This recipe for Lime Pickle or ‘Uruggaai’ has been taken from ‘Recipes of the Jaffna Tamils‘, pg 89.

INGREDIENTS
20 limes
1/4 cup salt
1/4 cup water
1 tsp fenugreek seed
1/2 tsp asafoetida power or a tiny piece of asafoetida soaked in a tsp of warm water
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
2 dessertspoons gingerly oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
2 dried red chillies, pounded or 1/2 tsp chilli powder

1. Score only 10 limes into four (without cutting them completely).
2. Pack each with salt (see above photo).
3. Arrange in a wide-mouthed dish or a jar, with cut sides facing up.
4. Set aside for 3-5 days for limes to soak in salt.
5. Put jar out in the sun, till limes dry and shrivel slightly.
6. At this stage, they are ready to be seasoned and pickled.
7. In a container, mix the juice of the remaining 10 limes and water.
8. Roast fenugreek seeds and asafoetida for a minute in a dry pan. Remove and grind together. Add to lime juice.
9. Add turmeric to lime juice.
10. In a pan, heat gingerly oil and fry mustard seeds till they pop.
11. Add crushed chilli or chilli powder.
12. Add the lime juice mixture. Mix together and remove pan. Allow to cool a little. (This mixture was so tasty I wanted to drink it).
13. Dip each dried lime into the juice mixture and arrange in a jar.
14. Pour the remaining liquid over the limes.
15. Cover jar with a lid and allow limes to soak.

It will be ready to eat in a few days. We kept the pickle in our fridge fore more than two years.