Avakkai pickle is a delicacy from Andra Pradesh. It is made with mangoes during the height of summer.
I am a lover of Avakkai as is my husband. When you see the photo, you might be bothered about the oil floating on top. That is Til oil / nallennai. It prevents fungal growth and gives this pickle it's taste.
I have noted down the method of preparation before noting down the ingredients. Ingredient list is not with specific quantities, but with ratios. You will see why as you read along.
Unripe mangoes with thick flesh and less sourness are best for this pickle. I got some 'moovandan' from my uncle, Mr. Ananthakrishnan's house and used the same to make my avakkai.
The specialty of this Andra pickle is that the hard outer shell of the mango seed is also cut and pickled. This makes chopping the mango hard. In Andra / Telengana, there are machines to chop the mango with the nut.
(image courtesy: Google images)
I do not have this...
My trusted apparatus?
And a strong prayer!!
Recipe was given to me years ago by my aunt Mrs. Leela Narayanan, whose sister resides in Hyderabad. As authentic as it can get!
I noted it down fast in my trusted blue book and even after so many years, have not written it down (neatly) anywhere else!
This recipe was the original one. I have made some changes over the years and I am going to show you the 'tried and tested' version of the same.
Method:
Wash and dry your mangoes.
As I mentioned earlier, the mango has to be cut with the skin of the tough seed attached. Wedge the mango flesh on a long heavy knife. Either bang the mango on the ground or use a heavy stone (like I did) on the knife and break the mango seed open.
You need only the hard shell, not the soft insides.
After this measure / weigh your mango pieces. I got a little more than 250 gm (266 gm exactly).
For this I used 50 gm of sea salt. That means 1/4 of the weight of mangoes.
Mix the salt with the mangoes and leave it aside.
After 24 hours, the mango would have released water.
Now dry the mangoes on a plate and leave the salted water also under the hot sun for 2 - 3 hours.
After sun-bathing, by evening the mango pieces will look like this.
You can dry it further the next day, but do not keep the salted water under the sun.
For the 266 gm of mangoes, I have used 40 gm of mustard and 50 gm of red chilly.
I have reduced the quantity of mustard from the originally required 50 gm to 40 gm as usually the husked variety of mustard is used (just the insides, kadugu parippu). This mustard skin is black and it might affect the color of the pickle. And my mother-in-law says mustard heats the body.
Dry roast the mustard seeds in a hot pan without any oil, till they start popping and then add the red chilly. Turn off flame and let them remain in the hot pan till they reach room temperature.
Look at the picture at the ingredients.
I have used 1 tbsp of dry white channa / chick peas and 1 tsp of methi / fenugreek seeds / uluva in this pickle.
Other ingredients Sun dried mango, salt water, dry roasted mustard seeds and red chilly and Til oil / nallennai.
I used around 175 ml.
There was a time when I used the same amount of oil as the weight of mangoes. It is a waste. I advice you to use a little more than half the weight of mangoes. around 2/3 the weight of mangoes is sufficient.
Powder the mustard seeds and red chilly. If you want a smooth paste, use the salted water to grind further. I like it coarse.
You can mix everything in a big vessel and transfer to a clean glass jar. I do it the following way.
Take a clean dry glass jar and add the powder and then the fenugreek seed and chick peas.
Add the salted water and dried mangoes.
You can heat the til oil until smoking point, cool it to room temperature and then add it to the pickle or add it as it is. I have added raw til oil, as we love it's smell and taste.
Heating till smoking point - removes the raw sharp flavor and smell of the til oil.
If you are tasting / making this pickle for the first time, I recommend you heat and cool the til oil. Til oil is an acquired taste!
Now add the oil. It looks like all the mangoes are not submerged, they will submerge when you mix well. Then oil will float on top.
Mix well and keep aside for 30 to 45 days. Mix every 10 - 15 days to prevent the powders from settling at the bottom.
Your pickle will look like this after some days.
Enjoy with curd rice or parathas.
Ingredients:
Unripe fleshy mango - x
Salt - x/4
Mustard seeds - little less than x/4
Red chilly - x/4
Channa / chick peas - for every 250 gm of mango use 1 tbsp
Methi seeds - for every 250 gm of mango use 1 tsp
Til oil - 2x/3
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