Mangoes, memories and delicious summer afternoons 1

It's summer, and summer means a mango a day. At least for my husband. He feels rather insecure about summer suddenly getting over and not having eaten enough mangoes! My grandmother used to take the first mango of the season, mash it and mix it with thickened milk and broken batashas. The first mango of the season was always celebrated. Often when she didn't want to have a fussy dinner, she would cut a mango and tear bits of gas-toast bread and put it all in a big bowl of cold milk. She used to slurp and eat it (very unlike her usual neat, dignified ways) while watching the evening news. She used to say that she eats it because she was old and her teeth weren't strong enough. But I suspect it's simply because it gave her another reason to eat a mango. Messily. As it is meant to be eaten. Then of course there is raw mango chutney, pickle, dal, aam panna, mango pudding, thai salad...I'll stop before I get into a never ending exercise.

So before the season gets over, here are some recipes for delicious summer afternoons.

Mango chutney

( I call it chutney but it is technically Aam jhol- a light sweet and sour gravy, made with raw mango. The traditional way of eating is to chill it and eat it at the end of the meal, but I like it with my Bengali Masoor Dal and rice)

Ingredients

2 small raw mangoes- they should be tight skinned and raw. If it's ripening and sweet then it doesn't taste as good.

Paanch Phodon- this is a standard mix of five sabut (whole) masalas. Panch- five, phodon- tadka.equal parts black mustard seed, fenugreek seed, fennel seed, nigella, and cumin. Radhuni, hard to find outside of Bengal, is the traditional panch phoron spice used instead of or in addition to the mustard.

To my pleasant surprise, this mix is easily available in Total Mall and Meat Mart in Bangalore. In Delhi it is most widely available in CR Park.Since it's dry and raw, it stays for months- like jeera or methi.

Suggestion: Don't get overwhelmed by paanch phoron- jeera, sarson, kalaunji, saunf and methi- if all are available then great. Otherwise only kalaunji also works.

2 whole dry red chillies

Mustard Oil

2 cups of water

Salt and Sugar to taste

Haldi

Cut and peel the raw mangoes. Rub some salt and haldi on it and let it be for around 10 minutes.

Take a kadhai (or a deep wok), heat it. Add a tablespoon of mustard oil. Once the oil is hot, add half a teaspoon full of paanch phoron, and dry red chillies. Once it starts sputtering add the mangoes and lower the heat. Be careful not to burn the mangoes put in the mangoes. Add one and a half cups of water, 3-4 teaspoons of sugar and salt and let it simmer for a while.

You can decide how thick or thin you want it to be. Simmer for longer if you want it thicker. Taste it and add salt/ sugar accordingly. Cool it and put it in the fridge for an hour before you serve it/eat it.

Healthy mango pudding, Raw Mango Salad and Aam Panna recipes coming up!

Slurp!