2 weeks Ago By Vernika Awal
Growing up, my everyday school tiffin would include only one standard meal of paratha and achaar. The variety of the paratha and the pickle would differ on the basis of my mother’s mood while preparing it, but the concept remained constant. Now I remember not being too fond of the parathas because by the time I would eat them, they wouldn’t be hot and crispy like when served right off the tawa, but the achaar would turn this meal around completely.
Sometimes it was the sookha aam ka achaar made by my naani, sometimes the aged lemon pickle that had a sweet-ish profile with a strong citrus flavour, and in winters it would be the gajar-gobhi-shalgam achar. I loved to follow the seasonal chart through these pickles and the way their appearance would change in my tiffin box based on the time of the year we were in. The thing about pickles is that they are evergreen and probably the most versatile accompaniment to Indian food, and till date I remain a pickle-fiend.
Having discovered quite a few home-run small-scale pickle businesses in Delhi and around over the years, I cannot say that my search has concluded. In fact, the more I explore, the more I want to continue on the journey to find delectable pickles. My friends and family often joke about my pickle collection being an enviable one and good enough to open my own small pickle business! Recently, during one such spree of discovering home-run businesses on Instagram, I came across Pickled Delights.
Rupal Sachdeva, originally a resident of Mumbai, shifted to Delhi in the year 2014, after having spent many years in Hong Kong and Dhaka, with her husband who runs a business of manufacturing and export of branded apparels. A talented cook and recipe documentarian, she began her pickling journey as a full-time business during the COVID-19 pandemic, after having dabbled in pickle-making for only family and close ones for years. “Once some friends visited our home for a meal, around four years ago, and Rupal served them two or three varieties of pickles along with the meal.
They were impressed with the taste of these pickles and encouraged her to start thinking about pickling commercially”, Harish Sachdeva, her husband informs me. Harish now is at the helm of this business, after Rupal’s untimely demise earlier this year. In the last four years, Rupal had managed to turn many of their friends, family, and neighbours into loyal customers, with her preservative free pickles.
Residents of New Friends Colony in Delhi, they are known in the close-knit circle for their homemade pickles and masalas. I discovered them through their Instagram page and placed an order for six varieties of pickles. Currently I am enjoying their avvakai pickle, which is an iconic pickle from the state of Andhra Pradesh, with my daily dose of rasam and rice – the weather change demands a soothing meal, doesn’t it? The other varieties that I am looking forward to are the bharwa lal mirch (stuffed red chillies) and masala lehsun (spicy garlic).
In fact the masala of the bharwa lal mirch is so versatile that I use it often to make an instant garlic and chilli pickle with it, with a generous drizzle of raw mustard oil and also use it to add an extra punch to my masala baingan subzi that pairs well with hot bajra rotis. While the taste is what attracted me to the achaars back as a kid, what draws me to them today are the memories. When my dadi passed away about 20 years ago, none of us were prepared for this moment.
A year after her passing away, we discovered a jar left behind by her in a corner of our kitchen. It was a jar of nimbu achaar (lemon pickle) that she had made for us, before she left. As I grew up, I understood just how important a jar of pickles is – this was a way for the family to remember her and taste something we associate with her decades later through something that could be preserved for years.
Even though it has only been a few months since Rupal’s demise, her husband Harish has taken it upon himself to continue with her dream of expanding this pickle business and making it a part of every home. The thing about pickles is that it’s never the star of the show, but that solid support cast that one can always depend on - much like Harish!.
