Dried Mango Chutney

Staying in India in the Mango season is one of the best things imaginable as initially we get unripe and sour Mangoes for pickles,and then honey ripe and sweet golden Mangoes for satisfying our hunger and quenching our thirst with the sweet nectar juice inside the Mango!However living abroad makes us miss all those days when we as children used to look up innocently and expectantly at the laden trees and in childish pursuit of pleasure,we picked the green and raw Mangoes and ate them to our hearts content.Sometimes the eyes used to turn red and water but we were relentless in our mission and ensured that in the 4 months of Mango season,we ate enough to remember it till the next!

Memories galore,I muse as a member from the FoodieMondayBloghop group states that this time it would be a Mango theme and preferentially ripe as the season is here!Ohh…I ruminate more as the place where I stay is far away from any international stores and the last time I visited the fruit market,there were squishy,unripe Mangoes which are a strict NO to me.Plus they were very expensive and I did not want to buy them!I call up the local fruiterer – “Do you have Mangoes today”? “No mam” he says “there are fresh Apples,Pears,Plums and Oranges!Shall I keep the best for you”? “No way” I tell myself and I go to the nearest superstore to see what I can get.

I go there and look in among the fruits – no Mangoes!Wow!But wait – in the candy section I see a familiar packet!Dried and candied Mangoes – product of Thailand!Ahaa something is better than nothing!

Dried Mango slices pack from Thailand…. 

And they are so economical!I get 5 packs – one to make the chutney and the rest of the four to eat at leisure for myself (my husband does not like Mangoes – please don’t ask me why)!I get the packs and I have the rest of the ingredients at home,so I can have a lovely afternoon making the Chutney!Today is Friday – the weekend starts and we are having Hot Dogs as an evening snack.In the absence of the famous Cucumber relish,this Chutney will substitute beautifully as the layering between the Sausages!

I hurry home and after a cup of tea,start preparing for the Chutney,I wash and chop all ingredients and finally open the candied Mango slices!They are neat slices cut lengthwise from a whole Mango and maybe put in a dehydrator machine with sugar so that the moisture absorbs completely and there are leathery slices of yummy Mango ready to be packed.

The dried Mango slices…

It tastes almost like Aam Papad – the Mango leather we used to get in the stations as we went on 2 day long journeys to the South in the 90’s!Its also called Aam Shotto in Bengali – more rumination!Okk…the kettle whistled – I had kept water to boil for immersing the leathery Mango slices for the chutney.I had made a wise decision – one pack of 100 gms was sufficient to make a bowl of chutney!One pack I would have in the afternoon contentedly sitting in the balcony and watching the huge jets fly by!Sighhh!

The recipe of this delicious and finger licking chutney is taken from the site :

www.rivercottage.net

which is a UK based site!The Colonial rule in India shows how the food is affected in the UK as this chutney has Indian spices and condiments.but however a Western zing and the amalgamation is beautiful as all the flavours come together to form a very tasty and lip smacking chutney!

You can use the normal Aam Papad for this chutney or also make it with fresh,ripe Mango Pulp which will make it all the more appealing and set the tastebuds ringing!This quantity will make approximately 300 – 320 gms of Chutney!Store in glass jars and keep refrigerated for optimum life for the chutney.Take out 15 minutes before serving from the refrigerator.

Submitted for the 147th FoodieMondayBloghop where the theme was Mango!

Preparation Time : 1 1/2 hours

Makes : 1 small jar or 300 – 320 gms

INGREDIENTS

100 gms dried Mango slices/Aam Papad

100 gms Apples – peeled,cored and chopped into small pieces and immersed in water

1/2 big/1 small Onion – chopped finely

100 gms white vinegar/cider vinegar

4 – 5 Garlic Cloves – peeled and chopped finely (optional)

5 gms/2 inch piece Ginger – peeled and chopped finely

1 – 2 Green or Red Chillies – minced

Juice of 1 Orange and Zest (if you do not have an Orange for zest,use store bought juice)

2 tsp oil

1/4 tsp mustard seeds (rai)

3 – 4 fenugreek seeds (methi dana)

A pinch of cumin powder (jeera)

A pinch of coriander powder (dhaniya)

A pinch of turmeric powder (haldi)

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black salt (kala namak)

1/2 tsp black pepper powder (kali mirch)

100 gms brown sugar/jaggery powder

Water as required

METHOD 

Chop Mango into small squares – the size of the Apples and immerse in hot water for 30 minutes.If the Mango slices are very hard then soak them overnight.

Immersing the chopped Mango slices

Put the chillies,garlic,ginger,orange zest and juice in a food processor and blend to a coarse paste.Take out in a bowl.

Heat oil and add the mustard and fenugreek seeds and let the mustard seeds pop.Reduce heat to very low and add the prepared paste and stir to fry it for a minute.Now add the spice powders – coriander,cumin and turmeric and mix well.Add the soaked and chopped Mango slices with the water and stir.Now mix in apple pieces,onions,sugar,vinegar,both the salts and pepper.Stir over low heat till sugar dissolves and bring to a boil.

Bringing the mixture to a boil..

Reduce to a simmer and cook for 45 minutes to 1 hour till the liquid evaporates and we get a thick and rich fragrant and sweet chutney.

The Chutney almost cooked..

Cool for 30 minutes and store in glass jars.If you make this in bulk,then let it mature for 8 weeks before you open a jar.

In my place the chutney bowl got licked clean in no time.I will be making a batch soon in bulk so that I could use this for BBQ Times in the Fall season!Till then thank you Thailand!Sawasree!

The delicious Chutney..