Pandu mirapakaya pachadi (red chilli pickle)

About this pickle

Pandu mirapakaya means ripe red chilli, and that is what this pickle is made from: red chillies left to ripen on the plant, used whole rather than as dried chilli powder, and ground with tamarind and garlic into a thick, deep-red paste. Ripe chillies taste fruitier than dried ones, so alongside the heat there's a round, almost sweet chilli flavour, sharpened by the tamarind and given body by the garlic. It's 3 of 3 on our chilli scale and one of the hottest jars we make, so treat the first spoon with respect. Because it's a paste rather than pieces, it mixes evenly into rice and spreads thinly on a dosa. In many Telugu homes a small bowl of pandu mirapakaya pachadi sits on the table for the people who find everything else too mild. If it's garlic you're after rather than heat, try our vellulli pachadi.

How to enjoy

• A quarter-spoon mixed into hot rice with plenty of ghee; add more only once you know the heat.
• Spread very thinly inside a dosa, or dotted on an idli plate with a little oil.
• Stirred into plain dal for a quick red-hot dal rice.
• Followed by curd rice, the easiest way to cool down after it.