WATERMELON RIND PICKLE

Watermelon is a super summer refreshment fruit .Usually we eat the juicy red flesh and throw away the rind of watermelon.Rind is the tough outer skin of  certain fruits. We can prepare different varieties of dishes from this watermelon rind. I tried a spicy pickle from this watermelon rind. A super tasty spicy pickle. Try this out friends.

INGREDIENTS

Watermelon rind (finely chopped)              - 2 cups
(Remove the red flesh and peel the green skin from the rind and chop it finely).
salt                                                                           - to taste
Chilli powder                                                      - 2 to 3 tbsps
Mustard seeds                                                   - 2 ½ tsps
Methi seeds                                                       - ½ tsp
Asafoetida powder                                           - ¼ tsp

FOR SEASONING

Gingelly oil                             - ¼ cupMustard seeds                      - 1 tspRed chilli                                - 2 nos

                                             

METHOD

Dry roast the methi seeds and powder it finely, along with mustard seeds and keep aside.(no need to roast the mustard seeds)
Mix required salt with the chopped watermelon rind and keep it overnight.(if you want to use it immediately, marinate just  for 20 minutes. But marinating  overnight increases the taste of pickle).
Add chilli powder, mustard and methi seed powder and mix well.
Heat oil add mustard seeds, when it splutters, add red chilli, and add asafetida powder remove from flame .
Add the seasonings to the watermelon rind mixture and mix it well.Spicy watermelon rind pickle is ready to serve.Serve  with chappathis, white rice, dosas etc.

NOTES
You can make variations to this pickle by adding, a few garlic cloves, crushed green chillies instead of red chilli powder Adjust chilli powder and salt to your preference.