Vadugapuli Naranga or Wild Lemon or Curry Naranga looks more or less like a Large Lemon, but the taste and is more sour and juicy with a note of bitterness. The texture is tougher than a normal lemon.  This Pickle is an instant one prepared for Sadhyas (Banquets).  It tastes best when fresh. Wild Lemon is known for its digestive properties and also cleanses the gut.
      Sadhya is usually served with a variety of local delicacies.  The basic idea behind serving the dishes is balancing the tastes and flavours, along with treating your taste buds and soothing your stomach.  The list of dishes would comprise of almost all tastes - sweet, sour, salty, spicy, umami and bitterness. Vadugapuli Naranga with its sour and bitter notes get along with other dishes balancing and enhancing the flavours. It is served at the leftmost corner next to salt followed by Kadumanga Achar and Inji Curry in the banana leaf in a Sadhya.
     There was a Vadugapuli Naranga Tree in my grandmother's place and I have thought who is going to use this Big Lemon. But during Onam/Vishu or any wedding ceremony, this Wild Lemon comes into limelight.  Even people from the neighbourhood come asking for this Naranga. During my childhood days, I used to totally avoid this pickle from my banana leaf during Sadhyas.
     Above all my mother brings them back home and prepare this Pickle and insists us to have them, saying it is good for our digestion.  In one such occasion, she packed this pickle in my lunch box to school.  Until today my lunch is incomplete without a smidgen of pickle, but seeing this pickle I was sceptical as I know it would taste bitter, but no choice, the taste and flavour had got mixed up in the curd rice that I had to devour it.  But I was totally taken aback by the unique lemony fragrance of this Naranga totally capturing my senses.
     But only recently I got a chance to prepare and taste this pickle.  My MIL's friend here in Malaysia have a farm and they had sent us a few batches of these Wild Lemons. Even my MIL's sister was here this time, so both of them planned to prepare a pickle out of it.
     If you are storing the pickle for a long time, it can be prepared by peeling of the skin when it is raw or the whole lemon can be sauteed in oil for few minutes until it changes its colour, and then the skin can be peeled off.  Sauteing the lemon slightly cooks the fleshy part inside and also it will reduce the bitterness of the Lemon.

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Cuisine - Kerala (Indian)
Recipe Type - Pickle
Spice Level  - High
Difficulty - Easy
Yields - 2- 21/2 Cups
Author - SM

Preparation Time - 15 - 30 Minutes
Maturing Time -  Immediate
Cooking Time - 8-10 Minutes

HOW TO MAKE VADUGAPULI NARANGA ACHAR / WILD LEMON PICKLE

 

INGREDIENTS :

Vadugapuli Naranga/Wild Lemon - 2 Cups
Salt - 2-3 Tbspn
Mustard Seeds - 11/2 Tspn
Asafoetida - 1 Tspn
Curry leaves - 2 Sprigs
Red Chilli Powder - 2 Tbspn
Turmeric powder - 1 Tspn
Fenugreek Powder - 1 Tspn
Jaggery (Cane Sugar) - 1 Tbspn
Coconut/Sesame Oil - 3-4 Tbspn
Vinegar - 3 Tbspns

METHOD :

• Remove the skin and cut the Lemon into tiny small pieces.
• Alternatively, the whole lemon can be sauteed in oil for a few minutes until the skin changes its colour.  
• Cool it down and then peel off the skin and cut it into small pieces.
• Dry roast the Fenugreek Seeds, cool and powder it.
• Heat the oil in a pan.
• Splutter the Mustard Seeds, lower the flame, then add Asafoetida Powder and Curry Leaves.
• Immediately add the lemon pieces and saute them in a low flame for a few minutes until it becomes soft.
• Add Salt, Turmeric Powder, Red Chilli Powder and roasted Fenugreek Powder, to the above and mix well.
• Add Jaggery to the above.
• Cook this is in low flame until oil separates from the pickle.
• Switch off the flame and allow it to cool.
• Finally, add the vinegar to the pickle and mix well.

NOTES :

• Adjust the salt and chilli powder as per your taste preference.
• Pour some extra oil if you feel the pickle is dry.
• More oil, more storage period. 
• Dry roasting the fenugreek seeds helps to preserve the pickle as well as gives a nice flavour.
• Jaggery gives a slight sweetness to the pickle and also balances the sourness. (adding it is truly optional).
• Avoid using steel/aluminium/copper containers for storing the pickles, as they tend to react with the acidic nature of salt and the Lemon.
• Store them in clean and dry Porcelain/Glass/Ceramic Jars.
• Always use clean & dry spoons(preferably wooden spoons) for the pickle.
• Wet Jars/spoons can spoil the pickles as the moisture in them helps in the growth of Fungus.
• If you feel that extra oil should be added, once the pickle is made, Heat the Sesame Oil, cool it and then pour it over the pickle.
• Allow it to cool completely before storing it into sterilized bottles. 
• Refrigerate the pickle.  It can stay good even with less oil and preservatives. 
• If stored properly, the pickle can last for a year or so.