Selling mangoes, in a unique way
When I was out and about, I caught this mango seller in action. He was selling raw mangoes for the making of the Avakkai pickle. He brings these mangoes on push carts. Not only does he sell the perfect mangoes, but he also offers the specialised service of cutting the mangoes for free! What makes Avakkai unique is also the way in which mangoes are cut for making it; the mangoes must be cut along with the inner hard shell, and the seed must then be taken out. The shell is essential in the mango pieces used for the making of Avakkai. And folks who make pickle at home, mostly make an entire lot for the whole year. To cut the whole lot of raw mangoes with the inner shells is quite a task, if done at home. So, if they get to buy the freshly cut pieces, the making of the pickle is a lot simplified, especially since he gets these mangoes right to their door step!
Chop! The mango is cut right through the inner hard shell
Cutting it further
… and further to make the required sized pieces for the pickle
Avakkai
I have written about other services that are available right at your door step in Bangalore, here and here.
Slurp, cant wait to taste those… :-)
Ooh, lovely…in Chennai, in the markets, I have bought the avakkai mangoes and had them chopped; but never at my doorstep! Well, this year’s avakkai making is behind me, so next year…
I wish I get this in Hong Kong!!
-G
what a wonderful blog you have here, chitra. this post makes me miss india so much.
I’m glad to have found ur lovely blog, specially ‘coz I’ve the R2I chant reverberating at the back of my mind :)
my goodness… hw i miss india… beautiful post chitra… fell in love with it…
Thanks people! :)
Mohan, do you really wanna taste some homemade avakkai? ;)
how do you know when the hawkers are out there and what they have, or you just sit out there til you see what you want? I hear bells – do I need to go out front to find out what those bells mean?
Hi Debbie, Indian households are generally large and there’s always someone at the front looking at the street.
Second, if you want something urgent, it’s probably better to nip over to the grocer’s and pick it up. The hawkers are pretty random in their rounds and you could miss out.
Third, we generally pick stuff from the hawkers that are unplanned. They go into storage until we can think of some recipe to use them for. It’s an aid to the main shopping, not the main shopping itself.
Hope this helps.
I left all this far behind. Looking at all this makes me feel like coming back to India. The real tast of of Avakai starts from the making process. Thanks for the photos.
How authentic! This is one of the reasons I want to return to India.
-homesick in Washington DC