हैदराबाद के अचार के साथ अब पहाड़ी अचार का भी मज़ा लीजिए।
Hyderabad knows its pickles, and its own are hot, red and generous with oil. Pahadi achaar is a different thing altogether: hill lemon, lingda and mooli in mustard oil, less fiery and more sour, often with jakhiya in the tadka. It is worth a place in the cupboard next to the avakaya.
For families from the hills, this is also where to find the staples the city does not stock: gahat and bhatt, madua, loon and hill ghee. Each order goes to a family shop in Kumaon or Garhwal, which packs it and hands it to the courier. The product page says if the item is sent to your PIN and if cash on delivery is available.
Hyderabad celebrates Sankranti with kites over the rooftops and sesame and jaggery sweets in the kitchen. In Kumaon, the same festival is Ghughutiya, when ghughute fried from flour and jaggery are strung into garlands for the children, who call the crows to share them the next morning. A plate of ghughute between kite flights joins the two well.
Hyderabad's summers are hot and dry, so ghee will stay liquid for months and honey will run thin; both are normal. Keep pickles out of direct sunlight and their lids tight. In the monsoon, seal loon and spices and keep flours in the fridge.