Mango pickle is something that we love pairing with chapathi - dal or poori-bhajji combinations. They are a pure bliss. Having spend half my life in north India, I had a special liking towards this pickle. Every time my parents would visit us, they would bring a jar of this pickle knowing that it is my favorite. But J would never understand what is so special about this pickle. He has a hate relationship with mustard oil. But having lived together for some years together and me going umm ahh over it whenever I eat :D, he started trying it and guess what I have to share the pickle with him too now .. he he. My kido too likes it. He, for some reason, calls pickle as Olli. I have no idea where he got that word from, but every time he sees me take out the pickle jar he will go on saying he wants it.
We used to help mummy break open the mangoes, as a kid. It was a family affair if we were pickling this particular mango pickle. Right from sourcing the mangoes from our own mango tree to pickling, everyone in the family would be involved. My brother would pluck the mangoes. Washing and wiping it dry would be done by mummy and me. Breaking it open would be done by papa and mummy and we used to pull out the seeds and clean up. And pickling would be done by mummy. Everyone would then wait patiently for the pickle to be ready to eat. It tastes good if you pickle it with the hard cover of the seed on it. But you can always use just the flesh part of the mango to make it. I was lucky that the vendor did chop it out for me, which made the whole process such a breeze.
