Every year I greedily hope I get enough avakaya to last me a year. I don’t hope silently. Having lived in Hyderabad for long I know which household amongst my friends and colleagues makes the best avakaya . So, I make my humble demand very clear and loud: “When avakaya is being prepared in your home, keep one bottle aside for me.”
My love for avakaya wasn’t instant. Pickles in our region (the northeast) are different; sweet and sour or just sour. Nothing like the avakaya here. Initially I didn’t understand the craze of eating hot rice mixed with fresh avakaya and a generous helping of desi ghee. What is this custom, I wondered. Not for long. Once I observed, with interest, a friend mix her pickle with rice and ghee and relish it with vadiyalu (home made rice crispies). When the aroma made my mouth water, I couldn’t resist asking her for a spoonful. The hotness from the pickle (owing to the chilli-mustard powder mix) hit my taste buds hard, but seconds later I was asking for more. Eventually I mastered the art of mixing avakaya , rice and ghee with the podis .
Yet I was never sure of where to get my pickles from. Pickles bought at stores are nowhere close to what is made by the experts in Telugu homes. The bottled one are rather salty.
- Nuvvula avakaya
- Pulihora avakaya
- Bellam avakaya
- Magai
- Mukkala pacchadi
- Koru (or turumu) pacchadi
Then I tried buying homemade pickles online. The first round was ok, but the second time, the quality had deteriorated. The granulated salt that formed on them and the smell of old oil was a put off. “Fresh avakaya is never like this,” my colleagues informed.
This year too, I stalked my regular avakaya donors. Everyone I reminded about my share said, ‘Wait until May. That is when pickling begins’. But the worry persists — What if they forget? I don’t know how to make it myself.
As if in answer to prayers of avakaya lovers like me and so many other novices who can’t make avakaya on their own, a DIY avakaya kit has been introduced. Greenstation.co of Terra Greens Organic has a kit that makes everything easy and accessible to make avaykaya. The DIY kit consists of raw mangoes (10 or 20 mangoes, as per your choice), spice mix, sesame oil as well as a Jadi (ceramic jar) to store the avakaya in.
Likitha Bhanu says, “Making avakaya every summer is a family tradition which not only brought the family together but also the community, as sharing kotta avakaya (fresh avakaya) with friends and relatives is a part of this tradition. Most youngsters these days don’t know how to make it; what ingredients go into it or what the process is. That’s why we thought of a DIY kit which not only sustains a tradition but also lets you make your own pickle with good quality organic ingredients. We have also included the old fashioned jadi to make it a complete and wholesome experience.”
The kit which is only available in Hyderabad also comes with a set of instructions on how to mix the ingredients. All the buyer has to do is buy, clean the mangoes and mix as per instructions. While most mangoes are farm fresh and uncut, they are even cut into ideal size, provided the buyer assures that the avakaya will be made the same day as delivery.
Happy pickling
