Instant cooked mango pickles/ Beyisida Mavina kai kette uppinakai

This is the season of mango & Jackfruit. Summer is not complete without mango dishes! Pickles take the top position in the list. It is the time where mangoes are pickled in various ways to use throughout the year until next season arrives. Every family has its own recipe or procedure of making pickles.

Numbers of delicious pickles varieties are originated in South Canara or Coastal Karnataka, Malnad & Kasaragod region. Midi uppinakai or brined tender wild mangoes in spicy pickles mix is one such evergreen dish which can be stired upto 2 years without refrigerator. Similarly idi kai (whole matured but unripe wild mango pickle), kette/ cut mango pickles cooked or raw are other varieties! I have never tried my hands in traditional pickles making except basic brined lemon pickles & my recent nellikai/ gooseberry pickles & instant mixed vegetables pickles. Reasons being, I generally get enough pickles from my mother in law & mother and another reason is that it is not ‘my area’ kind of attitude. One more main reason is the fear in making pickles. What if it goes wrong or what if it does not meet the standard of mom or MIL! This time after tasting the pickles made by my Co sister, I wanted to give it a try. As we could not travel to native places due to the lock down situation, Tried this tasty instant mango pickles in which mango is cooked & spices are roasted/ fried.

I followed my mother in law’s recipe which tastes best! These pickles cannot be stored for long time. It can be used for a month or little more if refrigerated.

Preparation time: 30- 40 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Serves: 250 grams

Ingredients:

Totapuri mango – 2 nos

Byadagi chillis/ dry red chilli – 30- 35 nos

Mustard seeds - 1/2 cup

Fenugreek seeds - 2 tsp

Turmeric powder - 2 tsp

Asafoetida - 1/2 tsp

Oil - 2 tsp

Rock Salt - 2.25 cups

Water - 6 cups

Method:

Any pickling process has 2 major steps: first step, preparing the mango either by cooking or brining. Second one is preparing the spice mix.

• Wash mangoes clean; pat dry with a clean dry towel. 
• Cut into desired size & shape removing the seed.  Keep aside. 
• Meanwhile, take 2 cups of salt & 4 cups of water in a vessel. Keep ¼ cup of salt (about a fistful) to cook mangoes later. Boil until it reduces to 2-2.5 cups. 
• Switch off, allow cooling. 
• Take a pan, dry roast fenugreek seeds until dark brown and you get nice roasted aroma. Transfer it to a plate. 
• Take mustard in the same pan, fry until all of them splutter, and transfer to the plate having fenugreek. 
• Now take cleaned dry chillis in the same pan, add 2 tsp oil & fry carefully until they turn to dark red color & fried well. 
• While frying each ingredient, care must be taken in order to avoid burning/ blackening of them. 
• When chilli is done, switch off the stove, add turmeric powder & asafoetida. Sautee once so that that will also roasted in the hotness of the chilli. 
• Allow all the fried ingredients come to room temperature. 
• By now, salt water should be bit cool, filter it to remove impurities. Let it come to room temperature completely. 
• Now, take the vessel used to make salt water, add 2 glasses of water & 1/4 cup of salt. Bring to boil. Add cut mango pieces, boil until they are cooked & color changes from fresh green to yellowish green. The pieces should be cooked a bit, but should remain firm. 
• Remove from the salt water draining it completely and spread on a plate, allow cooling. Discard this salt water, do not use it in pickles. 
• Now take a dry mixie jar, take all the roasted & fried spices, and powder them. 
• Adding, little salt water (made initially & cooled) at a time, grind the powdered spices to make smooth paste of medium consistency. You may not need all the prepared salt water. 
• Mix it to the cooked & cooled mangoes. If it looks dry add, little more salt water & mix. 
• Store in the refrigerator. Enjoy this tasty & spicy pickles with rice/ curd rice.

Notes:

• You can use any variety of mango, I used totapuri here. Suggested to use pulpy mango which is matured.
• Use all the vessels & ingredients which are cleaned well before and dried properly.
• Keep the place and your hands dry too… Any traces of water may spoil the pickles.
• If you make large batch of pickles, transfer small amount of it to a small serving bowl to serve. Don’t open & keep the large jar always. It increases the shelf life of pickles.
• If pickles start frothing on top, it is the indication of spoiling.
• Always use glass or ceramic jars to store pickles which are also airtight.
• Olden days, the mouth of the jar used to be tightly covered with clean cotton cloth from ouside the lid in-order to avoid exposure to external factors which may spoil pickles such as fruit fly or humid air.