Carrot pickle- carrot achar

If you are from South India, most probably there is a bottle of pickle in the centre of your dining table. As a kid I wasnt very fond of achar, but there was a carrot achar that my mother made which I liked. It tasted different from any other achar, and besides I loved carrots. When I went to college I used to take multiple bottles of this pickle with me as I left after my vacation. Plantain chips and carrot pickle made a good combination, as my hungry friends discovered.

I havent really thought about this pickle at all but during my recent visit to the grocery store I felt the sudden urge to get those gorgeous carrots and make some pickle. I guess just watching the mouthwatering pictures of the lemon pickle made by Indira and Kay rubbed off on me…..So I got the carrots and placed a call to my mother and the next day made the achar. It was more simple than I imagined and so tasty. Satish had never had achar this way and he was floored. It was nice to share something so special from my childhood and make it for my family. It is going to be a regular now at our table. I managed to save some of the pickle for my friends who were visiting us over the weekend and they gave their thumbs up too. And I am trying to figure out why I never attempted to try this before.

There is always this feeling that pickles are better not attempted by the novice. But this attempt has made me really bold. I used the rough recipe that I jotted down from my mother..the real recipe will have to wait till I make another batch.