Growing up, the garden in front of our home was full of flowering plants and crotons, of all sizes and colours. The backyard was dotted with fruit trees like mango, custard apple, bananas, curry leaves, limes, chili and bimbli. Mum would make bimbli pickle but it’s been years since I tasted some. Recently, good friends in Mumbai asked for a bimbli pickle recipe so I sent them mum’s recipe. The verdict was great. So even though I haven’t made this one in Oslo, here it is.

While reading up about bimbli for this post I learned that bimbli is a berry. It is also called tree sorrel. The fruit are a bright green, very sour and juicy. You can read more about these berries here https://search.app/yCzhdyC7eKNQ2ft16

Ingredients

1 kg bimbli

2 cups oil

6 garlic pods, cut into fine slices

0.5 cup sugar

0.5 cup vinegar

For the masala

30 gms ginger

30 gms garlic

30 gms dry red chillies

15 gms mustard seeds

2 tsp turmeric / haldi powder

Grind all the masala ingredients, using a little vinegar if necessary. Keep aside.

Putting it together

Wash the bimblis and cut them into thick slices (approx. 1 cm thick).

Put them into a strainer and add a little salt. Leave to drain for 2 hours.

Heat oil and fry the sliced garlic and curry leaves, taking care not to burn these.

Add the masala and fry lightly. Add the bimblis, sugar and vinegar and cook on low heat for 10 – 15 minutes.

Cool and bottle in clean glass jars. Enjoy!