punjabi Pickle Gajar Gobhi Shalgam Achar Recipe made with aromatic spices is THE quintessential winter favorite! A great accompaniment to any meal.
Winter brings its own favorites and soon the local markets will be flooded with gorgeous red and black (deep purple) colored carrots. Red carrots are commonly used for gajar ka halwa and gajar gobhi shalgam ka achar and black carrots for kanji -just the thought of it is makes my taste buds tickle. Gajar Gobhi Shalgam Achar Recipe
Today, I am sharing with you my mom’s recipe that my family has relished for years. We are a pickle-eating family and I grew up eating this achar with makki ki roti and sarson ka saag .
Now onto the recipe!
This sweet and sour achar/relish is made with cauliflower, turnips and carrots. I have used baby carrots for this recipe but feel free to use regular carrots (sliced), baby carrots will get soft in a week. Gajar Gobhi Shalgam Achar Recipe
We begin by blanching the veggies in boiling water. Blanching locks in the flavor and freshness of these veggies and cooks them slightly. After blanching, cauliflower, shalgum and carrots should still have a bit of crunch left in them and later toss the veggies in ice water to stop the cooking process.
Since this pickle is made with red carrots and red carrots are not available in our area, I prefer to add beets to my pickle and believe me as this achar ages, beets add a deep rich color to the veggies. In 2 days, cauliflower and turnip have started to turn red (pic above).
Make sure the veggies are completely dried before adding spices to it, took me a full day to dry my veggies. Achar can get moldy if there is moisture left in the veggies. Mustard oil is a natural food preservative but in this pickle, vinegar is used in combination with mustard oil as a preservative and flavoring agent.
Toss everything together and transfer it to a clean, sterilized, dry ceramic/glass jar. Place jar in the sun to mature.
Enjoy with makki mooli methi ke parathe or makki ki roti and sarson ka saag.
Do give this yummy achar a try and if you happen to make this then share your pics with me @facebook or tag me by using the hashtag #ruchiskitchen (one word) on social media. Would love to hear back from you and would love to see your yummy pictures!
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Gajar Gobhi Shalgam Achar Recipe
Ingredients
VEGETABLES
- 1 kg Cauliflower, washed and cut
- 1 kg Carrots, washed
- 1 kg Turnip, peeled, washed and sliced
- 2-3 small Beets, peeled, washed and sliced (optional)
SPICES
- 1/4 cup Salt
- 2-3 tablespoon Red chili powder (adjust according to taste)
- 5-7 pieces of Black Cardamom
- 1/2 tablespoon Cinnamon Powder or 2 small sticks of Cinnamon
- 10-15 pieces of Cloves
- 2 tablespoon Haldi (Turmeric powder)
- 1 tablespoon Rock Salt (kala namak)
- 2-3 tablespoon Garam Masala Powder
- 1/2 cup Crushed Rai or Rai kuria (optional)
- 4 tablespoon Rai (Mustard seeds)
- 2.5 tablespoon Fennel seeds (Sanuf)
- 3 tablespoon Nigella seeds (kalonji)
- 3 tablespoon Methi dana (Fenugreek seeds)
- 1/2 tablespoon Crushed red chili flakes (optional)
- 1/4 tablespoon Jeera (cumin seeds) (optional)
ASSEMBLING OF ACHAR
- 3/4 cup Crushed Garlic (36 medium sized cloves)
- 3/4 cup Crushed ginger
- 1.25 cup Powdered or grated Jaggery
- 3/4 cup Vinegar
- 2.5 cup mustard oil
Instructions
ASSEMBLING VEGETABLES
- Wash and cut cauliflower.
- Wash carrots. If using full carrots, cut into halves.
- Peel and wash turnips.
- Cut turnips into thick slices.
- For orange carrots, add beets for color. Wear a glove or plastic cover. Peel and cut beets in thick slices. Beets add an earthy flavor to this achar.
BLANCHING VEGETABLES
- Time to blanch veggies - boil water in a pan. Add 1 teaspoon salt.
- Add cauliflower.
- Cover and let it sit in hot water for 2 minutes.
- Use a slotted spoon to transfer the veggies from hot water...
- To a bowl of iced water,
- Repeat the process with other veggies.
- Do not let the veggies sit in hot water for more than 2 minutes.
- Putting veggies in iced water will stop the cooking process.
- Strain the veggies through a strainer.
- Spread the veggies on a paper towel.
- And let them dry for 6-7 hours or for a whole day.
- Veggies must be completely dry by now, transfer them to a bowl.
ASSEMBLING SPICES
- Assemble the spices.
- Toss them in a blender or motor pestle and...
- Pound them coarsely.
- Assemble the whole spices like Rai, Saunf, kalonji, Jeera, and fenugreek to a pan. Leave out the red chili flakes as they will burn easily. Feel free to dry roast cloves and cardamom too.
- Cook on the low flame until slightly toasted. Allow it to cool.
- Grind cooled spiced to its powdered form. Set it aside.
- Vinegar and Jaggery.
- Combine vinegar and jaggery in a pan.
- Bring it to a boil and boil until it forms a thick consistency.
- Add all the coarsely pounded spices ( Rai, saunf mix + cardamom mix + red chili flakes) to the boiling mixture.
- Mix and set it aside. Color of Jaggery will change from brown to black. Taste and adjust salt at this point.
- Measure oil.
- Make ginger paste.
- Garlic paste.
- Heat mustard oil in a pan.
- Add ginger -garlic and cook until light brown in color.
ASSEMBLING ACHAR
- Time to assemble. Pour vinegar-jaggery-spice mixture to the veggies.
- Add ginger-garlic - oil mixture.
- Add Red chili powder.
- Add Cinnamon powder.
- Add salt and other spices..
- Mix, mix and mix until well blended.
- Toss in some sliced beets.
- Store in a clean sterilized air tight glass or a ceramic jar.
- Close the lid and place the jar in full sunlight for 5-6 days to mature.
- After 2 days - because of beets, veggies will start to change color and....
- Achar will be totally submerged in oil. After few days,
- After 5-6 days, flavors of all the spices will marinate as one and the pickle will become soft. Hot and sweet Gajar Gobhi Shalgam ka Achar is ready to be enjoyed with any kind of meal. My personal favorites are makki ki roti and sarson ka saag. 🙂
Machado says
Thanks for this delicious recipe. But seem to not find ‘kalonji’ and fenugreek seeds in list of ingredients? Pls help.
Ruchi says
Thanks for pointing that out!
The recipe has been updated.
Isha says
Look promising recipe, I would love to get it a shot. How long this pickle can be stored? And can it be stored at room temperature or should be kept in fridge?
Thanks!
Ruchi says
Thanks, Isha!
This pickle can be stored at room temperature for 6 months. Just take basic precautions like –
1. Store pickle in a sterilized dry jar,
2. No water touches the pickle,
3. Every time use a fresh spoon for the pickle.
Shamsah says
Thankyou so much for yummy recipes.
Ruchi says
You are welcome!
Meenakshi says
Thank for the recipe.
Ruchi says
Pleasure is all mine. 🙂
Meenakshi says
Recipe 10/10
Ruchi says
Thank you. 🙂
Steph says
Hello! I have dried all my vegetables and I am about to proceed with the next steps. Can you please confirm the amount of cloves needed. 6-7 tablespoons of cloves seems like a lot. Should it be teaspoons? It seems like you use a lot less in the pictures, so I just wanted to make sure. I am very excited to try this achar. Thank you for the wonderful recipe Ruchi!
Ruchi says
Thanks for pointing that our Step!
Have updated the recipe with correct memasurements.
Puja says
Hi can I make it without jaggery. And low oil.
Ruchi says
Puja, I don’t think either of these is possible for this recipe.
In pickles, oil acts as a preservative. Lowering the quantity may result in spoiling of the achar.
Jaggery is added to balance the sourness or tarty flavor from vinegar. Removing that would make the pickle too sour. Hope that helps!
N says
Quick question – why do we need to blanch the veggies? Can we microwave them instead? I did the same but my veggies looked shriveled at the end of the day 🙁
Ruchi says
Purpose of blanching is to sterilize the vegetables. In pickles – vegetables are blanched to stop the action of natural enzymes present in them. This process prevents the pickle from spoiling and also extends its storage life. Microwave will fail to do so. Hope that answers your query.
Nishtha says
Yes, thank you. I am hoping that 8 hours of drying is sufficient? I live in upstate NY so it is very cold this time of the year and I do not have enough sun to lay them out, as we did in India!
Ruchi says
Nishtha, 8 hours of drying time is pretty good.
If the veggies still have some moisture left, dry them under a fan and you should be good.
Anju says
I use every ingredients accordingly, my pickle color gets black,where is mistake.
Ruchi says
Anju, there are a few reasons why a pickle turns black –
1. Adding powdered spices can cause the pickles to turn dark.
2. Use of iron utensils. If storing in a container with iron lid, pickle can turn dark because of the corrosion of the lid.
3. Any amount of water on the storage container or on the ingredients can result in the formation of white fungus later resulting in darker sour smelling pickles.
Hope that helps!!
Raj says
Hi my name is raj can I use brown sugar because I don’t have jaggery and vegetable oil not mustard oil
RK says
Thanks for stopping by Raj! Yes, you can use brown sugar for this recipe. To get an authentic Punjabi flavor in your pickle, I would suggest – use mustard oil. Mustard oil has a strong flavor and is traditionally used for pickles. Other substitute for mustard oil is – sunflower oil or canola oil.
Sumedha says
My achar is ready. So tasty an balanced ingredients. Thanks for your steps…its a great great help… my mil is super impressed. Only thing she mentioned is to put rai in it. Is it advisable? But even without that it is tangy and super super yum!!
RK says
Thanks for trying the recipe Sumedha and sharing your feedback with me. Glad you liked the recipe. This is the achar in which I avoid adding rai (mustard seeds). But if you like, feel free to add rai to the achar recipe.
aseem gauba says
Thanks a lot for making this achar waiting for a long time.Great stuff will try soon looks yummy.
RK says
Sure Aseem. If possible do share your feedback. Thanks!!
A K Mehndiratta says
Would love to get simple good recepies