Sri Lankan Malay pickle is also known as Malay achcharu.

A Srilankan speciality, a meal is not complete without a spoonful of this tasty sweet and spicy pickle.

The achcharu finds its way on many rice and curry menus and adds that much-needed sweet, spicy and sourness in one pickle.

It’s one of the many Sri Lankan foods that are unique to the country.

And as the name refers to, a real authentic Sri Lankan recipe from the Malays of this country.

What is a Malay pickle?

It’s a shallot pickle sweetened with dates and made spicy with green chillies.

It is a pickle also known as acharu in Sinhalese where you soak the shallots, dates and green chillies soaked(24 hours) in vinegar, mustard, ginger, sugar vinaigrette which has been cooked and cooled

Menu ideas for the Malay achchaaru.

You can serve this tasty date and onion achaar with the following menus.

• Sri Lankan menu 1
• Sri Lankan menu 2
• Sri Lankan menu 3
• Sri Lankan menu 4 
• Sri Lankan menu 5

What to serve with malay pickle.

• Rice dishes that to serve with malay achcharu.
  • how to cook rice on the stove.
  • Sri Lankan Yellow Rice(turmeric rice)
  • Chicken kabsa(Saudi chicken and rice recipe)
  • Indian fragrant ghee rice(nei choru).
  • egg biryani (one pot rice dish/stove-top)

• Vegetarian curries to serve with malay pickle.
  • Pumpkin curry(Sri Lankan wattakka curry).
  • Sri Lankan Potato curry(ala kiri hodi).
  • Sri Lankan spicy Dry Potato curry(ala theldala)
  • spicy green beans stir-fry(bonchi thel dala).
  • Parsley salad(sambol)with coconut.Bitter gourd fry(Sri Lankan karawila sambol)

• Beef, chicken, seafood curries to go pair with the malay pickle.
  • beef korma curry(slow cooked Indian beef curry).
  • Slow cooked beef curry(like my grandmother makes).
  • kalupol-Sri lankan chicken curry(spicy black chicken curry).
  • Sri Lankan chicken curry.
  • Sri Lankan red chilli fish curry(Thalapath malu mirisata).
  • Sri Lankan canned fish curry(tin fish).

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Utensils and appliances needed.

Large non-corrosive cooking pan to hold and make the Malay pickle.

Wooden spoon.

Dry glass jar or container to store the pickle.

Tips on making the best Malay pickle.

• When choosing shallots, choose ones that are big, smaller ones are really difficult to clean and mean more time-consuming.

• You’ll be spending some time with your hands soaked in water, removing onion skin. This leads to pruney or wrinkled fingers.
  If you are worried about this then please do wear disposable gloves.

• I am using green chillies, you’ll find sliced capsicums or large green peppers are most commonly used.
• A tip I learned from my mother-in-law is to add the capsicums only to a bowl of Malay achcharu(scooped from the bottle), as the capsicums let out water after a few hours.

• DO NOT ADD THE SHALLOTS, DATES, AND GREEN CHILLIES WHILE THE SWEET MUSTARD VINAIGRETTE IS HOT. it should be cool.

• The vinaigrette is sour, and slightly bitter at the beginning but after 24 hours the pickle will come to its real authentic taste.

• You can adjust the sweetness with sugar and the level of spiciness with the red chilli powder.

• Avoid adding more vinegar but dilute and thin the pickle sauce with a tablespoon of water

More pickle recipe

• quick-pickled cucumber-carrot relish.
• How to make pickled Garlic (DIY recipe)
• Sri Lankan wambatu moju(eggplant/brinjal pickle).

Storing- once you’ve made the Malay pickle store it in a large glass container and refrigerate.

You can store the sweet date and onion pickle for almost a month if it lasts that long. Make sure to always use a dry spoon.

Freezing- Malay pickle can be refrigerated. no freezing is required.

RECIPE DIFFICULT-LITTLE CARE NEEDED.

How to make Malay achaaru.

The ingredients mentioned below use standard measuring cups and spoons.

Ingredients to make the acharu

500g of Shallots, cleaned

350g of dates(about 1 and 1/2 cup of Dates)

100g green chillies

1 tablespoon finely ground Mustard seeds

1 and 1/2 tablespoon of chilli powder

2 tablespoons of minced Ginger

4 tablespoons of Sugar

1 and 1/4 cup natural Coconut vinegar

Salt to taste.

Method

Soak the shallots in water for 15 minutes and then remove the skin. 

Wash the skinned shallots(500g) and green chillies(100g).

Remove the seeds from the dates(1 and 1/2 cup).

These will be the three main ingredients to make the Malay pickle/chutney.

In to a  cooking pan(you will be adding the shallots, chillies and dates so it’s essential that the pan is large enough to hold all these ingredients).

Add ground Mustard(1 tbs), Sugar(4 tbs), Chilli Powder(1 and 1/2) and minced ginger(2 tbs).

If you are unable to find ground mustard, make your own by grinding or pounding some mustard seeds.

Pour in the vinegar(1 and 1/4 cup) and let it simmer for 5-8 minutes or until the sugar dissolves over low fire.

Season with salt(a pinch would do).

Remove from fire and set aside to cool for 1 hour.

Once the pickling sauce is cool, add the shallots, dates and green chillies.

Do not worry about the dates being hard at this point.

Combine all the main ingredients with the sweet and spicy pickling sauce.

Cover and set the Malay pickle aside.

Combine all ingredients with a wooden spoon every two hours throughout the day.

Avoid refrigerating for 24 hours, leave it in a cool place in your kitchen pantry.

This will help the Malay pickle to achieve its perfect consistency.

This will happen as the dates dissolve and shallots and green chillies soak in the pickling flavours.

For best results. do not consume for at least 24 hours but let it rest for this time period. 

Store the onions and date pickle in a dry airtight container, refrigerate and use as needed.

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