Opening your first parcel from Peddamma’s kitchen
Oil on the lid, a cloth under the cap and a lot of chilli: what arrives in the box and what to do first.
Mangoes, chillies and oil: a buyer’s walk around Vijayawada
Where our ingredients come from, and where to buy your own if you make pickle at home this summer.
Vijayawada sits in the middle of some of the best pickle country in Andhra Pradesh, and everything in our jars comes from within about 80 km of our kitchen.
The mangoes come from Nuzvid, around 45 km north-east of the city. In May the roads into Nuzvid are lined with lorries carrying the fruit. For avakaya we use varieties with hard, fibrous flesh and a strong shell around the seed, picked green. If you are making pickle at home, buy from the wholesale market near Governorpet early in the morning, when the fruit is freshest, and press each mango; it should not give at all.
Our chillies come from Guntur, 35 km to the south, home to one of the largest dried-chilli markets in the country. In March and April the yard is red from end to end. We buy whole dried chillies, check them for colour and damp, and grind them ourselves in small lots, so the chilli powder is never more than a week old when it goes into a batch.
The gingelly and groundnut oils are cold-pressed for us by a small wooden-press oil mill in Krishna district. Mustard comes from the spice shops on Eluru Road near our counter. If you are visiting the city, the One Town area and the lanes around Governorpet are worth a slow walk for steel jars, wooden ladles and spice merchants, and our counter is open on Sunday mornings for anyone who wants to taste before buying.
