Lime pickle substitutes

The same style of Indian salt-and-oil pickle made with unripe mango instead of lime, and usually sitting on the shelf right next to it.

Best for

thali and curry plates, dosa and idli, parathas and rice, dal, cheese sandwiches

The salt, chilli, mustard oil and asafoetida frame is identical, so it does the same job of cutting richness. Mango pickle is fruitier, thicker and often a little sweeter, and it lacks the deep bitterness that aged lime peel develops, so the plate tastes rounder and less bracing. A small squeeze of fresh lime closes most of the gap.

Essentially the same product made with lemons, and in many Indian kitchens the words are used loosely for either fruit.

Best for

thali, curd rice, dosa, parathas, khichdi

As close as a substitution gets, since the process, salt level and spicing are the same. Lemon peel is a little less bitter and less resinous than lime, so it tastes slightly cleaner and gentler. Nobody at the table will identify the swap.

Moroccan salt-cured lemons, which share the crucial quality of softened, salted, fermented citrus peel, rebuilt towards India with a little chilli and asafoetida.

Best for

rice dishes, dal and curries, marinades, yoghurt raita, roast vegetables

The best answer if you have no Indian pickle in the house. Preserved lemon nails the salt and the cured-citrus depth but tastes cleaner and more Mediterranean, missing the mustard oil pungency and the chilli heat, which is exactly what the additions restore. Chop the rind finely or you get one savage mouthful.

A twenty-minute improvisation that hits all the same notes: salt, sharp acid, chilli heat and citrus bitterness.

Best for

when you need something tonight, dosa and parathas, rice, grilled meats, stirring into marinades

Genuinely useful and honestly rough. What it cannot give you is the aged character: months of curing softens the peel, mellows the bitterness and develops a fermented depth that twenty minutes cannot touch, so this tastes raw and sharply bitter by comparison. Letting it sit overnight in the fridge improves it noticeably.

The same salt-and-oil pickling applied to carrot, cauliflower, turnip and chilli rather than citrus.

Best for

thali, curry and rice plates, parathas, as a general table condiment

Fills the condiment role well, since the salt, heat and oil are all there, and it is often the easiest achar to find in a general supermarket. It tastes vegetal and crunchy instead of citrusy and soft, so if the recipe specifically wanted the sour citrus lift, add a wedge of lime alongside.

A pantry reconstruction for when lime pickle is an ingredient in a recipe rather than a condiment on the plate.

Best for

marinades, stirring into curries or dressings, mayonnaise and dips, roast potatoes

Only sensible when the pickle is being cooked into something, where the heat, salt and acid are what the recipe was really after. Served alongside a thali it would taste thin and wrong, because there is no softened peel and no fermented complexity. Taste before adding any further salt.