Growing up in a Gujarati Indian household, there was always a spicy mango pickle sitting in the fridge, waiting to be used as a condiment for every meal. This particular version of mango pickle is spicy, salty, and sour from the raw mangoes. It is also a great condiment to any Indian meal. Heck, l would even toast some bread, slather with butter and dollop this pickle all over the top for a mango pickle open faced sandwich! It is also great in a cheese sandwich. The possibilities are really endless. How do YOU use your mango pickle?
I also prefer this homemade version to any of the store bought types. Bottled versions are typically either too oily, too spicy, and lack that fresh, raw crunch of the mango. Because there is a bit of a freshness factor to this pickle, you do need to keep this version in the fridge, and ensure there is a layer of oil on top so it doesn’t’ go bad on you. Do these things and it should keep for at least a year.
Now I won’t lie to you, you MUST visit a well stocked Indian grocery store to make this pickle, and you need to make sure you are able to get your hands on some very raw, hard, green mangoes. Sometimes if the green mangoes have been sitting in the store for many days, they actually ripen up and start to sweeten – you do not want these. If you are lucky, you can also find raw mangoes in Chinese grocery stores too.
Anyhow, if you do try this out, please let me know how it turns out!
Ingredients:
3 large or 6 small, very hard, very green mangoes
2 tbsp turmeric
1 tbsp salt
1 package of mango pickle mix OR (I prefer making my own mango pickle mix as shown below)
1/3 cup vegetable oil (maybe more)
1 tbsp salt
2 tbsp kashmiri chilli powder ( I prefer this kind because it is less spicy and had a really vibrant red color to it)
2 tbsp ground fenugreek seeds
1 tbsp lightly crushed fennel seeds
1 tbsp coriander powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
Directions:
1. Wash the mangoes really well and dice it into 1cm ish cubes/chunks. The easiest way to do this is to first slice the mango as close as possible on either side of the flat edges of the mango.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the mango, turmeric and salt really well. This mixture now needs to sit for 12 hours. Every few hours if possible, drain the liquid that comes out of the mango pieces and mix it all up again. This step helps give the mango a good sour crunch!
3. If you are using pre made mango pickle mix, mix it all into your bowl of mango pieces with 1/3 cup oil. You are done! You can store the pickle in mason jars, and make sure you pour some oil on top of each jar to help preserve the pickle.
4. If you are making your own mango pickle mix, combine all other ingredients listed in a bowl, and then pour it all over the mango pieces. Mix it up really well and like the last step, store in jars and drizzle a little more oil over the top of the jars.
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