Cranberry Pickle (Indian Style)

I had to write this cranberry pickle recipe down for somebody a week ago and decided to start a blog as well....so here goes nothing.

I tasted the cranberry pickle at a friend's house way back and always thought about making it myself.Never got around till last year to actually making it and my sister absolutely loves it, so I make her a fresh batch every year sometime right after Thanksgiving.

I fished around for a few recipes, asked a few friends, they all called for tamarind, garlic etc., etc., and looked time consuming. I definitely took the easy way out and just for the heck of it made something and it came out ok. The second time I tried it, it wasn't as good as the first one. Made a couple of batches and finally got the recipe to taste good.

Prep time: 10 mins
Cooking time: 20 mins
Total time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

Fresh Cranberries-- 2 packs (I usually buy OceanSpray cranberries)
Olive oil---2 tbsp
Mustard seeds--1/2 tbsp

Dry roast and powder the following:

Dry red Chillies (long) -- 4 (you can use less if you want the spice toned down. Available at all Indian Grocery stores)
Mustard seeds--2 tea spoons (Available at all Indian Grocery stores)
Fenugreek seeds -- 1/4 tsp(optional) (Available at all Indian Grocery stores called Methi seeds)
Salt to taste.(roasted salt adds a lot of taste to the food)

Preparation:
1.Wash and dry the cranberries (overnight). This pickle goes bad quickly if you have water on the cranberries. They need to dry very well.
2.Dry roast all the dry roast ingredients on a low flame. The red chillies turn a little brown/blackish. Then switch off the stove. Let this mixture cool for a bit and then powder it nicely in a blender.
3. Pour Olive oil into a deep pan and heat it on a medium flame and then add the 1/2 tbsp of mustard seeds. Let them splatter.
4.Once the splattering of mustard seeds tapers off, then add the ground powder that you just made. (If you feel that the salt might be too much, then do not add all the powder that you just made)
5.Saute for 1 min.
6.Add the cranberries and mix them well in the pan so all the powder gets mixed up.
7.Keep cooking on a medium flame till the cranberries start popping and become all mushy.
8.Turn off the stove once you see the oil starting to separate from the cranberry mixture.
9.Let it cool and then store it in the Fridge in an airtight container (I usually use a Pyrex container)
10.Enjoy as spread or dip for any food.
11.It's usually good with rice

Tip: During the berry season, you can always pick the unripened blueberries or strawberries and try the same recipe. Sour and tangy is good. You can also freeze some berries and make a fresh batch later.

P.S:In India we get a variation of the cranberry and it is called "Kalakkai" and its the tangy sour thing I loved to eat during the Krishna Jayanthi celebrations(Lord Krishna's birthday).