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An authentic Sri Lankan meal is not complete without a spoonful of lip smacking “Sinhala achcharu” 

The word  A C H C H A R U  means P I C K L E. It’s a consist of peppers, shallots, semi rip papaya, carrots and rest are differ from family to family/region to region. All the semi boiled veggies are tossed with creamy, tangy mustard sauce. Some people don’t use baby jackfruits for their pickle. It’s mainly about rest of the other ingredients when we talking about “Sinhala Achcharu” but she used to add some slices of baby jackfruits. It’s pretty nice when biting all those crunchy mouthwatering pickle with your rice and curry. 

If you are a Sri lankan, you know you cannot resist without this side dish/condiment in Sri Lankan Special lunch/dinner table. When it’s a party, alms giving, or any other Sri Lankan event with Sri Lankan food, easily you can find Achcharu by the side. 

Always remember to use a clay pot or a large dry glass bowl to toss your veggies with mustard sauce. Because it contains vinegar and it reacts with aluminium/metal pots. And once you done with your achcharu, seal it well at least 5-7 days to absorb all the flavours from mustard sauce. And always use wooden spoon to serve, once you open it, it’s good to store in a clean dry glass jar. And refrigerate even up to a month or two. The more it’s with the sauce, will taste good. 

This achcharu is what my mom used to make for us every time when we leave. You know she is typical Asian Mom, who fill her children’s baggage’s with thousands varieties of foods. Even this time she made a large pot of achcharu for me. When she was making this, my Q was “who’s gonna eat all of these” she was silent. But later I landed, I got the answers for my own Question.. 

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1.bring a pot of water to boil and add 2tbs of vinegar and salt to it. 

2.first wash 350g banana peppers and place them in the boing water pot. Let them boil about 2-3 minutes and carefully remove all the peppers from the pot and place in a colander. Leave the water pot still boiling. 

3.now place the washed 100g green chilies in the boiling water pot and boil about 2 minutes and remove from the pot and place in the colander along with banana peppers. Split all the peppers after boiled to absorb all the mustard sauce flavours. 

4.next  cleaned and washed  270g baby jackfruit slices. peel, wash and cut into 3cm lengthwise 350g carrots. wash, peel and remove all the seeds from medium size semi rip papaya, slice into small slices. Boil all together about 5-7 minutes and remove from the pot and place with the rest in the colander to leave the excess water. 

5. wash and cut into about 3cm lengthwise 12 long beans. Peel and wash 250g shallots and boil both together about 2 minutes. Remove from the pot and leave with the rest. 

6.grind 60g mustard seeds with few drops of water until it’s creamy. 

7.add the mustard cream into a large clay pot/glass bowl. 

8.Add 250ml vinegar to the mustard pot with 1tsp ground black pepper, salt on your taste and 1tbs sugar. 

9.mix everything by your hands well. Starts to add the semi boiled veggies and peppers to the pot and toss well with mustard sauce. Taste it, if need more salt or vinegar add and mix again. 

10.cover the clay pot with clean kitchen towel/ seal it. leave it in a cool and dark place about a week to absorb all the flavours to the veggies and peppers.

11.serve with your meals as a side dish. Once open, place the Achcharu in the fridge. 

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