Today 25th October 2020 is our 6th marriage anniversary! Today’s recipe is that’s why has the same taste bounce like our marriage – sweet, sour and spicy! Today’s recipe is called Anarosher Ombol (Ombol means sour) or Sweet and Sour pineapple and it is usually eaten as a sweet and sour treat after a meal and can be made with any sour fruit, like mango, olive or star apple. It is something in between chatni and pickle (although pickle in Bangladesh is totally different than what is found in West).

This recipe taste better with unripe pineapple, however I have used whatever found in my supermarket. Besides, we need ginger, chili flakes, pach phoron, lemon juice and sugar.

It is usually very annoying to peel off the pineapple because most of the time we loose half of the fruit. So it is better to peel lightly at first and then make a dent through the “eyes.” In this way we can get rid of the annoying eyes and also save most of the fruit!

Also it is important to get rid off the hard core inside. So I cut them in quarter and then cut off them from juicy part.

Then I cut them in medium thick slices. I want the pineapples to be in texture after cooking them, so I did not grate them or cut them in small slices.

Now, in a heavy bottom pan, I have directly added the pineapples. The main reason is to get rid of the extra moisture of pineapple. But be careful about the heat of stove and do not put the pot in high flame. I have not added any water and I will keep the pineapples like this for 5 to 6 minutes.

After 5-6 minutes I added almost 150g of white sugar to the pineapple. Now, the amount of sugar completely depends upon your taste and sweetness of pineapple. I found out later that I could have added little less sugar, although it tasted great!

Sugar will start to melt soon and give a jelly like consistency. I will keep the temperature in medium heat so it does not burn from the bottom. We also need to stir pineapple in between too.

While the pineapples are being candied, in a separate fry pan, I am heating normal vegetable oil and added a tea spoon of pach phoron and finely chopped ginger. Once they start popping, I added a table spoon of chili flakes. You can add more if you like it spicy!

Then I have added the spice mix directly to the pineapple pan and mixed well. Meanwhile the pineapples became candied and translucent.

Now I am adding half a tea spoon of salt, to increase and balance the taste of sweetness and spiciness. Mix everything well but very carefully as I don’t want the pineapples to loose their texture.

After adding the salt, pineapple will loose some water again. So we will wait until the water evaporates and become more jelly like.

Our sweet and sour pineapple is almost done but before taking it off the heat, I am adding lemon juice. It is again completely depends on your taste and sourness of pineapple. Mine was really ripe and sweet, so I had to add some lemon juice to balance out the sweet, sour and spiciness.

So! This is the ultimate result – the sweet, sour and spicy pineapple. It taste really good after any rich food or even any of your daily regular meals. So enjoy and let me know how it turned out!

Recipe: Sweet and Sour, 4-5 Servings Prepping time: 5 minutes, Cooking time: 20-30 minutes

Ingredients: 1 Pineapple (preferably unripe) 100-200g Sugar 1tsp pach phoron 1 inches ginger 1 tsp fine Salt 1tbsp Chili Flakes 1 Lemon Juice 4 tbsp Vegetable white oil

1. Rinse and peel pineapple and cut them in medium thick slices. 2. In a deep pot, directly add the pineapple slices in medium heat and cook until they reduce some water. 3. After 5-6 minutes, add sugar and let them dissolve. Cook until the pineapple becomes candied and looks transparent. 4. Meanwhile in a separate pan, heat oil and add pach phoron and finely chopped ginger and let them pop for few seconds. Then add a table spoon of chili flakes and simmer in low heat for few second. 5. Add the spice mix directly to pineapple pan and mix well. Add salt at this point and let the extra water evaporates. 7. When almost done, add lemon juice and mix. Turn off the heat and immediately put in bowl to cool it off. You can keep it in refrigerator for a week! Enjoy it after meal!