Maanga Thokku / Raw Mango Pickle

After 6 months of unplanned break, I am joining back work tomorrow. I have the same feeling of a kid going to school reopening for the first day. New people, environment, duties am kind of excited at the same time tensed too. I have enjoyed this 6months completely and have done all those things which I've loved to do. Especially for sharmis passions I have stocked up with drafts so guess that will keep this space occupied for the months to come:)

Since the mango season has started, I am experimenting on them...Will you believe this space has no mango recipes so far?! So more mango recipes to come......Maanga thooku is hubys fav as he says for thokku homemade tastes best...Now to the maanga thokku recipe:

Ingredients:

• Raw Mango - 2
• Chilli powder - 2 tsp
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
• Fenugreek seeds (Venthayam) - 1/4 tsp
• Powdered Jaggery -1/2 tsp (optional)
• Salt - to taste
• Oil - 1 tbsp

To temper:

• Oil - 2 tbsp
• Mustard seeds - 1tsp
• Curry leaves - 6
• Hing- a generous pinch

Method:

1. Peel of the skin of mangoes and grate them finely and keep aside.
2. Dry roast fenugreek, powder it and keep aside.
3. First heat oil in a pan and add grated mango and saute until the moisture leaves completely It may take 7-10mins. Then add chilli powder, turmeric powder, salt and mix well.
4. Keep in low flame and fry for 5-7mins. Add fenugreek powder and powdered jaggery and mix well.
5. Meanwhile in another kadai heat oil and temper the items listed one by one mustard seeds, hing followed by curry leaves and then transfer this tempered items to the mango thokku in the pan and mix well.
6. Fry for 2mins, by now oil will start oozing out at this stage, switch off.
7. Cool down completely and then transfer to airtight container. Keep refrigerated and use clean spoon everytime.

My Notes:

• You can add the tempering items in the beginning itself and then add raw mango to it.
• Sauting and frying well in low flame is very important for the mango thokku to keep well for long else it will get spoiled soon.
• Adding jaggery is purely optional, you can skip that if you dont like ur thokku to be sweet.

Being mango season you can make this and store this for a month(refrigerated). This tastes yummy with curd rice or even chapathis. It has the tangy flavour from the raw mango and the sweetness from jaggery apt to lick as such too :)

If you feel grating difficult, you can cut the raw mango into tiny cut pieces and use the same recipe for thokku.

Raw mango with salt and chilli powder is my favourite and brings back school childhood memories. Add required salt and chilli powder to eat the raw mangoes as such yum!!

Raw maangoes in sambar or any curry gives a very nice flavour to the curry with the tangy taste. Maanga pachadi is my fav too, am waiting to make it next time to post it here....