Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Oil Free Dry Orange Pickle

Sundried Bitter Oranges (Narnga Batte/Kanchi Batte)

narnga batte
‘Narnga’ or ‘kanchi kaayi’ or ‘heraLe kaayi’ is a kind of bitter orange available in some(or all) parts of India. These are slightly bitter in taste, we have not seen anyone eating the ripened fruit. We always get the green ones which are used for sundried items or pickle. This is the season on Narnga here, so I prepared a big batch of narnga batte this year. Every year we get few of fresh narnga from our neighbors.
Narnga/Naranga batto/batti is one thing that almost all Konkanis like. These are usually given to the people who are suffering from fever and lost their taste. These are spicy, saltly and sour. They taste heavenly when consumed with rice congee(Pej/ganji). These are a must in most of the Konkani houses throughout the year. My kids and all the other kids who visited us loved these with congee.
We also make a tasty chutney with it. Thanks to Pelicano, we think it is called bitter oranges.
Ingredients:
5-6 narnga
Salt
1/2 cup chilli powder
1/2 tea spn asafoetida powder or a big piece of asafoetida stone
Method:
narnga batte1 narnga batte2
Cut narnga into thin pieces. Remove the white pit and seeds, discard them.
narnga batte3 narnga batte4
In a ceramic jar, put the pieces and salt enough to cover pieces. Close the lid tightly and leave it in a dry place for about 15 days to one month till the skin becomes slightly soft. Every day open the lid and mix the pieces to make sure salt gets to all pieces.
narnga batte5 narnga batte6
Take out the pieces. Add chilli powder, asafoetida to the pieces, mix very well.
narnga batte7
Sundry the pieces till they are completely dry.
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Store in dry air tight container. They get darker and darker in color as time passes, after almost a year, they get black but they still can be used.

Courtesy: http://www.aayisrecipes.com/konkani-recipes/sundried-bitter-oranges-narnga-battekanchi-batte/

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