Pickle your fancy

The Manduva Project that runs out of a small village in Andhra Pradesh, is turning to heirloom recipes to recreate authentic pickles and podis

While the pumpkin sautés in oil in the pan and earns itself a soft golden glow, we tear open a podi packet that smells of curry leaves, and a hint of moringa. We sprinkle a generous portion, give it a thorough mix, cover it with the lid and let it cook on slow flame.

“This is not how you use podi!” Usha Sarvarayalu laughs over a Zoom call later that evening, adding, “but this is the beauty of it. We want our podis and pickles to be used in a contemporary way, too.” She is joined by her 28-year-old niece Neha Alluri who spearheads The Manduva Project to give a brand identity and backstory to what Sarvarayalu and another aunt started before the lockdown.

Having worked as consultant for non-profits during her previous stint, Alluri has a strong connect with rural areas. “I also drove Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) for our edible oils business, which helped me see the potential The Manduva Project had in its reach and scale,” Alluri says. “In our family, we all have that grandmother or a great aunt who takes the onus to ensure that every year we have our stock of pickle in our kitchen. No recipes are documented, and this tradition gets lost when they pass on. I was speaking about this with my cousin,” Sarvarayalu recalls, of how they started the initiative.

Lemon pickle

Sarvarayalu’s cousin Uma Alluri creates and keeps recipes of their grandaunts alive—the ones who used to send them annual pickles. “One day, it struck us that why not do it for people who have lost their source of pickle providers? The first year it floated among family members and then when Neha came and saw the potential, she encouraged us to expand. Now, we want to make products with a twist. Not everyone will eat it with dosa, idli and rice. But, the taste is such that it can be tweaked into simpler eating habits as well like soups, bruschetta or pizza,” Sarvarayalu says.

The name comes from a manduva or an Andhra courtyard house, where women would meet to make pickle and exchange recipes. “Since our childhood, we have watched our mothers and grandmothers gather at the courtyard and collect recipes,” remembers Sarvarayalu.

One special pickle is made of jaggery and mango; and it has been in the family for generations. “This is made using mangoes where the seed has not formed. So, we plan and have them collected during a particular time in the summer before the mango matures. I don’t know how they [farmers] know but they know when to pluck it,” she adds. Their farms are spread across 57,000 hectares and located in the west of Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh.

Sarvarayalu’s team has been reaching out to young farmers and wives of the farmers through their existing farmer networks. They also plan to give them options of intercropping, and hope to urge them to grow and supply to them. The Manduva Project seeks to empower an army of women in rural Andhra.

Coconut chilli sprinkle

“When it comes to the young generation of farmers, they are lured to the cities and take up IT and blue collar jobs. We wanted to create lucrative opportunities for them. If the young generation stops farming, our country is in trouble,” Sarvarayalu explains. Alluri was happily surprised when she saw the vast area they were working with. “There was so much potential to grow. We had the workforce to hire, and grow as a cottage industry. The pandemic has taught us that it can’t just be about social work, and we had to create something that can stand by itself,” she says. The pickles are meant to take a new form in every kitchen. “What I cook in my kitchen and what you make in yours cannot be replicated. A family needn’t lose their style, but if you have an ancestral authentic pickle recipe, we will make it for you,” says Sarvarayalu.

Along with pickles, The Manduva Project offers eight  podi variations. A mixture of roasted grains and lentils like urad dal and moong dal, it is pounded into a textured powder and flavoured with chilli and salt. Podi is usually eaten with ghee and white rice. In Tamil Nadu, where lesser amount of rice is consumed, it is eaten with idli and dosa. That is why they serve it on the side and pour ghee over it. We have our hands on a curry-leaf moringa, coconut-chilli and a nallakaram. “We experimented with the curry leaf and moringa combination because we had it growing in the garden. But, it turned out well, and it is one of our bestsellers. What we are doing is an improvisation of podis,” Sarvarayalu adds.

For now, their main customer base is in Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Coimbatore. For the pickle, the mango is cut with a special cutter and left out to dry. Once all the water content is lost, they add chillies, salt and spices. The jaggery is also shaved and dried for three days. Then, finally, it is soaked in oil and stored in large ceramic jars (barnis). The women from the village who make it are used to using a  handful of ingredients.  “We try to make sure our products have the same flavour each time, but since they are handmade and artisanal, we do let customers know there may be a slight variation in texture because of the pounding and taste.” The Manduva Project also has some crisps or Telugu papad made of sago, beetroot, spinach and moong on the menu.

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