Raw Mango Thokku:

Raw Mango, the name itself makes us drool. Summer is always the time to relish Mango, from tangy to sweetest form. Here, I have shared a super simple, quickest form of relish. Mango thokku is a perfect balance of hot and sour tastes and goes very well with every possible dish. It can be used as a chutney, spread or with curd rice or Indian dal.

Things which we have to keep in our mind are,

-Use thick bottomed steel or anodised cookware. (please don’t use aluminium or iron Kadai while cooking souring agents) 

-Usage of Mango: Thothapuri variety is ideal for this.

-The quantity of Oil: If you want to store the thokku for a longer duration, use more oil, and if it is for quick use, with a shorter shelf life, use less oil and keep it under refrigeration.

-To get an authentic taste, use cold-pressed sesame oil or Til oil. If you don’t like the overpowering taste of til, add half the amount of sesame oil and half the amount of Sunflower oil.

Ingredients:

Thothapuri Mango – 2

Oil – ½ cup ( ¼ cup of sesame + ¼ cup of sunflower oil)

Mustard – 1 tbl spoon

Broken red chillies – 2

Curry leaves – 2 springs

Salt – acc to your taste

Turmeric – 1 tsp

Red chilli powder – 1 to 2 tbl spoons ( acc to the required hotness)

Roasted methi powder – ½ tsp

Method:

-Wash, peel and grate the mangoes.

-Heat Kadai, add oil and Do the process in low heat to avoid burning. Splutter mustard, fry red chilli and curry leaves.

-Add grated mangoes, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes. When it starts wilting, add turmeric, red chilli powder, salt, and cook further.

When oil starts to ooze out at the sides, add roasted methi powder, cook some more time, and switch off.

-Cool the mixture, and store it in a dry glass bottle. Enjoy with hot rice, rotis or even toasted bread.

 

 

 

Ambate /Hog Plum pickle :

We call Hog plum “Amtekai” in Kannada and “ambate” in our local language. In our region, you will find two varieties of hog plums. One is Wild variety, also known as Indian sour hog plum, and the other is grafted or Kashi Amtekai/ hog plum.  Grafted variety is nothing but Hog plums which we usually find in South America or Southeast Asia. Also known as Ambarella or Golden apple, which belongs to Spondias Dulcis.

The wild variety, Spondias pinnata, is commonly known as Amtekai/ Amra/Amda/Hog Plum/Junglee Aam in India. Because of its sour taste, it is usually used in pickle making or as a souring agent in some traditional curries. When it matures, a seed becomes woody, and skin becomes thin.

After a long time, I found these beauties in the Mangalore store, which I frequently visited. A lot of preparation goes behind the making of a pickle. I observed that the recipe flowed down from generation to generation. A spoonful of this pickle, which is spicy and tangy, is enough to perk up a bland meal, or as a south Indian, it is a divine combo with thick curd rice.

Ingredients:

Hog plum – 500 gms

Salt – 2 cups

Water – 2 cups

For the pickle Masala:

Dried Red chillies – 100 grams ( I have taken ½  of Byadagi and  ½ of Guntur to balance the heat)

Mustard – 25 grams

Methi – 1 tbl spoon

Hing – ½ tsp

Turmeric – 2 tsp

Method:

-Wash, drain the hog plums. Put it under the sunlight for 2 hours.

-Now, crush and separate the skin from the inner hard seed. Keeping under the sun would help loosen up the skin from the core.

-Now, prepare saltwater. Take 2 cups of salt, 2 cups of water and boil nicely.

-Switch off the gas, add the hog plum pieces, inner core and leave it to cool. In this way, hog plum would soften quick and absorb the salt properly.

To make Pickle Masala:

-Dry Roast Methi seeds until dark brown, then mustard seeds until it pops, then hing, turmeric.

-Put 1 tsp of oil and roast chillies until it puffs and becomes crisp. Cool everything and make powder.

-Add this powder to a cooled hogplum added salt solution, and mix properly. Store it in a dry glass bottle, leave it aside for a couple of days to mature and absorb all the flavours.

-Then, store it in a refrigerator to extend its shelf life. When it is ready, enjoy it with curd rice.

Mango pickle (Midi Uppinakai Masala)

Mangalore is known for tender mango pickle, locally known as “Midi uppinakai.” Unlike other pickles, it is made up of hardly any ingredient. It needs Dried chillies, mustard, turmeric and hing as an optional. The proportion of the chillies and mustard varies from family to family, hence the pickle’s taste.

The procedure is straightforward. First, after selecting a fresh, tender mango, the cleaning process happens, wiping, drying.

Then comes the pickling part; take a fist full of tender mango spread it at the bottom of the container, usually ceramic Bharani or glass jar. Then, a fist full of crystal salt. Repeat the process until mango reaches the brim of the bottle.

Mango shrinks within a couple of days, and the colour turns green to pale green. Now, it is time to make a pickle masala and finish the process. Isn’t it simple and straight forward 😀 It is one of the must condiments in our family. The recipe which I follow is handed down to me by my mother in law and stamped by my dear husband 😀 

My father in law was very particular about the chilli usage, which he used to source after checking the freshness.  The variety of chilli he used to prefer is called Harekala Menasu, a native variety of Mangalruru and cultivated in Harekala and nearby villages along the river Netravati. Chillies are spicy, fiery red when it is grounded, and smooth in texture.

As a city dweller, sourcing a tender mango within a short seasonal period becomes very difficult for me. Hence, I use the same masala and prepare cut mango pickle using freshly bought wild mangoes from my native. Instead of Harekala chillies, I opted for half Kashmiri chillies and half Byadagi variety. Hence, it worked out best for me.

 

Ingredients:

Wild Mangoes – 15 (medium size)

Red chillies – 100 grams ( I have used 50 grams of Kashmiri chillies and 50 grams of Byadagi)

Mustard – 50 grams

Hing – small peanut size.

Turmeric – 1 to 2 tsp

Sea Salt – 1 cup(crystal)

Method:

-Wash mangoes, wipe them, cut them into pieces.

-Take a porcelain jar or glass bottle, put a fistful of mango pieces at the base, sprinkle one tablespoon of salt.

-Again, put a layer of mango, then salt. Continue until mango pieces are over.  Close the lid and keep it aside.

-Next day, mix everything and press a little and keep it until the skin becomes a little pale and wilted.

-When skin becomes pale, strain all the salted water, drain the content and collect the water.

-Now, it is time to prepare salted water. This flavourful drained water adds a little more salt and extra water to make boiled salted water. Boil nicely, remove skum, which appears at the top, strain the salty water, and cool it.

-Next comes the Pickle masala part: I usually prefer my wet grinder to make masala.

At first, Put mustard, red chillies and give a pulse in the mixer jar. When chillies and mustard become chunks, it is effortless to proceed in a wet grinder.

Put churned chillies, mustard, turmeric, hing and salted (cooled) water little by little and make a thick masala paste. When it is smooth and finely ground, remove the masala.

Add the required quantity of masala to wilted mango, adjust the consistency by adding salted water. Store it in a dry porcelain jar or bottle.

-If any extra masala or salted water is remaining, store it in a glass bottle. It can be handy to adjust the pickle after 2 or 3 days if needed. Or you can use the masala to make any instant pickle.

-After one week, you can start to use it, and this pickle stays good for a year or more. If the procedure handled well, you could keep it under room temperature, or you can keep it under refrigeration as well.

 

 

 

Lemon pickle:

Pickle is an essential part of our Indian meal and we South Indians enjoy our pickle with curd rice as the last leg of our meal, which will tickle and will remain for some time in our taste bud with its right amount of salt, spice, sour, tangy and tartness.

This particular pickle is the non-oily, south Indian style, which I learnt from my mom. This pickle has lemon, green chillies and ginger and goes very well with curd rice.

Ingredients:

Lemons – 15

Ginger – 50 Gms

Green chillies – 5

Salt – ¾ cup

Water – 1 ½ to 2 cups.

Masala:

Dried red chillies – 28 -30

Mustard – 2 Table spoons

Hing – peanut size

Fenugreek – 1 tsp

Cumin – 1 tsp

Turmeric powder – 1 tsp

Oil- 1 to 1 ½ tsp

Method:

-Wash lemon, ginger and green chillies. Pat dry and chop however you like it.

-Boil water and salt together.

-When it is ready, you could see the glossy, shiny layer at the top.

-Drop all the chopped items to this. Boil till lemon rind becomes pale. Switch off and keep this for cooling.

-Gradually while cooling, the lemon rind will wilts and rind will fold backwards, don’t worry. It would become normal once it sets/marinates properly.

-Next, we will prepare the pickle masala.

-Dry roast mustard until it pops, remove and keep aside.

-Take one teaspoon of oil, roast fenugreek, cumin, hing one by one and keep it aside.

-Lastly, fry red chillies until it forms crisp with very little oil.

-Cool everything, make powder all these by adding turmeric.

-When salted lemon cools down, add this masala, mix and store this in an airtight bottle.

-After ten days, you can use this.

-I suggest storing this in a fridge so that its shelf life will be one year or more.

NOTE:

– If you want a little thicker consistency to take one and a half cup of water. If you wish to get, a thin consistency takes 2 cups of water.

  -Here I have taken 2 cups of water.

Raw Mango Pickle ( No oil version)

Mango pickle, who does not like it?! It is a perfect accompaniment to any Indian meal. As a south Indian, I need to have one piece of pickle with curd rice to end each meal of mine. 😉

Due to lockdown, I was thinking of not indulging in pickle making. But, around two weeks back, when I happen to see huge Mangoes which are specifically meant for the pickle, I could not resist. Picked up only one, which itself was weighing one kilogram. It is our coastal recipe, which does not need loads of oil nor any added preservative . It has freshly ground masala and if you wish, added seasoning to enhance the taste and  known as Adangai.

Now we would see the procedure-

Ingredients:

1 big mango – weighed 900 grams

Salt – 1 glass tumbler ( 150 ml)

Hing – ½ tsp (solid hing) If it is powder add little more.

For pickle masala:

Fenugreek seeds – 1 tsp

Mustard – 2 tbl spoons

Cumin – 1 ½ tsp

Byadagi red chillies – 20 – 25 (acc to taste)

Black pepper corns – 10

Method:

-Dry roast crystal salt and remove all the moisture. Cool.

-Wash mango, dry it out, chop into small chunks.

-Take one glass bowl or stainless-steel bowl, add roasted and cooled salt, mango pieces, hing. Mix everything, close and keep aside for 12  to 24 hours.

-Next day, dry roast methi until it is brown. Next, mustard until it splutters. Next roast red chillies, by adding 1 tsp of coconut oil   until crisp. Add pepper and roast for 2 minutes.

-Cool all these, make a powder. After that, collect the water, oozed out from the mango. Add into mixer jar and grind further to make a fine paste.

-Add the paste, marinated mango and mix together. Store it in a clean , dry glass bottle.

-If you want the seasoning – you can heat 2 tsp of coconut oil, splutter mustard, add hing and pour it over the ready pickle.

-Rest the pickle for at least ten days to absorb all the masalas , while doing so, in between give a stir by using dry spoon once in two days. It would fasten the marination process and pickle would turn out best by absorbing all the masalas.

 

Mango ginger Thokku:

Mango Pickle (North Indian style):

This pickle happened due to my daughters. It is a perfect accompaniment for any parathas or Thepla. I came to know about this recipe from my friend Kavita, who had gifted me this pickle, prepared by her. When it was about to finish my daughters insisted that I prepare it at home and this is the result of their insistence. I want to thank Kavita, who did answer all my queries patiently and guided me through the process.

According to my friend, Thothapuri variety of mango tastes good for this masala. Hence I tried with the same.

Ingredients:

Mango – 1 kg (used Thothapuri variety)

Salt

Turmeric – 1 table spoon

Mustard oil – 1 cup

For Masala:

Red chilli powder – 2 table spoons

Hing – 1 table spoon

Fennel seeds -2 table spoons

Kalonji – 2 table spoons

Yellow mustard seeds – 3 table spoons

Fenugreek/Methi seeds- 1 ½ table spoons

Method:

-Wash, dry and cut the mango into pieces.

-Marinate these pieces with 2 fistful of salt, 1 table spoon of Haldi/ turmeric and mix thoroughly by using dry hand.

-Keep this for two hours and drain the oozed-out water and reserve it for future use.

 

-Spread these marinated mango pieces over dry cloth and dry under partial sun light or air dry.

-In the evening , remove those shrunken mango pieces and once again mix it with oozed out salted water which we have reserved from previous Marination process.

– The next (second) morning, drain and repeat the process of drying.

-On the second evening, those mango pieces will be ready to mix masala.

-First heat half a cup of mustard oil until it is very hot, then cool it.

-Take all the ingredients from fennel seeds to methi seeds and lightly pound in a small mixer jar by using pulse option. Don’t make fine powder.

-Now take one bowl, mix in all the masalas, sun dried mango, additional salt and mix nicely by using your clean and dry hand.

-Fill the mixture in a glass bottle and pour cooled mustard oil and cover the bottle with muslin cloth and keep it under sunlight for 1 week or partial sunlight.

-After one week, pickle would reduce in quantity. Pour remaining half of mustard oil by heating at first, then cooling it.

-Cover the cloth and repeat the process of keeping it in sunlight for some more days.

-Now it is ready to consume.

 

 

 

Totapuri Mango Pickle:

Totapuri is a speciality of southern states of India. These mangoes are large in size, slender, oblong and has a prominent beak like pointed tip. The skin of the mango also tastes really good  and sweetish.

Totapuri pickle is unusual. Unlike other mangoes Totapuri is not that sour, usually used in salads, mango rice or raw mango jams. It is also known as Ginimoothi because of its pointed end. This pickle is not that hot and goes very well with curd rice or roti’s. I used to enjoy this pickle from my childhood and now my daughters also like this as much as I do. I learnt this recipe from one of my cousin sisters, who used to gift me a bottle of this pickle every year and hence has fond memories attached to it too.

Ingredient:

Raw Mango –  3 kgs (Totapuri variety works out well)

Sea Salt – 1 to 1 ¼ cup

For pickle Masala:

Dried red chillies – 50 (Byadagi variety)

Black pepper corns – 2 tea spoons

Mustard – ½ cup

Hing – peanut size

Sesame seed – 2 tea spoons

Turmeric – 3 tea spoons

Seasoning:

Sesame oil – 2 table spoons

Refined oil – 2 table spoons

Mustard – 1 table spoon

Curry leaves – 2 to 3 springs

Method:

-Wash and remove upper stalk, chop the mangos into small bite size pieces. Discard inner seed.

-In small tawa, dry roast crystal/sea salt until it becomes crisp and white in colour. Cool.

-Take one thick bottomed tawa, get it ready for seasoning. If you are accustomed with the taste of sesame oil, go ahead and use only sesame oil. Otherwise take how I have listed.

-Heat oil, splutter mustard, add curry leaves, fry for 2 minutes. Add Mango pieces and cook by mixing in between until skin becomes pale.

-Switch off and mix in dry roasted salt and keep aside for 3 to 4 hours or until it is cool.

-In the meantime, prepare for the pickle masala.

-Take the tawa, in which you have roasted the salt at the beginning.

-Dry roast one by one like this. First mustard, then sesame seed, next pepper corns, hing.

-Now take one tea spoon of oil and fry red chillies in a low flame until it is crisp. Cool it.

-When it is cool, add turmeric with these ingredients and make powder.

-At this time, mangoes will be ready, and water will be oozed out.

-Mix the powder with mango pieces. Fill the pickle into sterilized bottle and seal.

-After couple of days, you can start using this pickle.

 

-Store this in a refrigerator for longer shelf life.

-Enjoy with Curd rice, Roti or with any breakfast.

 

Winter Veggie Pickle/Gajar, Gobhi aur shalgam ka achar:

Winter vegetables are very juicy, which can be preserved and enjoyed during the off season as well. In Northern India mainly in Punjab, they preserve these veggies by making pickle. I am very much fond of all kinds of pickles right from our traditional non-oily baby mango pickle to Andhra Avakaya and Punjabi mustard oil soaked root vegetables. No meal is complete without pickle. I usually prefer homemade pickles over store bought one and usually stocks lots of varieties for our regular usage. People who know me will surely agree with this. 😀

DSC05599_Fotor

In this Pickle we use seasonal Red carrots, radish, cauliflower and Turnip chunks. Which is mixed with assorted spices, salt, jaggery and mustard oil. It is a classic combination with any kind of Indian flat breads.

How I make-

Ingredients:

Carrot – 250 grams (Red or Baby carrots)

Radish – 250 grams

Turnip – 250 grams

Cauliflower – 250 grams

Salt – ½ cup+ 1 table spoon (as needed)

Mustard oil – 50 ml

Refined cooking oil – 50 ml

Garlic cloves – 10

Yellow mustard – 50 grams

Turmeric – 1 + 1 tea spoon

Kashmiri chilli powder – 20 grams

Normal chilli powder – 20 grams

Vinegar – 50 ml

Jaggery – 75 grams

Method:

  • Wash, cut carrots, Radish, Turnip into long pieces.

DSC05546_Fotor

  • Remove small florets from cauliflower. Wash and drain.
  • Boil 4 to 6 cups of water in a big vessel. Add 1 table spoon of salt and 1 tea spoon of turmeric.

Ribbet collage 1

  • Blanch cauliflower, radish, Turnip, carrot pieces separately and drain and cool.
  • Spread these on a clean towel and keep it under the sun for 1 to 2 hours to remove all the water content.

Ribbet collage 2

  • If you are keeping and drying it inside the house, please switch on the fan or keep it for long hours, until it is dry.
  • Now keep everything ready for pickle masala and seasoning.
  • Take one thick kadai, pour oil, when it is hot, add garlic and fry for 2 to 3 minutes.

Ribbet collage 3

  • Add crushed yellow mustard, fry for one to two minutes.
  • Immediately add turmeric and dry veggies. Mix nicely.
  • Add both the chilli powders, salt and mix nicely.
  • Then add grated jaggery (I have kept the jaggery piece to show) and vinegar.

Ribbet collage 4

  • Cook until all the masalas and liquid absorb and becomes like a mass.
  • Cool the mixture, store this in a clean, dry glass bottle.
  • It will set in a weeks’ time and one can relish after that period.
  • After it sets, I usually prefer storing it in the fridge to prolong its shelf life.

Indian Gooseberry/Amla Thokku:

Indian gooseberry is a sour and tangy fruit with many medicinal values as it is a rich source of vitamin C. It is known as Nellikai in Kannada, Amla in Hindi. This berry has been used for years in Ayurvedic medicines as well as in Home remedies.

I used to get Amla Thokku from an “Iyengari shop”. I wanted to replicate this lip smacking Thokku at home. Hence, I began my experiment with the same and tried it a couple of times with some minute tweaks. I finally achieved the taste of the original Thokku and now it is my yearly ritual to prepare this in the season and preserving it for my year-round usage. This recipe has minimal ingredients and is very easy to prepare.

main 2

Now to the recipe:

Ingredients:

Amla – 300 grams.

Green chillies – 80 -100 grams

Mustard seeds – 2 tbsp.

Salt –to taste

Turmeric powder – 1tsp.

Method:

-Wash amla, pat dry them and remove the seeds.

-wash green chillies and pat dry them as well.

-put mustard and turmeric in a small mixer jar and powder it. Now add cleaned gooseberry and green chilies little by little and churn (dry grinding), take this out and keep it in a clean bottle, mix in salt and keep this bottle tightly closed in a cool, dry place.

-Every day mix this Thokku with a dry spoon/spatula, until it is set (almost 10 days), check for salt (it should be a little salty)

– After it sets, store this in a fridge.

Ways to Use this Thokku:

  • You can have this Thokku with white rice and little ghee.
  • You can also have it with curd rice.
  • Lassi: mix 1 tea spoon of Thokku in thin butter milk and drink as spicy, tangy lassi.
  • Make raita with curd: In a vessel take one table spoon of Thokku, add little curd and chopped onion, mix nicely and relish this raita with plain rice.

raita 3

  • It helps to reduce acidity and soothes. It also helps to regain appetite when you are not well.