Avakaya (Andhra cut mango pickle)

About this pickle

Avakaya is the mango pickle Andhra kitchens wait for all year. Hard green mangoes are cut into pieces with the stone still attached, then coated in ground mustard, red chilli and salt and left to settle under a layer of oil. The name is usually traced to aavalu, the Telugu word for mustard, and mustard is what you taste first: a sharp, nose-tickling heat that arrives just before the chilli. The pieces stay firm, so you bite through the mango and scrape the masala off the stone. Ours is 3 of 3 on our chilli scale and contains garlic. In most homes avakaya is put up in summer, when raw mangoes are at their hardest, and the jar is expected to last until the next season comes round. If you want the same mango with far less heat, try our bellam avakaya; for chewy, sun-dried slices with no stone, try maagaya.

How to enjoy

• Mix a spoon of the red masala into hot rice with a little ghee, and keep one mango piece on the side to bite between mouthfuls.
• Add a piece to curd rice: the cool curd takes the edge off the mustard.
• Spoon a little of the masala and oil over plain dal and rice (pappu annam).
• Spread a thin layer inside a chapati with ghee and roll it up for a lunchbox.