Mango Pickle - Heinou Achar

The season of mangoes is here and now is the time to enjoy the taste of mangoes in every possible way. Raw mangoes, semi ripe mangoes, ripe mangoes….. I enjoy taking them inside my kitchen and  transforming them into delicacies which  pleases my palate. I love ripe mangoes in my fruit salad, my milk shake, my yoghurt. I use the semi ripe ones for sweet sour chutney. Mango pickle is a must for me when raw mangoes are available in plenty. My wait for the time to lay my hands on raw mangoes begins the day when mango trees begin to flower. The fruit laden tree looks so beautiful that I prefer to leave the lovely green mangoes on the tree until they ripen and as for my pickle, the market is there where I can chose the perfect ones. From my bought stock 2 or 3 of them usually 

end up getting scraped or grated and lightly mashed with salt, red chili powder, finely chopped green chilies and a few mint leaves. ‘Heinou singju’ or 'Heinou Metpa' (mango mash) is relished by most people in this part of the world. Now back to my main task…the task of pickling green mangoes. Just a couple of hours of labor and my pickle would be ready to be stocked or eaten from day one. As eveyone knows, normally it takes about a month for the pickle to be perfect but mango pickles are too tempting and I always start enjoying it the moment I finish making it. So here it is…My instant mango pickle.

Ingredients :

2 kg  raw mangoes sliced or diced into big cubes.

300 gm. Mustard oil                      
2 Tbs Salt

2 tsp Turmeric

100 gm Cumin powder

100 gm Coriander powder

50 gm Ajwain(Bishop's weed) powder

20 gm Fenugreek whole

10 gm Black pepper powder

1 Tbs Red chili powder

100 gm Mustard powder

2 tsp Fennel whole

2 tsp Nigella seeds.

Method :

Mix all the spices together and keep aside.

Heat the oil in a pan until it smokes and then put off the fire. In it add the spices and stir. Then add the sliced or diced mangoes and stir well until all the mangoes pieces are properly coated with the oil and spices. Let it cool down and then put the spiced mangoes inside a glass or a pet jar. Pour mustard oil in the container until all the spiced mangoes are submerged in oil. Tightly cover and put the jar out in the sun as much as possible for about 15 to 20 days. The pickle would be perfect in about a month's time and the longer you keep it, the tastier it will become but I am sure you will be tempted to start eating it the moment it is being pickled. Enjoy your pickle with rice, roti, paratha, puri etc.





                                                     **************************************************