Vellaipoondu Oorugai

Ingredients:

• Garlic - 500 gm
• Gingilee Oil -200 ml
• Lemon juice - 400 ml (it might take some 10 to 12 lemons)
• Water - 200 ml
• Jaggery - 3 to 4 tbsp
• Salt - 75 gm
• Mustard - 1 tb sp
• Asafoetida - 2 tsp
• Chilli powder - 400 gm

To Prepare the chilli powder

• Red Chillies - 150 gm
• Coriander seeds - 50 gm
• Jeera - 50 gm
• Fenugreek - 50 gm
• Asafoetida - 2 tsp

Dry roast all the above together and grind the powder. this powder should come for 2 cup (400 gm)

Method:

Dissolve salt in lemon juice and water together.
Heat oil in a heavy bottomed vessel. add mustard and asafoetida.
When the mustard splutter add the mix of lemon juice, water and salt. then add the ground chilli powder.Let it boil well till the raw smell evaporates.
Add the garlic to it and cook well. Simmer it till the garlic is well cooked and the oil comes out.
If needed add more oil. Taste for salt, spice and lemon's sourness.
Let it cool well and then bottle it.

Note: If the garlic is big in size slit them into two. If the lemon flavour is too strong and sourness is strong add chilli powder. If the ground shilli powder is too fine it will not coat the garlic well, so have it normal and too coarse also. When you squeeze the lemon see to that you dont squeez it too much that the rind is alos squeezed it might tase bitter.

While using the pickle there are chances for a white fungi formation on the pickle, in such cases you can throw the top layer, heat some gingilee oil and add to the pickle. The fungi formation happens only when there is no oil covering the top layer of the pickle.