BHUBANESWAR: When the dal is drab and the rotis are rubbery, a tangy pickle can be your saviour, anyday! And, in Odisha both the taste-enhancers, pickle and papads, are synonymous with Berhampur. But, what about a little twist in the tale? Pickles from the neighbouring state of West Bengal are making a way into the Odia households in Bhubaneswar. A native of Suiri in Bengal's Birbhum district, Panchanan Bera has been putting up his temporary pickle stall at Rupali Chawk, adjacent to Saheed Nagar's Durga Mandap, since 2000. The man brings 40 varieties of fruit and vegetable pickles for Bhubaneswarites each year. However, the tangy affair lasts for six months only.
Mango, the king of fruits in India, is undoubtedly the most-opted fruit for making pickles. So, is it at his stall too! From sweet, sour to a little spicer version, the fruit gets pickled for different flavours at his hands. He makes 'khatta-mitha amba' with cumin, meethi, pepper, turmeric and coriander. Yes, you read it right and the list is complete even with a mention of oil. Bera claims he doesn't use oil for most of his pickles. So, how do the ingredients mix with each other? "We preserve all the base ingredient for a year in salt. We don't sun dry it. So, water is released from the mangoes or other fruit. While making the pickle, we separate the fruit from the water and then mix it with the spices and sugar syrup. So, you don't need oil for blending the spices. The syrup and the wet fruit will solve the purpose," he explained.
There's a pickle of mango in mustard paste. It's called besara amba. The mango mixed pickle is hot to taste, courtesy the green chilies. Addition of amra makes it sour too! If you love vegetables, there's a mixed stuff available as in any other stall. But, what sets it apart is the presence of drumsticks in it. Another rare variety of pickle is the one made up of dry fruits. It is loaded with the richness of cashew, raisins, cheeries, dates and the odd-man-out ingredient, lemon. The aroma and taste of lemon masks other ingredients.
The man boasts of his ayurvedic pickle as you visit his stall. It is apparently capable of curing all your gastric problems. "We use 12 different varities of salt in it. These can cure gastric ailments. The base ingredient is lemon. Besides the salt, we also add ajwain and the powder of roasted kala jeera," he said. The moramba made up of amra is another healer according to the 'pickle man'.
Well, if you wish to go a little unhealthy, he has options for that too. The vegetable pickles are spicer and the women who prepare it for him have used oil lavishly for these. In this segment, the only rare item is the pickle made with Olives imported from Assam.