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mango

Spicy Mango Chutney

June 29, 2009

Mango chutney
With the monsoons setting in, the mango season is nearing its end. While mangoes aren’t my favourite fruit, I do have a special place for them because they remind me of childhood summers when I’d visit my grandma’s hometown with her. They had a huge house and the area surrounding the house was thick with mango trees. I couldn’t climb the mango tree (the most I could was a stunted guava tree), so I’d aim my hand catapult at the closest raw mango. Many attempts later, I’d get my much prized mango back home, slice it and sprinkle it with salt and red chilli powder. Simple pleasures of childhood.

A few days ago I had my last chance and bottling the summery mango in the form of chutney – an opportunity I just couldn’t miss! Mom got me chutney/pickle mangoes and I got down to business.

Ingredients for Mango Chutney

Mango Chutney

2.2 pounds / 1 kg firm green mangoes, pealed, skinned and grated*
1/2 kg sugar
5 cups / 1.2 litres water, more if you’d like it thinner
4-5 bayleaves
2-3 cinnamon sticks
1 tbsp Cumin seeds
3-4 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 tbsp chilli powder (spicy kind, not the Hungarian paprika kind)
1 tsp turmeric
salt to taste

  1. In a heavy bottomed saucepan add the mango, sugar and water and let it sit for about 30 minutes and let it rest.
  2. Post 30 minutes, let the mixture simmer on a low heat for about 30-40 minutes. Keep stirring. Add water if necessary to maintain consistency.
  3. Now add the spices and salt and let it simmer away for the next 10-15 minutes.
  4. Let it cool and transfer to a sterilised jar.
  5. This can be refrigerated but is best had at room temperature.
Mango chutney
* You can squeeze out the juice from the grated mangoes by either putting it in a muslin cloth and wringing it or simply squeezing it between your hands. I kept the juices in because I enjoy the tartness, but my mom usually gets rid of it so that she can have her batch to be less sour. Plus, lesser sugar is used.

The next time around (which won’t be until next year!), I think I’d tweak this a bit with some ginger. I can imagine the ginger bringing in warmth and adding depth to the flavour.

I love this chutney spread on roti and rolled up for a breakfast on the go. Sometimes I like to add some zing to the dal rice meal with this instead of a pickle. This would be great with grilled chicken, too. Some even like it with crackers and cheese. I’d say just keep the jar in sight and eat a little of the chutney with anything you’re eating and figure out for yourself what it tastes better with in your local cuisine.

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Raw Mango Relish

October 27, 2008

Although mangoes usually flood the market in April, I was pleasantly surprised to see some raw mangoes on the supermarket shelves. Very leathery from the outside and a softer pale yellow on the inside – when I chopped it all up into tiny cubes, the fruit smelled like summer. I kept trying to pair it with something unusual. I didn’t want it full of Indian spices – just something light and fragrant. Just then my eyes went on my pot of fresh mint – bright green, crisp and packed with flavour these leaves would be the perfect flavouring for my latest experiment.

Raw Mango Relish
Raw mangoes, finely diced.
A handful of fresh mint leaves, chopped finely.
Red chilli powder/paprika
Palm sugar/jaggery
Salt


In a bowl combine the ingredients together. For the recipe I intentionally haven’t given exacting measurements. This is because you must add the flavouring, just the way you like it – like how you’d treat salt and pepper. For me, just a tad bit of jaggery would be perfect – I absolutely like sourness to the point of squeezing my eyes shut. This is not how the rest of the guys at home prefer it, so I always have to reserve some of it before more of the jaggery is added. After all the ingredients are in the bowl, toss it well and let it sit in the refrigerator for about 40 minutes. You’ll notice that the relish has a nice glossy look about it and has absorbed the flavourings very well. Now you’re ready to go – just serve it with a sprig of mint!

After making this, I was amazed at how beautifully a handful of mint leaves transformed the mango. Inhaling the fragrance of both the flavours together is such a wonderfully heady feeling. I couldn’t stop sniffing it every once in a while. ;)

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Dorie’s Perfect Party Cake

March 30, 2008

Yet another month and some more last minute mayhem to finish the challenge and make a post in time. And in time it is! :) This month’s challenge was Dorie’s Perfect Party cake. It was really simple to make, and the best part of it – we had the freedom to put our own personal stamp on it!
It’s the time of the year when the mango will make way into the markets, and what better time for me to use them than my Daring Baker Challenge! Here is my cake with whipped cream and mango bits between the layers and also topped with some mango slices. Since I didn’t have cake flour, I substituted it with all purpose flour.

One of the simplest and nicest cake recipes I’ve tried in a long time. Only one point of contention – the cake didn’t rise as much as expected. I’ll surely be giving it another shot though!

For the Cake
2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 ¼ cups whole milk or buttermilk (I prefer buttermilk with the lemon)
4 large egg whites
1 ½ cups sugar
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1 stick (8 tablespoons or 4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ teaspoon pure lemon extract

To Make the Cake

  1. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
  2. Whisk together the milk and egg whites in a medium bowl.
  3. Put the sugar and lemon zest in a mixer bowl or another large bowl and rub them together with your fingers until the sugar is moist and fragrant.
  4. Add the butter and working with the paddle or whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat at medium speed for a full 3 minutes, until the butter and sugar are very light.
  5. Beat in the extract, then add one third of the flour mixture, still beating on medium speed.

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In a Pickle

February 3, 2008

I stumbled upon these beautiful fresh red chillies at the supermarket yesterday. It looked so fresh and alluring, I just had to buy some! I will figure how I’ll use it later, I thought. (Going overboard shopping for groceries is one of my biggest problems. I love having my pantry well stocked, but now it is quite overstocked because I go on buying things and just don’t find enough time to make everything I want). Anyway, getting back to the fresh red chillies – I decided to pickle them.

A while ago a friend had given me a lovely recipe for a stuffed green chilli pickle. So I thought I’ll work with the red chillies on similar lines.

Stuffed red chilli pickle with raw mango:

200g Fresh red chillies
100g raw mango, sliced
100 ml sesame oil or mustard oil (if you like the pronounced flavour)
Aesofetida, a pinch

Stuffing:
1 tbsp Mustard
2 tbsp Fennel seeds
1 tbsp Cumin
1 tbsp Nigella seeds
1 tsp Fenugreek
2 tbsp Dry mango powder (amchur)
3-4 tbsp Salt
2 tsp Turmeric
2 tsp Red chilli powder
Juice of 1 lime

  1. Wash and dry the chillies.
  2. With gloves on, trim the stem and deseed the chillies. Reserve the seeds to be used in the stuffing mixture depending on the how hot you’d like your pickle to be.
  3. Slice the raw mango.
  4. Mix the stuffing ingredients together along with the reserved seeds
  5. Fill in each of the chillies with the mixture
  6. Stir togeter the remaining mixture and the raw mangoes
  7. Heat the oil. Add a pinch of aesofetida. Pour the hot oil over the pickle.
  8. Let the flavours meld for a day; after which it’s ready to eat!

What I also did was thrown in the lime wedges too after extracting the juice. If you want to consume it within a few days, a little oil will suffice. Whereas, if you want to use it over some time, you need to increase the oil and keep shaking up the bottle from time to time. Incidentally, the first five ingredients of the stuffing make up the Bengali 5 Spice.

The strong, spicy, salty and sour flavours can spruce up any dish; be it Indian or otherwise.

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