Vegetable Pickle- Asar

Asar, or vegetable pickle, is a popular condiment in the Seychellois Creole cuisine. With its sour, bitter, spicy and salty taste, this is a great appetite booster which complements almost any meal.

This is a turmeric based Asar

There are many types of asar that are made in the Seychelles, ranging from very fiery hot and spicy to extremely mild . I have chosen, in this post, to share with you the turmeric– based asar . It is a crunchy mixed vegetable pickle which is usually served as a side dish to many main courses  and bouyon to add an extra dimension of flavour. But it  can also be eaten with plain boiled rice, as a main meal. It is a very mild dish, with minimum chilli and no other heavy spices except turmeric.  It is not a complicated dish but takes quite a bit of time to put together.

The origin of Asar 

Asar is derived from ‘achaar’ a Hindi word that means “pickle.” Other sources also claim the word achār to be of  Persian origin.  Āchār in Persian is defined as ‘powdered or salted meats, pickles, or fruits, preserved in salt, vinegar, honey, or syrup.’

Asar , in the Seychellois Creole,  is written with an ‘s’ instead of ‘ch’ because  ‘c’ and ‘h’ are two letters of the alphabet that do not exist in the alphabet of the  Seychellois Creole. We believe that asar  found it’s way  to the Seychelles probably through Mauritius where a high part of the population is of Indian origin.

The Tradition….

Traditionally, when asar was made, it was always made in fairly large quantities. There were a few reasons for this:

Asar was always made with excess vegetables and was one way to preserve the vegetables especially in the days when there was no refrigeration. When asar was made, it was always distributed to friends and relatives. We had this community spirit then that unfortunately has now almost disappeared. Furthermore, when the weather was bad and fish could not be obtained, the jar of asar was removed from the cupboard and the asar was served with plain boiled rice as a main meal.

The  Method is important and not the ratio of ingredients

Asar is one of those rare dishes that technically do not follow any set list of ingredients as such. You can choose your preferred ingredients to suit your  taste buds. However, the traditional Seychellois asar has some  basic ingredients to which others can be added. These are  ginger, onion, cauliflower, and hearts of palm, green beans,green pawpaw,  bitter gourd and spices of your choice.  Chilli is optional, although  asar can range from very mild to very hot.

The method, which I will discuss next, is what is important. If you have left-over green fruits and vegetables you are not sure what to do with them, preserve them, turn them into asar.  It’s really affordable to make your own asar as the ingredients are cheap and commonly found in the market. 

The Method of Preparing the Asar

There are four main steps involved in preparing asar, namely preparing , blanching, drying, and  cooking and preserving the vegetables.  The process, especially the slicing and air drying, can be quite tedious and requires some patience.

Preparing the vegetables

As mentioned before, almost any vegetable can be used in asar, ranging from green mangoes to carrots and palm heart and these are prepared as follows:

Wash the beans and chillies and slice diagonally as shown in the photo below and keep.

Peel the carrots and cut into batonnets and keep. A batonnnet is a vegetable cut that usually measures about 5 cm in length and 1 cm width.

Wash the bitter gourd, slice it in half horizontally, remove the seeds and white pith with a small spoon, wash under running water. Pat dry and slice in batonnets and keep.

Wash the cauliflower, remove the leaves , cut into florets and slice the florets in two.

Wash green pawpaw, cut length-wise into quaters, remove seeds and peel. Grate on a hand grater using the large holes and keep.

Peel and slice the onions and pound the ginger in a mortar and pestle and keep.

Optional Ingredients

Palm Heart

If you can access palm heart, remove the fibrous layer of the palmist, cut in two and use the non-leafy part and slice thinly. The leafy part can be used as a salad. Place the sliced palm heart  in a bowl of acidulated water (water with a squeeze of lime). This will prevent the palmist from oxidising and turn brown.However, you can still add tinned or jarred palm hearts if you wish. If you do there is no need to blanch it as it will already be ‘cooked’. Strain the palmist in a sieve and place a dry cloth to remove as much moisture as possible.

Male Pawpaw Flowers

The male pawpaw flowers give that slight bitter taste to your asar. Ensure that when you pick the flowers you do not pick any part of the stalks on which the flowers are attached because  they will impart a very bitter taste to the chutney.

The Blanching Technique- What is it?

The next step after you have prepared your vegetables is the blanching. I would like to explain what blanching is and why we have to blanch the vegetables.

Blanching is the process of   dipping vegetables in hot water to scald them  and then , removing them  after a brief, timed interval, which in our case will be no more than two minutes, and finally plunging them into iced water or placing under cold running water to halt the cooking process.  In Seychelles this process is called ‘ sode’ derived from the French  ‘échauder’, meaning to scald.

Why do we have to blanch the vegetables for the asar?

There are many reasons why we blanch the vegetables for the asar and these are:

• To inactivate all enzymes, bacteria and yeasts that can negatively affect the flavour, texture, nutritional properties and overall quality of the asar.
• To set a bright green colour and keep green vegetables from turning an unappetizing gray.
• To leach out any bitterness, especially out of the bitter gourd.
• To expel any air trapped inside the vegetables thus minimising oxidisation.

Our ultimate aim is to be able to produce an asar that retains, as much as possible, the original integrity of the ingredients. In short, we do not want to end up with any mushy vegetables. They still have to have that natural crunch.

The Blanching –How is it done?

Once all vegetables have been prepared, place water in a deep pot, add some salt and bring to boil. A good dose of salt helps the whole process along, maximizing flavour, and helping green vegetables stay green. At the same time, prepare a large bowl of cold water. Iced water is even better.

Once water has come to the boil, place vegetables one at a time (except the onion) in a colander and blanch for a maximum of 2 minutes, except the bitter gourd which you blanch for only 1 minute. A colander is a perforated bowl used to strain off liquid from food after washing or cooking.

Drain or lift out the vegetables and transfer them to the iced water. Once they are cooled , drain and pat dry. Place some kitchen towel in a tray and transfer the blanched vegetables in the tray, except the green pawpaw which you first have to place in a cloth and wring hard to extract as much moisture as possible. Lay them out generously spaced on a single layer and cover with another another layer of kitchen towel.

Drying  the vegetables.

Apply hand pressure on the towel for about 10 minutes  in order for it to absorb as much moisture from the vegetables as possible.  Line another tray with kitchen towel and transfer the vegetables on it in single layer and cover with some netting.  Place the tray   in the sun for a about two to three hours to air-dry. The idea here is to eliminate as much humidity found on the surface of the vegetables as possible. This further eliminates any micro-organisms that require humidity to survive. The tray is covered with a fine net to keep away any insects and other possible contaminants.

The above process is still being followed by the majority of the Seychellois , but it is now being slowly modernised by using the oven. Preheat the oven to about 200°C for about 10 minutes and then turn it off. Place the trays of blanched vegetables in the oven for about 30 minutes and leave the door ajar about 2-4 cm. Because every oven is different, it is recommended that you constantly check the oven, you do not want to cook your vegetables, all you want is to partially dehydrate them.

Finishing the Asar

Because of the bulk of ingredients, I stir-fry each ingredient separately.

The steps I take for each ingredient are as follows:

The first thing I do is to prepare the aromatics.  I place a large frying pan or wok on high heat and I add 75 ml oil . I toss in ½ teaspoon of turmeric and stir quickly and then immediately add the onion, ginger, chilli and mustard.  I give it a quick stir for about one minute and then remove it from the heat and spread on a tray to allow for quick cooling down.

By the way,  aromatics is a term used to describe herbs, spices and vegetables that are cooked in oil as a base for the flavour of a dish. Cooking them in oil helps to release their flavors and aromas, creating a deep flavor foundation for any dish.

I then follow the same steps for every ingredient. I add 75 ml of oil to the pan or wok and stir in ½ teaspoon of turmeric and then quickly add the vegetable and stir-fry for one minute and remove from heat, and spread in a tray to allow for quick cooling down. And so on until all vegetables have been stir-fried.

Finally, I place the aromatics and all stir-fried vegetables in a large bowl and  add enough salt and cracked pepper  to taste and  thoroughly mix them all up. I then add the white vinegar and some oil. I reserve the extra oil to top up the asar when I place them in the jars.

Add the vinegar and season to taste. Fill sterilised jars, top with oil, tighten the lid and store in the refrigerator. Leave for at least 2 days before serving.

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