Bellam avakaya (jaggery mango pickle)

About this pickle

Bellam means jaggery, and bellam avakaya is what happens when the sharp, mustard-led mango pickle meets a generous amount of it. The base is raw mango, as in our avakaya, but the jaggery turns the masala glossy and sticky, so the first taste is sweet and the chilli arrives only afterwards, gently. It sits at 1 of 3 on our chilli scale, the mildest pickle in our range. That makes it the jar we'd suggest to anyone trying Andhra pickles for the first time, or to a household where some people want heat and others don't. The tang of raw mango is still there underneath the sweetness, so it never tastes like jam. Sweet mango pickles are made many different ways across India; ours stays close to avakaya rather than to the grated, sugar-syrup styles. Put it next to something hot on the same plate and it does a lot of quiet work.

How to enjoy

• With hot rice and ghee, for anyone who finds avakaya too hot.
• Beside a hot podi rice (kandi podi or vellulli karam) to balance the plate.
• With chapati or paratha as a sweet-sour relish.
• Next to curd rice, where sweet, sour and cool work together.