Dosavakaya or dosa avakai is a popular Andhra pickle preparation made with yellow cucumber, red chili powder, mustard powder, and salt
Dosakaya or Nakka Dosakai (Yellow cucumber) is a small, round-shaped light green to bright yellow colored vegetable, with a crisp crunchy skin and a mild sweet-tarty taste, It is used to prepare traditional Andhra delicacies like dosakaya pappu , dosakaya pachadi and dosavakaya. Dosavakaya is an age-old Andhra culinary tradition made on the same lines as the famous Andhra Avakai or Mango Pickle. The only difference being dosavakaya takes lesser time in terms of preparation, less laborious and is ready to be consumed within 24 hours of preparing the pickle, unlike avakaya which takes 6-7 days.
In most Telugu home, dosavakaya is a popular delicacy. To prepare dosavakaya, the yellow cucumber piece are mixed with a spice mixture of red chilli powder, mustard seeds powder, salt and sesame oil, marinated overnight so that the flavors are absorbed well. The crunchy texture is retained due to the skin of the cucumber and has a mild tarty, slightly spicy-pungent flavor due to the red chillis and mustard powder. Dosa Avakai is an acquired taste and is best relished with hot steamed white rice and ghee or with Pappu annam (cooked tur dal mixed with hot rice and ghee ).
Mix chilli pwd,mustard pwd and salt.Take a wide vessel, add the above spice-mixture and the chopped dosakaya pieces.Mix the cucumber pieces well with the spice-mixture and slowly add the oil and combine with the pieces till well coated. The cucumber pieces should be well coated and wet with the spice mixture and oil but not dripping with oil, using approx 4-5 tbsps of oil. Once the cucumber pieces are well coated and wet, check the taste of the raw cucumber pickle and if salt is insufficient, add a little more salt. If you find that the salt content is more then add a few more cucumber pieces to compensate for the saltiness of the dish.
Generally, the salt content in pickles is a wee bit more than normal. You can adjust according to your liking. Now place the pickle in an absolutely clean and dry wide-mouthed ceramic jar, cover with a tight lid and keep at a moisture-free dark area of your kitchen or pantry, overnight. Next day, take a dry clean ladle mix the cucumber pickle well.
Dosa Avakai is ready to be consumed the day after preparing the pickle (approx 24 hours). The spices and oil blend with the cucumbers which absorbs the spice-pungent flavors to form a thick paste like consistency due to the water content in the cucumbers and salt.
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