Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Kannimanga Achar / Tender Mango Pickle


Summer in Kerala... the season for Mulla poo(jasmine),Chakka (jack fruit)and Kannimanga(the young mangoes)..

I'm still enjoying my holidays in my native town down here in Kerala…the hot days filled with fun, loads of love and care…

V simply loves LOVES "Vadu manga oorugai".Me never an expert when it comes to making pickles, always “dread” to the utmost :).. decided to try making the same with the help of amma, blog, as I was sure it would be a great traditional keeper for you girls as well as for me and take my words it was so simple and never ever “dreadful “ as I felt until now…
So here’s the pickle packed with loads of love and care…

You need:

Sour variety Tender mangoes, as bunches-1 kg
Salt- 250gms
Water-Boiled well and cooled to room temp- 4 cups more or less(or the quantity to just immerse the mangoes)
Mustard seeds-50gms
Red chilly powder-4 heaped table spoons
Asafoetida powder/Perungaya podi-to flavour
Vinegar-optional(in case the magoes are less sour)-2 tbsp
Mustard seed oil- 2 tbsp

How to:

Wash the mangoes as bunches. Amma never let me separate them at this stage as she badly wanted to preserve the Chona (the milky sap)which started oozing out when I did it ;)
Now she came into the scene, washed them well, shook off excess water, placed them on a clean white dry cloth,wrapped up and patted dry. Now we together snipped the mangoes one by one and saw to it that every mango had at least a cm of its stalk along with. Then we stacked them into a clean and dry 2 ltr Bharani, the traditional earthen pot used for preserving pickles(see pic).



Add salt to the mangoes in the bharani. Shake well. Close with its lid and tie a white cloth around the neck.


Open the bharani on the 3rd day, 4rd ,6th and 8th days, shake to toss the mangoes or stir well with a clean, dry wooden ladle.The mangoes shrink as the water ooze out and lose the green colour to a pale yellow with aging.
Water has to boiled and cooled to room temperature. Has to be added on the 3rd or 4th day, after having a watch on the water oozed out with the addition of salt from the mangoes. The oozing out of the water stops as soon as the water is added and the mangoes wont get that "shrunk" look anymore. Adjust the quantity of water added so as to just 'immerse' the mangoes as it tends to bring down the shelf life.

On 8th day(just after a week), heat mustard seeds in a dry kadai.Take care not to roast, but heat well. Turn off flame, remove the seeds and heat the chilly powder now. Stir continuously while you do the heating part of both. Take care not to burn the chilly powder as well. Add asafoetida and mix well.Powder the mustard seeds.


Stir in the powdered mustard seeds, chilly powder and asafoetida to the mangoes. Mix well.



Vinegar, as said above can be used if the mangoes are less sour.We avoided this as the mangoes were of good quality and secondly I feared V would complain about a “chemical flavour” in the pickle :)

Do not hesitate to stir in Mustard seed oil (heated and cooled to room temp) which imparts the real traditional taste and thickness to the Kanni manga Achar :)!!

Keep closed the bharani as earlier with the white piece of cloth, tied to the neck.Open and use whenever needed.

22 comments:

  1. I brought back some this time when I came back :) Amma kept asking how it is!! Hehe.. I have never tried achar on my own yet! TH LOVES it but this is my least fave pickle!

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  2. i was looking for this vadumaangai oorukaai recipe..Thank's for sharing your mom's recipe!

    Iam sure iam going to try this..

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  3. I love this achaar one of my fav, wish i had a small bottle , yo can parsel me in a small one as you have a huge barani there with the delicious pickle.

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  4. I love ashaar and authentic way of making the pickle and I like the jar in which its stored...

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  5. Oru bharani achar kanichu kothippikkunno???? Are you planning to take that full bharani achar with you? keep my share @ mom's place...I will collect it from there in July;)

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  6. I love kanni manga achar, I love to suck the juices out of it. hmmm yummmm! How I only wish that the kanni manga was readily available here to make this pickle. :-(

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  7. Lucky you Bharathy. I love wathcing those bunches of tender mangoes in the trees. Not too fond of the pickle but it looks delicious.

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  8. Sometimes recipes that we dread turn out to be so simple, don't they???
    Nice pic....

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  9. I love vadu maanga..I can eat this on its own..Your pictures made me drool!

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  10. curd rice and vadu mangai wow my mouth is watering why don't you bring me some Bharathi every time it's a flop so didn't try this year,will follow this recipe

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  11. I love kannimaanga pickle. Let me about it...summer, fun, care..jack fruit, tender mangoes...

    You have a wonderful stay, enjoy it to the core.

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  12. oh my god...this is the real beauty..looks spicy and tempting..love to have them with hot idlies with a drizzle of coconut oil on the top of kannimanga achar...adipoli click..

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  13. Looks spicy and yum.....With hot rice and a dollop of ghee....ohhhh miles to go.....

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  14. Looks spicy .. In tamil its called Mavadu.. wow.. best combo with curd rice..

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  15. I love love love this pickle. Miss it actually!

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  16. a thought abt this pickle itself s temptin like anythin..appol oru bharani achar!!!! too much bharathiii :)

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  17. Hi Bharathy!!! I've decided to re-enter the blogosphere, and am making the rounds of all my favorite blogs. You all have been hard at work, this oorakai looks awesome!!! Nice Vadu Mangai!!!! mouthwatering.
    Hope life has been good to you!
    Kanchana

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  18. Looks just like it should, delicious.
    I couldn't make any last year and this year, but I have a big "bharani" full of this pickle from 2 years back! :D

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  19. The pickle looks g8 with the red color. Its my fav pickle. I always buy it from the store..never knew we could make it at home.

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  20. From your recipe, I could not understand when the 4 cups of water is added. Can you explain ?

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  21. Venu,when I made the pickle last week, I realised I hadnt specified the adition of water at all..and was wondering why no one came up with a doubt too :)..
    I'm, happy to have been pointed out for the correction..:)..

    Water has to boiled and cooled to room temperature.Has to be added on the 3rd or 4th day, after having a watch on the water oozed out with the addition of salt from the mangoes.The oozing out of the water stops as soon as the water is added and the mangoes wont get that "shrunk" look anymore.Water added should just immerse the mangoes as it tends to bring down the shelf life..

    ..have edited the same :)and thankyou once again for visiting my place and pointing out the error..:)

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  22. Hi Bharaty,

    ITs time now...i really need to thank you...I made this recipe last year..it was mouth watering...so much so that today my FIL saw some Kanni Manga and got it home for me to make the same achaar made last year..so am off to make it and take all the praises , second year in succession but not before thanking you.....

    Thank you dear....

    Andy
    (Another Mallu based in Chennai)

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