Wash and dry 6 lemons thoroughly. There should be no water on the lemons or in your pot. This is very important.

Slice off the ends of the lemons and discard.

Cut the lemons into small pieces. My personal preference is the smaller the better as I am not a fan of big chunks in my pickles. Add the lemon pieces and their juice to the pot as you go.

Add the salt, chili-powder, sugar and turmeric. Give it a good stir.

Stir in the juice of the additional lemon.

Roast the methi seeds together with the mustard seeds and the hing powder on a medium heat until there is beautiful aroma and the methi seeds look a little tanned, though not brown/burned.

Grind the roasted spices and add to the lemon mixture. Give it another good stir.

In India you would typically have put everything in a glass jar and then move it around to sunny spots for a couple of months. However, I have adapted this recipe for the cooler climate where I live and now put on the heavy lid and place the the pot in the oven at around 80C (or around 180F).

When it is about 2-3 hours left, put a few small clean glass jars + lids in the oven as well. You will use these later to transfer the pickle to for storage.

When the pickle is ready, take out the pot and the glass jars from the oven and immediately start filling the jars almost to the top. Leave around 3 millimetres of space in the jars and screw on the lids.

The sealed jars can be kept in the pantry for months! Once opened the pickle will still stay good for months if you refrigerate it.

Leave it in the oven for 12 hours (give it a stir after around 6 hours).

As the pickle cools the air pocket you left in the jar will contract and create an effective vacuum seal.

Note- Sharp knife, cutting board, a heavy (iron) saucepan/pot with heavy lid for the pickle, a small frying pan for roasting spices in, and a few glass jars with a screw-on lid to keep the pickle in