Instant Cucumber Pickle

Cucumber Pickle in Marathi

Time: 10 minutes
Makes: 3 to 4 servings

Ingredients:
3/4 cup finely chopped cucumber (peeled)
2 tbsp Mustard powder (black or red mustard)
1/4 tsp hing
2 tsp water
Salt to taste
1 tsp lemon juice
Tempering: 1 tsp oil, 2 pinches of mustard seeds, 1/4 tsp Hing, 1/4 tsp turmeric powder, 2 green chilies (finely chopped)

Method:
1) Take the chopped cucumber into a bowl. Add 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp hing, mix with a spoon. Keep it aside for 20 minutes.
2) After 20 minutes, gently squeeze out water from cucumber. Take this water into a blender. Add mustard powder and blend well. If you find the mixture is very thick then add a tsp of water. After blending for a couple of minutes, the mixture will become whitish. Add it to the cucumber.
3) Heat oil into a tadka pan. Add mustard seeds, hing, turmeric powder and green chilies. Pour this tempering into a separate glass/ steel bowl. Let it cool down before adding to the cucumber.
4) Add lemon juice and tadka to the cucumber. Mix well.
Cucumber instant pickle can be enjoyed with chapati and also as a side dish in the meal. Refrigerate upto 3 to 4 days.

Tips:
1) Since this pickle stay good for 3 to 4 days, make it in a small quantity.
2) Cucumber oozes out water once salt is added to it. If you use extra water to blend the mustard powder the pickle will become much watery. To avoid that, use the oozed out water to blend mustard powder.