An honest confession- I never made guava pickle before! Neither have I eaten once! So I just took a chance because we bought 5 kilos of guava, which is a lot for a family of two, and I don’t want any food waste in my home! So, I googled up and found some amazing recipes (Yes, other people tasted my guava pickles and they said it was amazing too!) and made some pickle from fresh guavas!

Since I never never made or tasted guava pickle before, I followed this recipe from this Youtube channel. According to this recipe, we need the most basic ingredients for making Bangladeshi pickles – Mustard oil, tamarind, paacho phoron, turmeric, chili powder, garlic and of course whole chili. In our country, mustard oil, paach phoron and dry red chili are the key ingredients. Also mustard seeds are needed too!

First we need to wash the guavas, pat dry them, and cut into bite size pieces, but not too small so it breaks during cooking. Then we marinate the pieces with turmeric, salt and chili powder and keep them aside for a few minutes.

Whilst, guavas are getting marinated, I made a pickle spice paste. In a strong blender, I blended whole chili, garlic, mustard seeds, paach phoron with a bit of water and made a thick, smooth paste.

Now, all the ingredients are ready and we need to start by heating mustard oil in a big pan and adding garlic pieces and chili when oil is warm. Then I added the spice paste and gave it a good stir, until the raw smells goes away.

Then I added the marinated guava pieces to the pan and coated with spices carefully.

Then I added the tamarind paste and sugar. After sugar got dissolved I added vingegar and covered to cook them until everything looks cooked.

Guavas has been cooking in spices for a bit now and the sauce consistency looks thicker than before. As guava is not a juicy fruit, it will not release much water to the base. So we have to depend on our own eyes and taste-bud to see when they are ready.

If you compare these two pictures above, you can see the right one looks more thick and dark than the left picture. It means when your pickle’s colour is darker and gravy looks thicker, it means your pickle is ready and you are not in a pickle anymore!

Recipe: Guava Pickle – Peyarar Achar

Ingredients: Guava – 2 Kilo Turmeric powder – 1/2 tsp Red Chili powder- 1 tsp Salt- as per taste Dry Red Chili – 4/5 pieces Mustard seed (white) – 1tsp Whole pach phoron – 1 tsp Garlic cloves -4/5 pieces Mustard oil – 1/2 cup Tamarind sauce- 1/2 cup Sugar- 1/3 cup Vinegar – 2 tbsp

Instructions: 1. Make a smooth paste with dry red chili, garlic mustard seeds and paach phoron. Set them aside. 2. Cut Guava in square shape and mix with turmeric, chili powder and salt and marinate them. 3 In a big non stick pan/wok, add mustard oil and heat in medium temperature, add garlic and few dry red chili . When garlic released aroma, add the spice paste that was prepared before. Cook the paste for a minute in low flame. 4. Add marinated guava pieces and cook for two minutes, continue to stir. 5. Add sugar and tamarind sauce. Stir until the sugar gets dissolved. 6. Then Cover the pan and simmer in low heat for 10 minutes. 7. Add coarsely ground spice mix and vinegar. When oil floats above then the pickle is ready. Set them aside in a bowl to cool down. Store in refrigerator for 6 months.

More Bangladeshi Pickle recipe here: