Achar, under various spellings, is a pickle popular throughout the Indian Subcontinent. It is made with cabbage, carrots, cauliflower and chillis shredded or sliced with other seasonal vegetables, blanched in vinegar with spices including turmeric, which gives it its characteristic yellow colour, and then left to steep for a week. Alternatively, it may have any combination of diced melon, cucumber, grated green papaya, celery or bamboo with daikon radish, mango, red peppers and vinegar with spices including garlic, fenugreek, turmeric. Some versions in South East Asia may contain dried, fermented fish similar to anchovies. Other versions may contain just bamboo shoots in vinegar with spices.
