Nellikai/Indian Gooseberry/Amla thokku

One of my first memories of my mother telling me to eat a particular food that is "very good for me" is Amla/nellikkai/Indian gooseberry. She used to insist that I at least give it a chance since it has good medicinal values. Now after so many years I find myself repeating the same thing to my daughter, albeit, with more evidence from scientific research. My favourite way to eat these otherwise tart, some what astringent and sweet all at the same time is in the form of thokku/pickle. Of course, Anjalie likes it too but I take out her "thokku" before I add chilli powder and keep it mild for her. For the benefits of these gooseberries please refer to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phyllanthus_emblica

You will need:
Nellikkai/amla/Indian gooseberries- 10 nos
2 tbsp sesame oil/cooking oil
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp fenugreek/methi/vendayam seeds powder
1/8 tsp asfoetida
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp of red chilli powder (adjust to taste and omit for children)
10 curry leaves
salt to taste

Gooseberry pickle(s) Spicy South Indian style and Trinidadian style

One of the best things about living in Scotland (& I am sure many other parts of the world) is being surrounded by farms and the change in seasons bringing wonderful "seasonal" fruits and veggies fresh from the farm. Best of all, is having a pick your own farm nearby which allows us to go in for a visit and pick fresh farm produce ourselves and pay for them (usually works out cheaper) by weight. Such trips make an excellent day out for the entire family and little children usually enjoy running about and seeing how their favourite fruits and veggies grow. On one such visit recently, we picked some late strawberries and lots of goose berries. I am familiar with Indian goose berries (nellikkai in Tamil) and love them in any form or fashion. The sour variety (aru-nellikkai) in particular is my favourite. Goose berries are rich in Vitamin C and can help fight off infections. The Scottish ones did not look anything like the Indian counterpart. But it tasted quite similar to the aru-nellikkais I knew. In fact, I prefer the Scottish ones since they are more tender and the seeds (yes there are many- unlike the Indian ones) are edible too! So using them to make pickles is a lot easier since I do not have to bother about taking the seeds out. After a days trip enjoying our farm visit, we pickled the gooseberries in both Trinidadian and South-Indian styles. While, Naz & I have both our preferred versions (no points of guessing!), Anjalie liked both of them (seems to depend on her mood) and ever the diplomat she says she likes a little bit of both! We like our pickles spicy so I give the recipe for what I used. But if trying out pickles for the first time, I will suggest to, go a bit easy on the peppers.