Home-made Pickles (Pachadi)

Home-made pickles are very common in Telugu homes and these are consumed with rice and with snacks like dosa/idli etc.  Andhra pickles are unique in many ways (taste, spiciness, preparation). Most of the pickles are best had with rice, a staple of South India. While they made had with rotis or any other flat bread, they taste best only with hot rice.

They can be categorized into 3 types:

1) Pickles made with vegetables for long duration (8-12 mths) also called ooragaya and typically prepared with mango ( aavayakaya, magaya, mukkalapachadi), gongura, lemon, tamarind (chintakaya), amla (usiri) among many more.

2) Pickles made with dals/vegetables and which need to be consumed in 2-3 days (ex: kandi pachadi, pesara pachadi, kobbari pachadi, pacchi tomato pachadi, vankaya pachadi)

3) Pickles made with vegetables and which need to be consumed in 7-10days (ex: kotta chintakaya pachadi, allam pachadi, mamidi-allam pachadi, mamidikaya pachadi)

From the top left: Gongura, Aavakaya, Usiri Pachadi, Mamidi Allam Pachidi

 

I am not an expert at making pickles and need to go a long-way before making them with decent taste 🙂 However at my in-laws place pachadi is must with daily meal and so I used to get them whenever I visit them.

In this blog I dont want to get into details of making pickles but shall be posting the pictures of the (tasty) pickles which we made at home.

Gongura Pulusu-Kura

Gongura is one of the most popular leafy vegetables in Andhra. In fact, no marriage or any auspicious occasion is complete without gongura pachadi on its menu.

Gongura, red sorrel, comes in 2 varieties: one with a green stem and other with red stem. The red stem variety is more sour that the green one. It is a summer crop, and the hotter the p[lace, the more sour the leaf gets. Hence the best gongura hails from the Guntur region of Andhra Pradesh.

Red Sorrel has some health benefits too and is useful in relieving symptoms of fever. The leaves of this herb are useful in the prevention and treatment of scurvy which is a deficiency caused by lack of vitamin C. Fresh leaves of the plant are useful in stimulating the stomach and aiding its action. These leaves are beneficial in the treatment of jaundice and a tablespoon of fresh red sorrel juice mixed with butter-milk (made from cow’s milk) is recommended once daily in the treatment of jaundice.

There are various dishes that can be made with gongura. Gongura pappu and gongura pachadi are the common dishes that can be made. The gongura pulusu-kura is a special dish, and was taught to me by my mother-in-law.

Ingredients:
1 bunch of Gongura
lime-sized ball of tamarind
10 green chillies
1/2 tsp menthulu (fenugreek seeds)
1 tsp senaga pappu (chana dal)

Tadka: 1 tsp each of aavalu (mustard seeds), menthulu (fenugreek) and mina pappu (urad dal), and 1 red chilli

Method:

• Wash the gongura leaves, chop and set aside.
• Boil the tamarind with green chillies and menthulu.
• Once it comes to boil, add the gongura leaves with the senaga pappu. Add salt and cook.
• Once it is done, the leaves would have changed colour and lost shape. Also the senaga pappu will be done, but will retain its shape.
• Take off the flame.
• In a small wok, heat some oil and add the tadka
• Once the seeds start popping, add to the gongura pulusu-kura, and mix well.

The pulusu kura can be had with rice and utti pappu.

Junnu

This is my favorite sweet, and was absolutely delighted when my mother-in-law made it a few days back. In fact I had this sweet only at sweet shops, and it had never occurred to me that it could be prepared at home.

Junnu Paalu is basically milk from a lactating cow (or buffalo), usually from the first 1-2 days after birthing a calf. This is especially important, as the milk is very rich and this gives it an added flavor not found in regular milk. Nowadays, most of us buy milk packets, and the junnu milk available in store may not really be fresh, or purely junnu milk.It so happens that at my in-laws place, we take milk from the local milk-man, and this ensured that we get fresh junnu milk whenever it is available.

Our milk-man thought hubby was staying for a few days, and brought the milk. Unfortunately by that time, hubby had returned home, while I stayed back with the in-laws, and got to enjoy this treat!! 🙂

This is one dish that cannot be qualified as merely a dessert to be had along with a meal. It can be had as a snack as well, and and can be had at any time, except probably late evening as it is quite heavy.

Ingredients:
1 ltr Junnu Paalu
8-10 cardamoms (elaichi)
1 cup pepper corns
1-1.5 cups sugar

Method:

• Pound the elaichi and pepper corns roughly, so that the flavors are released.
• Add the sugar to the milk, and stir well till the whole sugar is dissolved
• Add the cardamoms and elaichi and mix well.
• Put the lid on, and cook in a pressure cooker for about 6 whistles.
• Take out once cooled down.

The sugar and peppers give it a sweet-spicy taste, while the cardamom gives added flavour.

Serve when cooled.