Mauritian Achard: Vegetable Pickle Recipe and How to Store It

Mauritian achard is a quick vegetable pickle: cabbage, carrot, green beans and cauliflower are blanched, then tossed in oil flavoured with mustard seed, garlic, chilli and turmeric, and finished with vinegar. It takes about 25 minutes to make, but it tastes better after at least 2 days in the fridge. Serve it as the sharp, crunchy side dish next to a curry, rice or fresh bread.

Which vegetables go into achard

Published recipes agree on the base: cabbage, carrot, green beans and cauliflower. Some add a bell pepper, spring onions or broccoli. A Mauritian cooking forum also mentions bitter gourd, chouchou (chayote), white cabbage and giraumon (pumpkin), but warns that watery vegetables such as chouchou and giraumon make the achard less crunchy and shorten its shelf life. For a first batch, stick to the four basic vegetables.

Cut everything fine: matchsticks for the carrots and beans, small florets for the cauliflower, thin strips for the cabbage. The more even the cut, the better the spices coat the vegetables.

Ingredients for one large jar

• 250 g white cabbage, finely sliced
• 250 g carrots, cut into matchsticks
• 250 g green beans, sliced into thin strips
• 250 g cauliflower, broken into small florets
• 2 large onions, finely sliced
• 10 garlic cloves, crushed or sliced
• 2 to 4 green or red chillies, cut into strips, to taste
• 2 tablespoons black mustard seeds
• 1 tablespoon ground turmeric
• 180 ml vegetable oil (mustard oil is the most traditional)
• 2 tablespoons white vinegar
• Salt

Method

1. Blanch the vegetables

Drop the vegetables into boiling salted water, or water with a splash of vinegar, for about 1 minute. They should stay crisp. Drain them thoroughly and leave them to dry, in the sun or a low oven if you have time. Wet vegetables dilute the spices and spoil faster.

2. Make the spice paste

Grind the mustard seeds with the garlic and turmeric, adding a little water to make a paste.

3. Cook the onions and paste

Heat the oil and cook the onions until translucent. Add the spice paste and a pinch of salt and stir for about 1 minute, no longer: burnt mustard turns bitter.

4. Coat the vegetables

Add the vegetables and chillies and toss until everything is well coated, then take the pan off the heat. If you like them very crunchy, cook them for just 2 to 3 minutes in total.

5. Add the vinegar and jar it

Let the mixture cool completely before you pour in the vinegar, then adjust the salt. Pack it into clean, dry jars and keep it in the fridge.

How long to rest it and how long it keeps

One published recipe asks for at least 2 days in the fridge before serving and says it keeps for up to a week. No published recipe gives a longer shelf life for the vegetable version. The 3-week wait you may read on some forums applies to chilli achard, which is packed into a jar and covered with oil, so don’t carry it over to vegetable achard.

Three published recipes, one base

Quantities vary from kitchen to kitchen, but the principle is the same: vegetables, a mustard-based spice paste, oil and an acid.

The recipe in this article takes the first one as its base, with the blanching and turmeric paste from the other two.

What to serve with achard

Achard goes with rice and curry, such as chicken curry or biryani. It also works with sausage rougaille, inside a dholl puri or next to a farata. One recipe suggests it as a starter or in white bread rolls.

For another sharp side, try fish vindaye, also marinated in vinegar, turmeric and mustard, or gateau piment.

Further reading

More island dishes and their side dishes are collected in our guide to Mauritian cuisine.

Sources and checks

• SBS Food: vegetable achard
• A Taste of Harmony: vegetable achar
• Expat.com: forum thread on Mauritian cooking, achards de légumes