Narthangai or Citron Pachadi

Narthangai is one of the oldest known pickling fruit of South India.   This fruit looks like a green orange (medium size).  Its leafs have got a pungent flavour and highly medicinal.   This recipe was instructed to me by my mom.   We had gone to a village for a family festival and it has become a ritual to collect young pumpkin,  citron and even crunchy groundnut sweets(chikki) from there..   I got few narthangai and its leafs.   I worked on it as soon as came back to my home..  This plant can be found in rural areas or not so urbanized places!

Coming to the recipe,

Prep:

1. Squeeze out the juice just like you do with oranges, there will be lots of seeds, remove them, use as much as pulp as possible.

2. Cut the entire fruit into smaller squares

What you need?

Citrons - 4
Green chillies-16
Asofoedita-1/4 tsp
Jaggery shredded-1/4 cup
Sesame oil (preferably)-2 Tbsp
Mustard seeds-2 tsp
Turmeric powder-1/4 tsp
Salt to taste

How to make?

1. Heat oil in a wok,  add mustard seeds and hing.

2. Add Green chillies and Narthangai.  Fry all together

3. Add salt, Jaggery and let it all mix together for a bit.

4.  Once the fruit skin is cooked, add the juice and give it a boil for few mins.

Allow it to cool and transfer it to a glass container.

This goes very well with chappathi, dosa and curd rice.   My kids call it as marmalade and eat it.

If you dont get Citron try it with any other citrus fruits like cara cara..

This can be kept in the refrigerator for 2-3 weeks..

Healthy Cooking and Happy Nourishing :-)