Chitra Agrawal is in quite the pickle with her NY-based business, Brooklyn Delhi, and she couldn't be happier about that. Having grown up surrounded by achaars, or 'Indian pickles', she wanted to share with friends, family, and students of her cooking classes the intense flavor of this condiment, which is a staple of Indian cooking. Since 2009 she's been slowing growing her business and is now expanding into markets beyond New York, including here at Provenance Food & Wine in Chicago. Our staff member Nathan was able to talk with her about updating a classic recipe, how 200 pounds of tomatoes can be intimidating to some, and why spice is always nice...
PFW: A few months ago when I came into work my boss had two sample jars on the desk and told me to give them a taste. The second thing that jumped out at me after the great design work on the label was the word ‘achaar’. Achaar had yet to make its way into my vocabulary (as well as my mouth) prior to this so needless to say I was blown away by the tomato and roasted garlic achaars we had been sent to try. For our readers at home who might not be familiar, can you describe to us what exactly achaar is?
BD: Thanks on the design! Ben my co-founder and husband does it all. Also, my father who speaks Hindi writes the Hindi translations that appear on all of our bottles. It’s funny that you were taken by the word achaar as we were grappling with whether to call it achaar or Indian pickle on the labels. In the end, I wanted to go with an Indian name and one that would not be confused with dill pickles as the product is so different from that category of condiments. Achaar in Hindi means pickled or preserved. It is an Indian condiment that is sometimes referred to as ‘pickle.’ And throughout India, depending on what region you are in, there are different names for achaar. For instance in my mother’s language of Kannada, they are called uppinakayi. Achaar has an intense flavor that is spicy, sour, savory and sweet all at once. It’s made from local fruits or vegetables, spices, chilies and oil. Although it is pickled in salt, oil and spices, it is used more like Sriracha or harissa on anything from lentils to sandwiches or as a base in soups. A little goes a long way!
PFW: With such a clever name as Brooklyn Delhi it immediately provides a sense of place for your products…Living and working in Brooklyn with your husband must provide you with great access to locally sourced produce like the fruits and vegetables that go into your achaars…When it’s possible and in season, why is buying produce from local farmers an important focus for business practices at Brooklyn Delhi?
BD: I have been specializing in developing, teaching and serving Indian recipes using local and seasonal ingredients available to me in Brooklyn, NY since 2009 at The ABCD’s of Cooking – http://abcdsofcooking.com. I’m currently also writing a cookbook for Ten Speed Press (June, 2016) on that same topic focused on South Indian home cooking using local ingredients. It was a natural progression for me to offer achaars that supported local farmers and growers at Brooklyn Delhi.
PFW: We’re currently carrying the Tomato and Roasted Garlic Achaars from Brooklyn Delhi at Provenance and I recommend them to customers for their versatility and concentrated flavor. (I’m also a big fan of spicy food so the Tomato Achaar in particular is in my top ten list of favorite items at the store). Are both of these achaar flavors traditional to Indian cooking?
BD: Yes actually, tomato is an achaar made often in South India and garlic varieties are found throughout India. My recipes though vary from the traditional versions in that they are more mellow but still pack a flavorful punch! They may not be as intense as a traditional achaar, but I intended them to be more versatile so you can use more of it in a variety of ways. I’ve also played around with the textures so that they are more easily spread or mixed into dishes.
PFW: With all the traveling to India that you’ve done visiting family and friends, a source of inspiration for your line of achaars surely must have come (at least somewhat) from time spent there. Was making Indian-style pickles and preserved foods something you did a great deal of growing up that might have led to you founding Brooklyn Delhi?
BD: Growing up I ate A LOT of achaar. From a young age, I could be found sucking on a lemon from a bottle of homemade lemon achaar. I would always bring back copious amounts of achaars from my family in India. I realized though that you couldn’t find homemade tasting achaars in Indian stores near me, which led me to make my own. Achaar-making in India has always centered around using seasonal fruits or vegetables so taking a page from that tradition, my achaar recipes were inspired by the vegetables and fruits, like rhubarb, gooseberries, etc., I received in my weekly farm share. I started serving these achaars at my pop-up dinners and cooking classes and got such a good response that my husband (fiancé at the time) encouraged me to bottle them. He is a food packaging designer and offered to work with me on the branding. And that’s how Brooklyn Delhi was born!
PFW: Food and specific dishes can be like storytelling, having been passed down for generations at a time. With something as culturally specific as achaar is to you, does it represent tradition and knowledge passed down from your family?
BD: Most definitely. My recipes are based off what I’ve learned from my family’s recipes, but I have tweaked them to fit my own taste.
PFW: With as varied and diverse as cuisine on the subcontinent of India can be I would imagine it must be beneficial to your products to have such a broad spectrum of cooking styles and ingredients to choose from when thinking of what Brooklyn Delhi can provide customers. Do your achaars represent a specific style or region of Indian cuisine or are they more of an inspired mixture?
BD: My mother is from Bangalore in South India and my dad’s family is based in Delhi in North India. Some of my pickles are more South Indian or North Indian and sometimes I mix the two up.
PFW: It sounds like one of the deciding factors for you taking your achaars beyond just making them for family and friends, was that a lot of store-bought achaar available to US consumers is actually not that healthy. What was it about some of these other options that didn’t sit well with you, and how is Brooklyn Delhi doing things differently to make flavorful and healthier achaar?
BD: Many of the varieties of achaar sold in stores are extremely salty and high in sodium, use unhealthy oils and lack homemade flavor. The recipes I have developed highlight the freshness of the fruits and vegetables I’m using, while still maintaining traditional flavors of the spices and chilies.
PFW: Living in a city like New York that’s such an amazing intersection of varying cultures (and food), you must have such a wide variety of ingredients to choose from for your different achaar flavors. Is there a lot of experimenting or trial and error as far as deciding what will be the next addition to your product line or do you base Brooklyn Delhi off of more traditional standards?
BD: I pretty much base my recipes in traditional Indian ingredients and techniques but vary the fruits and vegetables I use from what is available locally.
PFW: Oftentimes through the Meet Your Maker interviews, we get to hear about some epic moments that vendors and producers have had over time (exploding pots of marshmallow, surprisingly delicious yet bizarre flavor combinations, that sort of thing). During all of your time experimenting in the test kitchen or elsewhere, did you ever have any achaars that just simply missed the mark entirely? Or any similar stand-out moments that you’re (hopefully) able to laugh about now?
BD: Oh wow, definitely making my recipe at the commercial kitchen for the first time was a trip. From processing at most 6 lbs of tomatoes for testing at home to going to 200 lbs was definitely a little scary at first. I remember looking down at my tomato achaar boiling in the industrial braising pan and thinking it looked like a vat of bubbling lava!
It took me quite some time to develop each of my recipes. I remember the first iteration of my garlic achaar. The original recipe had more of a raw garlic flavor that worked in the traditional usage of mixing it into rice and curry, but not much else. After months of testing and testing, I finally just decided to roast the garlic to mellow the flavor out a bit. I remember the look on Ben’s face when I had him try that version. We knew immediately that the recipe was ready for market.
PFW: And finally, with the constant change of seasonal produce at your disposal, are there any new and exciting achaars or additions to your product line that your customers can look forward too?
BD: I definitely want to experiment with some red or white currants and also with carrots!
