Pickled Lemons Indian Style

It takes 10 ingredients and about an hour to prepare these pickled lemons. After pickling, the sweet-and-sour pickles with an exotic note keep for up to a year. Recipe by Shiruna, My Elephant Kitchen.

05/03/2026

It takes 10 ingredients and about an hour to prepare these pickled lemons. After pickling, the sweet-and-sour pickles with an exotic note keep for up to a year.

Ingredients

Ingredients for 4 portions

Equipment

Pot

Muslin or cheesecloth

Sterilized and well-dried jars (To do this, fill the jar with boiling water and let stand for 10 minutes, alternatively you can wash the jar with water and soap and then dry in the microwave for 10 minutes)

For the pickled lemons

1 kg Lemons

350 g Raw sugar

20 ml Water

4 teaspoon Paprika powder

3 teaspoon Coriander powder

1 1⁄2 teaspoon Roasted cumin powder

1 1⁄2 teaspoon Turmeric powder

6 teaspoon Salt

3 teaspoon Mustard or sunflower oil

1⁄2 teaspoon Asafoetida (also called asant or hing)

3 Small dried chilies (optional)

Preparation

Wash the lemons and dry completely. Cut off both ends. Cut into bite-sized pieces.

Heat a pot with the water and stir in the sugar. Reduce heat to low–medium and stir constantly until the sugar has completely dissolved. If it does not dissolve completely, add 1 teaspoon of water and continue stirring.

Add paprika powder, coriander powder, roasted cumin powder, turmeric powder and salt to the pot and mix well.

Increase the heat and add the lemon pieces to the pot. Stir well so the slices are completely coated with the mixture. Now cook for 7 to 8 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Heat oil in another pan. Add asafoetida and dried chilies to the pan and fry on high heat for about 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the mixture to the pot with the lemons.

Remove the pot from the heat and let the mixture cool completely. Pour into the prepared sterilized glass containers. Cover with cloth.

If possible, store the jars in a place that gets a lot of sunlight. For the next four days, open the jar every day, lift the cloth and mix the pickled lemons well. Then cover again with the cloth.

After 4 days you can close the jar tightly with a lid and store in a cool, dry place.

Lemons Raw Cane Sugar Preserves

For this recipe, you will need