The love for Bhatkalli pickles
09:26AM Sat 1 Apr, 2017
Right from selecting fine ingredients to adding spices that make a fine pickle blend, Bhatkallis and their love for pickles dates back hundreds of years.
Be it a sweet mango pickle or tangy lemon, a Bhatkalli meal packs flavour and punch with a little serving of pickle on the side of every meal. Some call it pachadi while others call it uppinakaayi, but in Bhatkal, pickles are popularly known as lonche.
The Kola household in Bhatkal has been dishing out pickles for almost half a century and their name is synonymous with pickle making.
“My earliest memory is about pickles and how our house always smelled of fresh pickles. Every time I stepped in our home kitchen, I could not resist having a taste of homemade pickles. Even my kids are like me and pickle-making is a family tradition now,” says Aysha Firdouse, who grew up in the Kola household.
Her grandmother Khayrunnisa Kola and aunt Mehrunnisa Kola are famed for their pickle-making skills. Mother Qamrunnisa and cousin Nasreen also lend their helping hand in making this savoury.
“When we first started making pickles in our house, it was simply for our NRI relatives who wanted to take back a taste of Bhatkal with them whenever they returned to Dubai or Saudi Arabia. Everybody enjoyed the taste. Soon we had people knocking on our doors asking for more. That’s when it turned into a business and 43 years later we still have people knocking on our doors for pickle,” smiles Aysha.
The small-scale business takes pride in being popular with pickle customers and they believe in keeping business operations small to maintain the taste. Pickle prices vary by season and market demand.
“We do not sell pickles in shops and if you ever find someone selling Kola pickles in a shop – it is a fake for sure. We are a completely home-owned business,” says Aysha.
Pickles come in a wide range of flavours - mango, vegetable, bilimbi, lime pickle – among many others. Almost every house in Bhatkal makes pickles and if not the more complicated ones, there will be someone preserving vegetables in salty water.
Summer season is promptly welcomed in Bhatkal because it marks the onset of mangoes. Be it dried mango or mangoes diluted in salty water and cooked in red chili paste, the pickle makers are in for a treat with the arrival of mangoes. During summer vacations, young kids set-up small stalls outside their houses to sell home-made mango pickles.
“Every time my grandmother calls from Bhatkal, I ask her to send me some pickle. I love to eat it with rice, chapatti or just as a snack”, says, a ten your old Bhatkalli boy who lives in Sharjah.
A good pickle starts with high quality tamarind and the Kola house prepares their own tamarind. Kola’s pickle takes pride in avoiding the addition of heeng or asafoetida in their pickle. Along with cleanliness and buying fresh vegetables every time, they have an open door return policy and accept returned goods without hesitation, as long as the pickles are not consumed. Pickle sales peak during Ramadan and at the end of school vacations in Gulf countries.
Kola Pickles are a strong believer in word-of-mouth promotion and the brand has stayed away from advertising since it started 43 years ago. Popular customers include the likes of Farida Jalal and Kola Muzaffar among others. Farida Jalal, a veteran Indian actress, buys pickles in large quantities for herself and her relatives every time she visits Bhatkal.
“Cleanliness is our priority and I keep a close eye on the helpers to make sure each jar is cleaned and the ingredients are handled in a hygienic manner,” says, Mehrunnisa Kola.
On your next visit to Bhatkal, do not forget to ask the locals for a taste of lonche and your taste buds will come alive with a tingling sense of happiness.
Varieties of pickle in Bhatkal
Bhatkalli pickles come in a wide range of varieties and here are the top three varieties:
(Bhatkallys.com / Sahifa SM)
The Kola household in Bhatkal has been dishing out pickles for almost half a century and their name is synonymous with pickle making.
“My earliest memory is about pickles and how our house always smelled of fresh pickles. Every time I stepped in our home kitchen, I could not resist having a taste of homemade pickles. Even my kids are like me and pickle-making is a family tradition now,” says Aysha Firdouse, who grew up in the Kola household.
Her grandmother Khayrunnisa Kola and aunt Mehrunnisa Kola are famed for their pickle-making skills. Mother Qamrunnisa and cousin Nasreen also lend their helping hand in making this savoury.
“When we first started making pickles in our house, it was simply for our NRI relatives who wanted to take back a taste of Bhatkal with them whenever they returned to Dubai or Saudi Arabia. Everybody enjoyed the taste. Soon we had people knocking on our doors asking for more. That’s when it turned into a business and 43 years later we still have people knocking on our doors for pickle,” smiles Aysha.
The small-scale business takes pride in being popular with pickle customers and they believe in keeping business operations small to maintain the taste. Pickle prices vary by season and market demand.
“We do not sell pickles in shops and if you ever find someone selling Kola pickles in a shop – it is a fake for sure. We are a completely home-owned business,” says Aysha.
Pickles come in a wide range of flavours - mango, vegetable, bilimbi, lime pickle – among many others. Almost every house in Bhatkal makes pickles and if not the more complicated ones, there will be someone preserving vegetables in salty water.
Summer season is promptly welcomed in Bhatkal because it marks the onset of mangoes. Be it dried mango or mangoes diluted in salty water and cooked in red chili paste, the pickle makers are in for a treat with the arrival of mangoes. During summer vacations, young kids set-up small stalls outside their houses to sell home-made mango pickles.
“Every time my grandmother calls from Bhatkal, I ask her to send me some pickle. I love to eat it with rice, chapatti or just as a snack”, says, a ten your old Bhatkalli boy who lives in Sharjah.
A good pickle starts with high quality tamarind and the Kola house prepares their own tamarind. Kola’s pickle takes pride in avoiding the addition of heeng or asafoetida in their pickle. Along with cleanliness and buying fresh vegetables every time, they have an open door return policy and accept returned goods without hesitation, as long as the pickles are not consumed. Pickle sales peak during Ramadan and at the end of school vacations in Gulf countries.
Kola Pickles are a strong believer in word-of-mouth promotion and the brand has stayed away from advertising since it started 43 years ago. Popular customers include the likes of Farida Jalal and Kola Muzaffar among others. Farida Jalal, a veteran Indian actress, buys pickles in large quantities for herself and her relatives every time she visits Bhatkal.
“Cleanliness is our priority and I keep a close eye on the helpers to make sure each jar is cleaned and the ingredients are handled in a hygienic manner,” says, Mehrunnisa Kola.
On your next visit to Bhatkal, do not forget to ask the locals for a taste of lonche and your taste buds will come alive with a tingling sense of happiness.
Varieties of pickle in Bhatkal
Bhatkalli pickles come in a wide range of varieties and here are the top three varieties:
- Dates and dry mango (Goad Lonche / Sweet pickle)
- Vegetables like carrots, cauliflower, papaya and raw mangoes are added together to make sour pickle (Ambad lonche)
- Thin mango slices pickle (Amulya lonche) - Seasonal and prepared only in summer
(Bhatkallys.com / Sahifa SM)
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