Maangai Oorugai / Mango Pickle

Well, this post is finally meant to do some justice to my blog's title after a while. Bakes, chocolatey cookies, muffins and Indian sweets had been dominating the space lately here as you could see.

Sample the pickle and you can judge the talent of the cook. Yeah! a good cook makes a perfect South Indian pickle, the one which doesn't turn stale for a longer time and tastes perfect throughout. I look upon my in laws as perfectionists when it comes to this art. The way they make pickles however make me feel I'm still in baby steps and got a long way to go!

I do try pickles which have already peeped in this blog and this one was made and sent over by my sis in law right after we got back home finishing our US visit this summer. The pickle was perfect for our everyday lunch while we finished off with lots of yogurt as the summer was still on.

I clicked a picture, last month when it was almost getting over, fast and today I called up my sis in law for the recipe as I sincerely felt should be a keeper!

This recipe  actually suits best for avakkai which is prepared in larger quantities, meant as an year long preserve with amazing shelf life but here she has substituted regular sour cut mangoes. The recipe is surprisingly simple as well!

Maangai Oorugai

Yields a small bottle

You need:

Sour variety raw mango cut into small cubes - A cup
Red chilly powder- 2 -3 tsps
Mustard seeds - A tspful
Garlic cloves- small- 5-6, minced
Sesame seed /gingelly oil / nallennai - 1/4 - 1/2 cup (almost half the measure of  mangoes)
Table salt- 1- 1 1/2 tsp, more or less or to taste (depends on the sourness of the mango)
*Fenugreek seeds / venthayam- 1/4 tsp

Method :

**Sundry mustard seeds spread on a flat tray, the previous day you intend to make the pickle. Powder in a mixie or hand pound as the quantity is less, the next day. Separate and remove the skin of the seeds using a bit of  wide netted sieve.

Now all you have to do is mix all the ingredients raw gently in a glass or ceramic bowl to combine. How much easier than a pickle can get? No heating of any ingredient, as simple as that! It would be dry just after you mix it but the water oozes out within a couple of days.

The pickle kept well for 2 whole months under refrigeration.

Author's Notes 


1. This recipe is meant originally for Aavakai Orugai as mentioned earlier and the cut mangoes are a substitution here.

2. Generally a kilogram of aavakkai is pickled. So naturally the amount of the other ingredients also shoot up accordingly. About half cup of mustard seeds are used, which are sun dried and powdered the following day. Sun drying is highly recommended for the seeds for such larger amounts of pickling.
** If you cannot  sundry, you can heat the seeds in a hot kadai (do not roast or fry) before powdering.

3. * Whole fenugreek seeds are used in the above recipe. For larger amounts of pickling, dry roast the seeds in a kadai until they turn dark red and powder which can be mixed along with the other ingredients.

4. Refrigerate the pickle stored in a glass jar / bottle for prolonged shelf life.

Looking forward to summer;  the season of mangoes and hoping to come up with the authentic Aavakkai Oorugai, soon! :)

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