Wanted to start this thread and add as many methods as possible to make our regional Andhra pickles at home (no matter where ever we are....) home made ones always taste so great and the traditional way of making pickles always gives us satisfaction
So try on and enjoy...I tried some of them and some I am yet to try (as of now trying to collate and collect all the methods to make pickles and keeping them with me to use as and when needed..) hope this info helps those in need like me...
Tomato Pickle
Ingredients:
1 kg tomatoes ( unripe green hard ones)
200 gms tamarind seedless
200 gms Garlic bulbs ( optional)
300 gms crystal salt
300 gms chilly powder
2 tea spoons fenugreek seeds powder( Fry the seeds in a dry pan for 2- 3 minutes and powder)
2 tea spoons turmeric powder
750 gms ground nut oil ( more oil if you want the pickle oily but not
more than 1 kg )
Process:
Select the tomatoes carefully. They have to be unripe green and
hard.Wash them in cold water thoroughly and dry them in the shade. An
hour's drying under the fan will do. If still not properly dry, use a
clean dry cloth to wipe off the wetness.Cut each tomato into four
pieces.
Transfer the pieces to a container ( non-metal), add the turmeric
powder and salt. Mix well, preferably with your own hand. using a spoon
might crush some of the tomato pieces. Please note that hands or spoons
have to be thoroughly dried before dipping them into pickle. Place a
lid firmly on the container and let it marinate overnight.
By morning,juice out of tomatoes would come out. Take the tomato pieces
out and spread them thinly on a polythene sheet. Dry the pieces in the
Sun for a day. At ~ 35 degrees C and bright sunlight, 4 to 5 hours of
drying will do. Remember that the pieces will not be completely dry or
whittle down.
In the morning, after the tomato pieces are taken out of the container
for drying, add the tamarind to the juice in the container and let it
soak in for a few hours. Add garlic paste. Add chilly powder and fenugreek seeds powder
and mix well till it turns into a thick paste. Grinding in a mixie for a couple of minutes is recommended.
In the evening add the dried tomato pieces to the paste and mix well.
Seasoning:
Pour the cooking oil in the heated pan. After oil is heated put 20 dry
chillies,20 garlic bulbs,4 tea spoons of Bengal gram, 4 tea spoons of
polished black gram, 2 tea spoons of Mustard seeds, one after the other
in quick succession. Flame should be as low as possible. After a minute
add a handful of curry leaves. Put off the flame and let the oil cool
to room temperature. Pour the seasoning in the container and mix well.
Let the pickle remain in the container for at least a day. Two days
would be better. Taste the pickle and add salt if necessary. (
Adjustment of salt quantity is necessary, since the saltiness of
crystal salt differs to a small extent from one packet to another. Also
the soarness of tomatoes differ.)
The pickle is ready. Transfer the pickle to glass / plastic / porcelien
containers.
The pickle goes well with rotis, rice.
Shelf life without refrigeration is 10 to 12 months. As long as tomato
peices remain green, you can assume the pickle is fresh. Towards the
end of the shelf life, slight colour change might happen to the pickle
paste. It is normal.
For the pickle to remain fresh, do not use wet spoons and do not leave
metal spoons in the pickle for long periods.
Aavakaaya
Aavakaaya is the most famous Hot-dish (also called Pickles in general ) made in Andhra Pradesh. This dish is made of Raw sour mangoes (Kaya) and mustard powder (Ava Pindi). It has a spicy and tangy taste, and goes well with very hot rice and ghee. The specaility of this dish, is that it stays fresh all year. The recipe is as follows (Strictly under dry conditions)
Ingredients
Raw Mango - 2 large ones
Red chilipowder - 1 cup
Salt - 1 cup
Turmeric - 1/4 spoon
Mustard powder - 1 1/4 cup (you may take mustard seeds and grind them into powder in a blender. do it very slowly giving some gap. otherwise oil may come out of it)
Oil - 3 cups (you may use gingely oil)
Methi seeds - 1/4 cup (or you may use small channa seeds. but Methi is good for health)
Garlic Cloves - 4 (optional)
Method:
Wash mangoes and dry them by wiping with a clean dry cloth. It is important to have them completely dry. Cut mangoes into pieces. See that all the pieces get a portion of hard shell of mango (we call it 'tenka' in telugu) also, while cutting take out the seed ('jeedi')
In a large bowl mix red chilli powder, salt, mustard powder, turmeric, garlic cloves and methi seeds together. Now add oil so that it becomes a wet paste.
Add the cut pieces to this wet paste and transfer it into a dry jar.
Pour some oil on the top and cover it tightly.
On the third day mix it all over again with a dry laddle.
Enjoy it with rice and oil/ghee.
Dosaavakaaya (yellow cucumber pickle)
Dosa Avakai (Dosavakaya) - Andhra Yellow Cucumber PickleDosakaya or Nakka Dosakai (Yellow cucumber), a small, round-shaped light green to bright yellow colored vegetable, with a crisp crunchy skin and a mild sweet-tarty taste, is used to prepare traditional Andhra delicacies like dosakaya pappu , dosakaya pachadi and dosa avakai. Dosa Avakai is an old Andhra culinary tradition which is made on the same lines as the famous Andhra Avakai or Mango Pickle. The only difference being dosa avakai takes lesser time in terms of preparation, less laborious and is ready to be consumed within 24 hours of preparing the pickle unlike avakai which takes 6-7 days.
The pickled cucumber pieces which are blended with a spice mixture of red chilli pwd,mustard seeds pwd and seasame oil and made to marinate overnight in the spice mixture and salt, absorb the flavors of the spices well, retaining the crunchy texture due to the skin of the cucumber and have a mild tarty, slightly spicy-pungent flavor due to the red chillis and mustard powder. Dosa Avakai is an acquired taste and is best had with hot steamed white rice and ghee or with pappu annam (cooked tur dal mixed with hot rice and ghee ).
Preparation:Wash a medium sized dosakaya and dry it completely.Cut the cucumber into two halves and de-seed the cucumber and cut it into small pieces or slightly big ..approx 1″ size…which should yield 2 cups of chopped pieces.
Spices required to prepare the pickle:
3 tbsps mustard powder
4 tbsps red chilli powder (use red kashmiri chillis)-you can reduce to 3 tbsps for less spice
1 1/2 tbsp salt-if required more salt can be added at a later stage
4-5 tbsp of nuvvulu nune (til or sesame seed oil)
Mix chilli pwd,mustard pwd and salt.Take a wide vessel, add the above spice-mixture and the chopped dosakaya pieces.Mix the cucumber pieces well with the spice-mixture and slowly add the oil and combine with the pieces till well coated. The cucumber pieces should be well coated and wet with the spice mixture and oil but not dripping with oil, using approx 4-5 tbsps of oil. Once the cucumber pieces are well coated and wet, check the taste of the raw cucumber pickle and if salt is insufficient, add a little more salt. If you find that the salt content is more then add a few more cucumber pieces to compensate for the saltiness of the dish.
Generally the salt content in pickles is a wee bit more than normal.You can adjust according to your liking. Now put the cucumber pieces in an absolutely clean and dry wide-mouthed ceramic jar, cover with a tight lid and keep at a moisture-free dark area of your kitchen or pantry, overnight. Next day, take a dry clean laddle and mix the cucumber pickle well.
Dosa Avakai is ready to be consumed the day after preparing the pickle (approx 24 hours).The spices and oil blend with the cucumbers which absorbs the spice-pungent flavors to form a thick paste like consistency due to the water content in the cucumbers and salt
Certain tips to follow while preparing dosa avakai :
1.Ensure that you buy nice firm fresh looking yellow cucumbers. Dont peel the cucumbers as the skin which is edible is responsible for the crunchy texture of the pickled pieces and doesnt allow the inside of the cucumber to become too soft. Discard the seeds.Thoroughly dry the cucumber before chopping it into pieces.
2.Pickles are best prepared by using home-made freshly ground red chilli pwd and mustard pwd.If you can prepare fresh chilli pwd and mustard pwd at home,there is nothing like it.Remove the stalks of the dry Kashmiri red chillis and grind to make a fine pwd and sieve. Similarly grind the mustard seeds (use the smaller variety of black mustard seeds) to a fine rava-like pwd and sieve. These days ready-made red chilli powder and mustard powders to prepare pickles are available in the stores and you can use these store bought powders if you dont have the time , of course ensuring that they are of good quality.
3.The entire pickling process should be moisture free, be it the area where the pickling is being done or the ingredients used.
4.Use wide-mouthed ceramic jars to store the pickle to ensure easy mixing and removing of pickle for usage.Try to sterilize it with salted hot water and wash thoroughly and dry completely before storing the pickle.
5.Never ever use your hands directly while mixing and removing the pickle from the jar.Keep the ladles used for mixing or removing the pickle from the jar absolutely clean and dry.Very important you do that everytime you have to mix or remove the pickle.
6.If you follow the above precautions while preparing and storing dosa avakai, this pickled cucumber can be stored in the refrigerator for a period of 2 - 3 months or even more. If not stored in the refrigerator, dosa avakai is best consumed within 2-3 weeks of preparation.
Re: Andhra pickles & Powders 
Re: Andhra Pickles & Powders Recipes 
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