Pumpkin Achar

1 kg pumpkin flesh in 2 cm chunks

150 g finely chopped onions

1 red chilli deseeded and thinly sliced

2 crushed cloves of garlic

1 tbsp turmeric

1 tsp mustard powder

275 g Demerara sugar

200 ml cider vinegar

2 lemons – juice and zest

1 tsp black peppercorns

salt

This is a River Cottage recipe and goes wonderfully with cooked meats and a great way to use up pumpkins.

Add diced pumpkin to pan of boiling water and boil for 1 minute. Drain and then rinse under cold water.

Put the onions, sliced chilli and garlic into a pan and gently fry in a little olive or rapeseed oil until onion is beginning to go translucent. Then add all the spices and gently fry for another five minutes stirring to avoid it sticking to bottom of pan. Add the sugar, lemon juice, zest and vinegar and simmer until sugar fully dissolved. Season to taste.

Pack pumpkin chunks into large sterilised jars (1/2 litre or 1 litre parfait jars are best – those are the ones with the lever tops and rubber seals) and then spoon over onion and spice mixture until pumpkin covered and seal.

Store for up to 4 months.

Pickled Red Cabbage

1 red cabbage cored and thinly shredded

1 litre pickling vinegar (see note on pickling vinegar on previous post)

Place shredded cabbage in bowl and sprinkle generously with salt. Leave for 24 hours. Next day rinse and drain cabbage.

Pack cabbage into large sterilised jars (minimum ½ litre capacity) and fill jar to top, ensuring all cabbage covered, with vinegar. Seal jars and leave for six weeks before eating. Store in cool place and will keep for 6 to 9 months.

Pickled Onions

4 kg pickling onions

1 litre pickling vinegar (quantity will vary depending on size of onions and how well you are able to pack onions in jar)

Note: For vinegar you can either purchase pre-prepared pickling vinegar or boil malt vinegar with pickling spices (1 tsp of each of coriander seeds, mustard seeds, cloves, chilli flakes, cardamom pods, mace and chopped bay leaves – you can buy pre mixed jars of pickling spice) Bring vinegar and spices to boil and then turn off heat and leave to cool. Once cool strain and use as you would pre prepared.

‘Top and tail’ onions I use a pair of kitchen scissors for this task and place in bowl cover with boiling water from kettle. Immediately strain the onions and rinse in cold water under tap. This should enable you to remove skins with ease.

Once peeled place in bowl and sprinkle generously with salt, cover and (yes you’ve guessed it) leave for 24 hours. Next day rinse and drain.

Next day pack onions into large sterilised jars (1/2 litre minimum) judging various sizes as you go to ensure all available space utilised. Once jar is full and packed pour over pickling vinegar ensuring onions are fully covered.

Leave onions for six weeks before eating. Store in cool place and will keep for 6 to 9 months unopened.