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Avakai making is a tradition that every Telugu household follows like religion. It involves planning the visit to the vendor to pick the right mangoes and getting them chopped according to the desired size.
Then comes the process of looking for the right chilli powder (one that gives a bright red colour but is not too hot), sourcing the right mustard powder and so on. Pickle making is so popular that some shops even keep the desired oil and spice packages ready, like a pickle kit.
The final look of the mango pieces before it goes for bottling
This summer, Chef Shyam Sundar Vadapalli and Sampath Srinivas Tummala of The Spicy Venue conducted an avakai-making event to let interested people be a part of this fun activity.
The finale touch to end avakai making is mixing hot rice, ghee to the utensil in which avakai was mixed and enjoyed as a family
What is also very important after the process of making avakai and transferring it to the jaadi (ceramic jar), is to clean up the utensil with hot rice to which ghee has been added and the entire family sharing it to get the first taste of the avakai.
Ingredients
Ingredients
Wipe a parat or large flat utensil thoroughly with a clean cloth to remove any moisture residue. To it add a couple of tablespoon of oil and turmeric, mix well
Add the mangoes and marinate it well with the oil and turmeric, taking care to see that each piece is coated with the mixture.
Once done, transfer the mango pieces to another parat and add half chilli powder. Mix well.
Once the mango pieces are well coated with chilli powder, add the mustard powder.
Adding and mixing well is the only way to ensure each piece is coated with every ingredient. Then add the methi powder, salt and crushed garlic. Then add the whole peeled garlic.
Finally add the remaining oil, give it one final good mix. Top with more oil if need be. The mango pieces must be covered with oil.
Transfer the pickle to jaadi and leave it untouched for two days. After 2-3 days open the lid and see if the oil is all soaked up, then top it up. Leave it undisturbed for another couple of days.
After transferring the pickle to the jaadi, add hot rice to the parat, add ghee and mix well. Enjoy.
