Kadumanga Achar / Kerala Style Mango Pickle

Any Sadya is incomplete without pickles. For us, every lunch/dinner is incomplete without it. Now that we tend to have pickle everyday, it vanishes very quickly.

So when I make pickle, I would rather choose to make the simplest of the recipes than investing a huge amount of time making something fancy and see it vanish fast. This is one such pickle - quick and simple to make, provided you manage to get raw mangoes easily.

The simplicity is what I love in this recipe. If you happen to run short of achar and have raw mangoes with you, these can be quickly made up.

Ingredients

1. 1 large raw mango, washed, wiped dry and cut into cubes with its skin on
2. 3 tbsp of Sesame oil/Nalenna
3. 1 tsp of mustard seeds
4. 1/2 tsp of fenugreek seeds
5. 1 tbsp of sliced ginger
6. 1 tbsp of sliced garlic
7. 2-3 green chilly slit into halves
8. 2 strands of curry leaves
9. 1/4 tsp of turmeric powder
10. 1 tbsp of kashmiri chilly powder
11. 1 1/2 tbsp of red chilly powder
12. 1/4 tsp of asafoetida powder
13. 1/2 cup of hot water
14. 1 tbsp of vinegar
15. Salt to taste

Method

• In a large steel/glass bowl, mix the chopped mangoes and salt as required. Cover it and leave it aside for about 7-8 hours. 
• After 7-8 hours, heat the sesame oil in a pan. Once hot add the mustard seeds and let it pop. Turn down the heat to medium. Add the fenugreek seeds and let them turn golden brown. 
• Now add garlic, ginger, green chillies and curry leaves and saute it untill their raw smell disappears. Now add the turmeric powder, kashmiri chilly powder and red chilly powder and give it a stir. Carefully pour in the hot water to it. Raise the heat to high and let it boil. Once it starts boiling, turn down the heat to medium, add the asafoetida powder and stir it well. Let it get down to a thick gravy consistency. Turn off the heat.
• Now add the cut mangoes to it and give it a thorough mix so that the gravy coats the mango pieces. Add the vinegar to it and give it another mix. Adjust salt if required.
• Let it cool completely before you store it in a dry and air tight glass/ceramic jar. Let it remain at room temperature overnight and then store it in the fridge.

Tips

1. Make sure that the vessels and the ceramic jars used are all moisture free. This would help the pickle to be less prone to fungus attacks.
2. Once stored in bottles, you could pour a layer of oil on top of the pickle, this too prevents the pickle from getting fungus.
3. Always store your pickle in ceramic/glass jars. Never use a steel/plastic container to store the same.
4. Adding kashmiri chilly makes the gravy thick and also gives the red colour to the pickle, without adding too much red chilly to it, which could make it very spicy. However, you could substitute kashmiri chilly with reduced amount of red chilly powder, as required.
5. Sesame oil is preferred, however you could make it in vegetable oil as well.

Recipe courtesy : Mummy's recipe