aavakaya

Recipe Text

Ingredients:

• Raw Mangoes – 300gms
• Green Gram – 60gms
• Red Chili Powder – 40gms
• Salt – 40gms Or To Taste
• Oil – 65gms + 30gms (First use 65gms & finally add 30gms)

(Online Conversion utility to convert Gms to Cups & Temperatures etc)

Preparations:

Wash mango. Before washing remove the top portion of the mango with a knife. After cutting the top portion, observe that water like juice exudes from the mango (SONA). This juice is sticky. Wash mango well to remove the sticky SONA. Wipe the mango with a dry cloth & keep it aside to dry completely. When the mango is dried well cut it vertically from the centre. Remove the inner portion of the seed (JEEDI) with the knife or with a spoon. Cut the mango into medium sized pieces and spread them in a plate. Place this mango pieces plate in sun and dry for one hour.

Grind green gram to make powder. Take a dry mixie jar and add green gram. Grind the green gram. Fine green gram powder will not look & taste good in this recipe—so do not sift to obtain fine powder. Grind the green gram to a coarse texture and take this powder into a bowl.

Method:

After one hour of sun-drying the mango pieces cool them in shade for 5 minutes. Keep all the things like a ceramic bowl, mango pieces, oil, green gram powder, salt and red chili powder ready before preparing the pickle. Take a wide bowl and add red chili powder, salt and green gram powder. Mix the spices well. Take 65gms of oil and add little oil to the mango pieces. Mix well to coat all the mango pieces with oil. Add the oil coated mango pieces to the spice mix. Add the remaining oil and mix all well. Take a dry ceramic jar and add the prepared pickle to it. Cover the jar with a lid and place this jar in a dry place for one day. After 24 hours observe that the pickle is wet with juice oozed out of the mango pieces. Mango pieces when mixed with salt oozes out juice. Mix the pickle well & transfer it to a small jar. Add 30gms oil above the pickle and ensure the oil forms a layer above. Keep this pickle jar aside in a dry place. After two hours the pickle tastes good to be served. Unlike pickles prepared with mustard seeds powder and fenugreek seeds powder, this pickle does not require the standing period of two or three days. Serve the pickle with hot rice or curd rice. It can also be served as an accompaniment with dal rice.

Points to Notice:

Remember that this pickle is prepared as a temporary pickle which cannot be preserved all through the year. The reasons for not able to preserve this pickle are:

1.  Quantity of salt used in this pickle is less when compared to the regular preserved pickles.

2.  We are not using fully matured mangoes while preparing this pickle. Shelf life is less for not fully matured mangoes as there will be lot of moisture in them. In a fully matured mango, seed will be formed. The mango pieces when cut along with the seed (TENKA) retain their shape.

Before washing the mango, cut the top portion and clean the SONA (water like juice coming out from the cut end).

Sun-drying the green gram for one hour before making powder is a good option.

Let the green gram powder be slightly coarse as fine powder will not look & taste good in this recipe. Slightly grainy texture brings flavor to the pickle.

We are sun-drying the mango pieces for one hour. As this is a temporary pickle, we are using less salt. So sun-drying the mango pieces will evaporate some moisture from the mango pieces which will be balanced with the amount of salt used.

Oil coated mango pieces when mixed with dry powdered spice mix, the powder sticks to the mango pieces. The salt in the spice mix when mixed with the mango pieces acts as a preservative to each mango piece thus prevents fungus formation. Also the salt when mixed with mango pieces brings out juice from them.

In pickle preparations, oil and salt are the main preservatives.

Adding 30gms oil at the end forms a layer above to preserve the pickle. Green gram powder when mixed with juice of mangoes will not last for a long period. So shelf life of this pickle is less when compared to all other temporary pickles. So prepare in small quantities and enjoy throughout the season freshly.

Remember, in regular preserved pickle we use more salt, more oil and fully matured mangoes. In temporary pickles we add less salt, less oil and not fully matured mangoes. So the shelf life of temporary pickles will be less. So prepare in small quantities and enjoy the pickle as long as raw mangoes are available in the season.

Enjoy !!!!!!!!!!!!!!