KANNI MANGA ACHAR (Traditional Fare)

As soon as the mango trees start to bloom, big earthen containers/ BHARANIs would be washed & dried in the sun, getting ready for the next lot of kanni manga pickle for the year. Red chillies had to be dried & pounded too. These are memories of years gone by. Then we started buying them off the shelf. The flavour of the pickle was good enough to down a big bowl of hot KANJI & PAYAR.

(Kanni manga is small mangoes with a soft nut, about the size of big marbles.) 

INGREDIENTS:

Kanni manga/small mangoes: 1 kg

Salt: 250g

Red chilli powder: 100 g

Asafoetida/hing: 1 tsp

Fenugreek/uluva powder: ½ tsp

METHOD:

Wash & wipe dry the mangoes, make sure you don’t break the stem fully.

In a dry bottle or bharani, alternately pack mango & salt, ending with salt.

Close the bottle & leave in a cool dark place for 2 weeks. Shake the bottle in between. Water from the mango will ooze out & cover the mango. Do not add water at all.

Now strain the liquid from the mangoes, mix the chilli powder, hing & fenugreek powder into it & pour it back into the bottle, to cover the mangoes.

Keep for another week before using.

NOTE: Do not add water at all. The shelf life of this pickle depends on this!