Sri Lankan achcharu is an amazing, delicious dish in the world. Pickle is the English word for achcharu. This meal would not be complete without a spoonful of this delicious sweet and spicy pickle. The achcharu, which delivers the much-needed sweet, spicy, and sourness in one pickle, may be found on many rice and curry menus.
It’s one of numerous regional dishes that are exclusive to Sri Lanka. Additionally, as the name implies, a true traditional Sri Lankan recipe from the local Malays. A condiment known as Sinhala Achcharu is prepared on important and auspicious days. The Achcharu is made to offer a prepared meal when hosting guests to commemorate the Dawn of the New Year during the April Sinhala and Tamil New Year.
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Pickle
One way of preserving fruits and vegetables is pickling. Achcharu is made by the process of pickling. These pickled treats add tanginess and spice to the flavour profile.
Almost all fruits and vegetables can be pickled, and every nation uses the best products available. Pickles can be produced with or without sugar and are spiced with pickling sauce. Carrots, onions, beans, green chillies, and capsicum are the basic components used to produce Sinhala achcharu in Sri Lanka.
History of Achcharu(Pickle)
There are pickles in every culture and they have a very long history. The earliest documented instances of pickling can be found in Mesopotamia, where inhabitants from northern India brought cucumber seeds to the Tigris valley around 2030 BC.
The Middle English term pikel, which was first used in writing around 1400 and meant “a hot sauce or gravy given with meat or poultry,” is where the English word “pickle” originates. This is distinct from, but definitely connected to, the Middle Dutch word pekel, which means food preservation and flavouring solution, such as a spiced brine.
Pickles were known to the ancient Egyptians (Cleopatra credited pickles for some of her beauty), and Aristotle extolled the curative properties of pickled cucumbers. Pickles are at least twice mentioned in the Bible (Numbers 11:5 and Isaiah 1:8). The Romans brought back from the lands they had conquered a wide variety of foods, pickling them for the journey in vinegar, oil, brine, and occasionally honey.
Types of achcharu
1. Sinhala achcharu
Sinhala Achcharu means papaya Achcharu, which is a crucial component during the awurudu season. The component of this recipe is papaya and the process is simple. Young papaya serves as the major component, with the remaining ingredients being red onions, green chillies, garlic, ginger, and a variety of spices like mustard, turmeric, salt, and pepper.
2. Ruhunu achcharu
This Ruhunu Achcharu is a mixture of fried halmasso karawala (dried sprats), red onions, green chillies, and spices like salt, pepper, turmeric, ground mustard, and chilli flakes. The dish almost tastes like batu moju. The primary ingredients are fried in a deep fryer, then you temper the spices and sugar with vinegar before adding the primary ingredients and cooking until the vinegar is completely gone.
3. Malay achcharu
Malay achcharu is also known as Malay pickle, which is a well-liked cuisine in Sri Lanka, a country in South Asia. It is made using a pickled sauce that blends sweet, sour, and spicy flavours and is cooked with a variety of diced vegetables like shallots, dates, and green chillies in a vinaigrette made of vinegar, mustard, ginger, and sugar that has been cooked and cooled for 24 hours. It is frequently offered as a side dish to a rice-based main course like (stir-fried rice).
4. Polos achcharu
Polos is amazing both as a pickle and in curries. This spicy, tangy, zesty delight also includes red onions and green chillies and ferments with vinegar after being marinated with spices (pepper, garlic, ginger, mustard, and salt). In fact, kochchi can be used in place of green chillies to add more heat.
5. Sudu lunu achcharu
This garlic pickle is made of fried garlic and green chillies that have been cooked in a mixture of vinegar, mustard, salt, pepper, turmeric, ginger, chilli powder, and sugar (optional). It has a strong spicy flavour and an irresistible aroma.
6. Keselmuwa achcharu
The main ingredients in the Keselmuwa Achcharu, also known as Banana Blossom Pickle in English. It is made from fried (thinly sliced) banana blossom, red onions, and green peppers. These ingredients are then combined with vinegar, ginger-garlic paste, chilli powder, salt, and mustard-fennel-cumin paste that has been infused with vinegar.
8. Raabu achcharu
The main ingredient in Raabu Achcharu is radish. This is made by thinly sliced and cooked in vinegar with red onions, green chillies, red chillies, and a mixture of spices including ginger, garlic, mustard, turmeric, chilli powder, cardamom, and salt. Make careful you first blend the garlic, ginger, and mustard with a little bit of vinegar into a fine paste. After a few minutes of cooking in a clay pot with bubbling vinegar, add the remaining spices and the remaining ingredients. For better flavour, let everything sit in a sterilized jar for at least one day.
