Aam ka chatpata kucha

Mango is the king of the Indian subcontinent and has been a key ingredient to pickles for centuries. Here's one of my grand mother"s mango pickle recipes - preserved in mustard oil and delicious all year round!

Preparation Time: 10 hours

Preservation Time: 1 week at least

Storage Instructions: Room temperature

Ingredients:

Mangoes - 500 gms

Green Chillies- 100 gms

Ginger 100 gms

Garlic- 100 gms

Bengal Gram- 50gms

Mustard Oil- one cup

salt -4tbsp(preferably rock salt)

saunf -4 tbsp

Methi dana -2 tbsp

sarson-4tbsp

Kalonji -2 tbsp

Red Chilly powder- 2 tbsp

Zeera-1tbsp

haldi - 1tbsp

Hing- 1/2 tsp

Recipe:

1. Cut the mangoes in small pieces and spread them out in sun to dry properly. (Alternatively they can be dried under a fan too.)

2. Cut ginger and green chillies and dry them.

3. Peel the garlic and dry it.

4. Wash the bengal gram and dry thoroughly. (it should only be washed and not soaked)

5. Now crush the mangoes, ginger, garlic and green chillies in a pestle and mortar(ideally).

6. Alternatively you can use a food processor chopping mode/ crush in a mixer.( it should not be a paste)

7. Lightly roast the whole spices so that they are dry.

8. Grind them coarsely when cool.

9. Now in a large dish take oil and put all the spices and crushed ingredients.

10. Add bengal gram.

11. Mix them up properly so that all the pieces are properly coated with oil and spices.

12. Now transfer to a dry bottle and keep in the sun for about 7 days.

13. Don't forget to mix them up once daily with a dry spoon.

14. Now add some more oil so that the pickle is immersed in oil.

In about 7 days the pickle is ready to be enjoyed with parathas, pooris and of course dal chawal.