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Monday, April 13, 2009

Raw Mango Pachadi

One of the reasons I look forward to festivals is the delectable food that gets to be made. Today is Tamil New Year's Day and Maangai Pachadi (Raw Mango Pachadi) is one compulsory item in the menu.

Ingredients :
Raw Mango - 1
Jaggery - About half the size of mango
Salt - as reqd.
Red Chillis - 2
neem flower - about a teaspoon full
Oil, Mustard seeds, Cumin seeds, curry leaves and hing - for seasoning

Method :
Cut the raw mango to about 1 inch pieces. Set aside the seed. Heat some oil in a pan, allow the mustard seeds to splutter and add cumin seeds & curry leaves, saute for a second. Then add the cut pieces of raw mango, saute for few seconds, then add water, and allow the mango to cook well. (keep in mind that the skin of the mango should also be cooked-check this with a fork).When its half cooked, add salt.

Grate jaggery and add the same to the pan. Mix well and serve with rice. This can be had as a side.

This dish which contains five different tastes [sour (raw mango), sweet (jaggery), bitter (neem flower) , hot (red chilli) and salt] represents the different states of mind or emotions in one's life.

NOTE :
If Neem Flower is not to be found, the same can be substituted with powdered Methi seeds for the bitter taste.

5 comments:

couchpapaya said...

yummy! loved ur explanation at the end :) for some reason i always thought pachadi meant to put the cooked veg in yogurt.

bengalis have a chutney made almost the same way, except they use sugar instead of jaggery and they even have the methi seeds. the only flavor not there is the curry leaves. will try urs once i buy a raw mango !!

Ava said...

This is so try-able. Thanks for putting in the substitute for neem flower !

Smita said...

Cool this is an easy dish :0) and am sure my husband will like this :)

Will try it soon...

ShantanuDas said...

WHOA! What a lovely blog. Is it not famous yet? like newspapers reporting this? Sure can be a money churner.. ..

And you are competition to Tarala Dalals.. who will buy their books if you are putting them all here free!

Gr8! JOB! but do hope this remains free!!

Bouncing-Bubble said...

CP!
Sure and do get back on how u found he recipe! and yea, while I was a child, I refused to accept this as pachadi without yogurt

Avdi, Smi!-try-able it is, and the taste will not let down, as u mix all flavours, more or less of any one taste will not affect the overall outcome.

Shantanu- Thanks a ton for the lovely words about our blog.. Do keep visiting!!