Gunda Pickle – Cordia obliqua or clammy berries pickle (Gunda Keri nu Athanu) Cheat Recipe

I lived and worked in London for  years and took all its beauty, history and novelty for granted.  I feel that now is the time to share with you some of London’s unusual attractions.  As most of you know that one of the best ways of getting around London is by the London Underground trains we love calling the Tube.   It  serves London and some parts of surrounding counties too.  There is lots of information about the various tube lines and how to travel around London and the rest of the country on the transport for London and National Rail websites.  The latest  information about guide to London Underground can also be found here.  Very few people are aware of the  some of London’s underground attractions  one of which is the Postal Museum. The Postal Museum is a  run by the Postal Heritage Trust. It began in 2004 as The British Postal Museum & Archive and opened in Central London as The Postal Museum on 28 July 2017.  This video shows the battery-powered 65 feet  train which is only five feet high and runs  through tunnels on a 2 ft-wide track for 20 minutes, deep underground.  This tour takes visitors through part of a mail system that ran from 1927 to 2003 and carried four million letters daily beneath London’s main sorting offices.  Read the history of the Mail Rail here . We just took it for granted at how fast our letters and parcels used to get delivered before emails and online shopping became popular.  Do visit this museum if you have kids with you as they have lots of activities for them.

You may also wish to checkout some of these  10 underground attractions in London one of which is the Churchill War rooms.

Today’s recipe is how to make the Gunda pickle (English name – Cordia Obliqua or clammy berries) using ready made pickle spices. (Gunda is a kind of a berry with a very sticky stone in the middle).  I used the ready made Jalpur Achar Mix to the add to fresh Gundas.  My recipe for making gunda pickle using home made spices is here.   Nothing beats mixing and grinding your own spices as they always taste great but if I  find any good spices mixes I like to share that information as everyone likes to make cooking easier.   Indian Food is never complete unless it is accompanied by the extras like pickles,  chatni, raitaraita, papad, lassi etc. It’s believed that these foods help to balance the taste of food on your plate.

Usually  Gunda  pickle is made by including raw mangoes too but this time I made just Gunda pickle.  Gundas are sold at most Indian grocers and are seasonal so only available at certain times of the year. When buying gunda, make sure you pick the fresh green ones which are not bruised.

Ingredients

• 20-25  fresh gunda
• ½ cup ready achar mix (I used Jalpur Spice Mix)
• 1 tablespoons fennel seeds
• ½ cup of cooking oil (I used sunflower oil)
• 1 teaspoons turmeric powder
• 2 teaspoons of salt for cleaning your hands.

Method

1. Wash the gunda well and remove any stems left on the berry.  Traditional gundas used to prepared by hitting a pestle on them and splitting them halfway and removing the stone.  My mum used to leave her gundas whole and filled them with spices but I prefer halving them and adding the spice mix to them.  It’s a lot easier plus I don’t always want to eat so much pickle.   I tend to cut the gunda in half and remove the stone using a knife dipped in salt. Salt helps to remove the stickiness so after cutting a few gundas, just dip your fingers in salt and rub them together before rinsing them under water. (You can also use gloves when cutting the gundas if you like)

2.  Once all the Gundas are halved – transfer them to a mixing bowl.  Add the fennel seeds to the pickle mix  and add them to the halved gundas.  The pickle mix I used has all the ingredients necessary for making various pickles.

3. Heat the oil in a saucepan until it reaches a smoking point and allow it to cool until its lukewarm.  Once cool, add it to the pickle mix. I have added only half a cup of oil but you can add more if you wish. The oil helps preserve the pickle for longer.

4. Leave the pickles in the mixing bowl for a couple of hours and then transfer them to a sterilised bottle.  The pickle should be ready to eat in two days.

Do checkout other pickle recipes in my blog:

• Carrot and Green Chilies Salad/Pickle with Mustard (Raita gajar marcha)
• Carrots, raw mango and green chillies pickle with mustard (raita gajar, marcha & keri)
• Pickled Cabbage – Japanese style
• Fresh Chilly Pickle or Marcha nu athanu
• Aubergine pickle
• Fresh ginger  pickle
• Fresh Turmeric pickle

Do you know of any good ready mixed spice mixtures? Do share in the comments

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