ATCHAR - THE KING OF ALL PICKLES

Anyone who knows me, knows that at 5.00pm most evenings (well every evening if I am honest) is wine time.  The chores have been done, the dinner planned and ready to be prepared later and after a hectic day, is my time.

After a few days of eating a sweet chocolate cheesecake, I decided that I needed something salty to enjoy my glass of wine with and when a packet of crisps is never good enough,  Atchar is always my perfect snack which will satisfy my cravings.

When I open the lid of the pickle jar, the spicy aroma always takes me back to South Africa when friends would come and  visit and after a quick hello, head straight for my kitchen to make themselves toast and smear a thick layer on it or when my family and I were on a farm in the Western Cape and we would sit in the garden in the late afternoons enjoying the last of the sun rays and eat Provita biscuits with cheese and homemade Atchar.

Atchar is a spicy condiment often eaten with curry.  It comes from the Indian cuisine in South Africa. There are many versions to making it - some with fruit and others with vegetables - and the one that was passed to me by a good friend is made with a variety of vegetables.

Because Proviate Biscuits are hard to find at the best of time as they are only made in South Africa - any cracker will do.  However, the cracker must be crunchy, the cheese must be strong and smooth and the Atchar must be spicy and it was all that and more...perfect to munch on in between glugs of cold white wine.

Aah...the simple things in life as always the best.