Dosakaya Pachchadi / Cucumber Chutney

No Andhra meal is complete with out pickles / chutneys. As I said in my earlier post, for every pickle, there would be a humble counterpart, an instant variety that can be loosely translated as chutney (prepared with the same main ingredient). Pickles are prepared taking utmost care so that they last longer. Their shelf life is more compared to the chutneys, which can be prepared at an instant. While pickles last for more than a year without refrigeration, chutneys can stay fresh less than a week (with a few exceptions) even after refrigeration. Coming to cucumbers, both pickle and chutney can be made using them. The cucumber pickle, dosaavakaya is famous in Andhra. The yellow-greenish, plump cucumbers replace the mango in the traditional avakaya recipe. These cucumbers have slight tangy flavor compared to the long, green cucumbers. Now coming to the chutney, green cucumbers can be substituted for the round, yellow ones when you cannot find them. The chutney is not ground into a smooth paste and tiny bits of cucumber is usually visible in the chutney. Also, the taste is at its best when prepared in a stone mortar because we don’t end up with a big smush of cucumbers instead of the chutney.

Ingredients:
2 tsp oil
1 tsp urad dal / split black gram
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
a pinch of methi seeds
a pinch of asafoetida
1/8 tsp turmeric powder (optional)
One long, green cucumber, chopped finely (about a cup)
2 - 3 green chillies (Serrano peppers)
little tamarind soaked in water (optional and if using, 1 tbsp juice is enough)
2 Tbsp cilantro leaves
Salt to taste

Method:
Heat oil in a small pan and add urad dal and mustard seeds. When mustard seeds start to splutter and urad dal turn slightly red, add methi seeds and turmeric powder. Turn off the stove when both urad dal and methi seeds turn red. Let it cool.
Grind it along with chillies, salt, soaked tamarind and finally cucumber. If using blender, grind all the ingredients (with a small quantity of cucumber pieces, if needed) before adding the cucumbers. After the ingredients are ground to the desired consistency, add the cucumbers and just turn on the blender for a couple of seconds so that the cucumber pieces are mixed well with the other ingredients and are slightly crushed.


Enjoy with hot rice and ghee.

Post a Comment