Cranberry Vuragaya (Pickled Cranberry)

Now that Fall is here, fresh Cranberrys are in season.These cute little red berries are tart and slightly bitter to taste. These berries are used during thanksgiving cooking in various ways.

Vuragaya is a term used for pickled vegetable which will stay fresh for few days. The vegetable is marinated in salt and turmeric to bring the juices out. Then  it is mixed with few other spices and seasoned accordingly. There isn't much cooking involved except for seasoning. This is a nice way to consume raw vegetables. My mom usually makes this recipe using other vegetables like cucumber, cauliflower etc. where lemon juice will be squeezed at the end for getting the sourness. Since cranberries by nature are tart they are best suited for this recipe. This vuragaya is so finger licking yummy we finished it all in 1 day and I made it again the next day.

Servings:                                           Total time:

Four (4)                                                                      2.5 hours (Includes marination time)

Recipe Category:                               Author:

Chutneys/Pickles                                                        Praveena Gudipati

Ingredients:

• 1 Cup Cranberries
• 1 tablespoon Chilli powder
• 1/4 teaspoon Turmeric
• 1/4 teaspoon Mustard seeds
• Couple Pinches of Methi seeds (Fenugreek seeds)
• Salt to taste

For Taalimpu (Seasoning):

Aavalu (Mustard seeds)

Jeera (Cumin seeds )

2-Red Chilli (optional)

1/8 teaspoon or couple dashes Inguva ( Asafotida / Hing)

Karivepaku (Curry leaves)

5 teaspoon oil

Cranberry Pickle Step by Step recipe with Photos

1.Take 1 cup of Cranberries in a colander and wash them with water.

2.Now cut the berries into halves.You can cut them into quarts too,if you like small pieces.

3.Now take the pieces in a bowl. Add salt and turmeric. Mix well and leave it for 15 

   minutes. I added little less than 1 tsp salt.

4.If you see any liquid in the bowl drain it. Usually there shouldn't be any as these berries aren't juicy.

5.Now make a powder of mustard seeds and methi seeds using mortar

   and pestle or coffee grinder.

6.Now to the bowl of berries add chilli powder, mustard methi

   powder. It's little bit towards the spicy side since its vuragaya.  If you

   want, you can cut down chilli powder  to 3/4 tb sp.

7.Now leave the vuragaya  for 2 hrs so the berries will take all the flavors in

   and get marinated.The more times it marinates the better it taste's.I make it in the morning if I'm planning to serve it for lunch, 4 hrs ahead.

8. After two hours, take a pan and heat 5 tsp of oil. To the oil add broken

   red chillies, mustard and cumin. Let the seeds splutter, then fry the curry

   leaves and turn off the stove. Now add hing.

9. Add the seasoning to the pickle and mix it with a spoon.

10. Serve with a Rice or Yogurt rice or Chapathi.

Related Recipes:

• Cranberry Pulihora/rice
• Cauliflower Vuragaya (Pickled Cauliflower)
• Dosakaya Vuragaya (Pickled Cucumber)
• Cranberry Pappu (Cranberry Lentils)
• Cabbage Vuragaya (Pickled Cabbage)
• Vermicelli curd rice