Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Sweet Mango Pickle

This is one of my favorite recipes - impossible to find in any restaurant or shops. And I have not met with anyone as yet, who could make it the way Ma makes it. Most recently, in an attempt to search for the recipe online, I stumbled upon this site and to my genuine pleasure, I found the recipe quite close to how Ma would make it. Later, I called up Ma in the evening and got her recipe that was a little different as mentioned in that site. However, when I made it, I was amazed by the fact that I came very close to how Ma would make it. Here it goes ...

Ingredients
1. Raw Green Mango [1 large mango]
2. Jaggery [Crushed in 1 cup]
3. Whole Red Chilly [3-4]
4. Panch Phoran* [2 tsp] [Read below for more info]
5. Oil [2 tsp]
6. Salt

Method
1. Peel and cut the mango into small pieces
2. Rub salt to the mango pieces and keep aside for 2-3 hours
3. In a wok, heat the oil and add the Red Chillies and Panch Phoron
4. When the Panch Phoron starts to splutter, add the mango pieces
5. Stir them in the oil for 3-4 minutes and then add the Jaggery
6. In low-medium heat, cook the mango - jaggery mixture until the jaggery melts completely and the mixture becomes sticky. The mangoes should also soften by now
7. Remove from heat and let it cool. Store in air tight container

Don't wait, just take one mango piece and indulge yourself completely in the sweetness of this pickle. This can be enjoyed with Paratha by itself or as an accompaniment to any food.
This is sweet dish, made out of something that is not typically sweet and no points for guessing it correct, Shekhar does not like it! One of his fundas, where he does not like distortion of a food from its normal behavior ... for example, Puran poli is sweet roti and he does not like it.... eh !
*Please Note
I was waiting for a recipe to include Panch Phoron, a spice mixture that is used in typical Bengali vegeterian dishes. It has a unique flavor and is used for the sole purpose of flavor. More information on Panch Phoron can be found here. In subsequent posts, I will add recipes that require Panch-Phoron. However, for this sweet pickle, if Panch Phoron is not readily available, you can simply use fennel seeds. According to my Ma, you can lightly fry and grind the fennel seeds and add the powder to the mango- jaggery mixture in the wok.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Amita it was a very simple and easy receipe.Now a days people have forgotten to cook like before.
I was simply looking for a Misti Amer Achar Receipe and finally found it here.Thanks.