Summer is setting in and it is Mango season once again. We will all get busy with preparing Mango pickles – varieties of them. One of the varieties is the famous Adai Mangai. It is stuffed Mangoes – stuffed with masala Powder and allowed to get seeped with the masala into it. It is easy to make this pickle, but a little time consuming – takes a few days to get them in the required way. The step by step method is explained below. What we need is less tangy, fully matured Mangoes with the seeds before they get ripened. There are lovers of this Adai Mangai. Try it at home.
Ingredients :
Fenugreek Seeds – 1 tsp
Mustard Seeds – 2 tbsp
Oil – ½ tsp
Asafoetida – 2 small pieces or ½ tsp
Salt (White Salt Crystals) – 4 tbsp or 1/3 cup
Red Chilli Powder – 1/3 cup
Turmeric Powder – 1 tsp
Less Tangy medium sized & round shaped Mangoes – 2 Kgs (5 to 6 pieces
Method:
Clean the Mangoes well in water, wipe them dry.
Dry roast the white Salt crystals and powder them.
Dry roast Fenugreek Seeds in medium flame to a light brown color and transfer to a bowl and allow them to cool. Dry roast the Mustard Seeds till they start sizzling and transfer to the same bowl.
Heat ½ tsp of Oil and roast the Asafoetida. Transfer and allow it to cool.
Blend the Mustard Seeds, Fenugreek Seeds, Asafoetida and Salt together. Add the Turmeric Powder and blend all of them together to a fine powder. Transfer to a bowl. Check Salt. It should be slightly on the higher side. If not, add more Salt and blend again.
Make two deep slits in each Mango. It should not get separated.
Stuff the above powder into those slits ensuring the Mango do not separate into two pieces.
Arrange the Mangoes in abroad vessel. (Food grade plastic vessel, porcelain or glass vessel is preferred. Metal vessels would get spoiled with the Mango Juices, Salt etc).
Sprinkle the excess Masala on top of the Mangoes. Cover the vessel with a lid and allow them to rest for a day without disturbing them.
On the next day, you will find all the masala would have turned liquid. Check and adjust Salt, if required. (Just sprinkle the Salt.) Gently flip the Mangoes with a spoon carefully. Cover and allow them to rest for 3 to 4 days. But, flip the Mangoes at least twice or thrice a day. If you find the liquid becoming very less, boil 1/3 to ½ cup of water, allow the water to cool and then add to the vessel containing the Mangoes. Mix gently so that all the Mangoes become wet.
At the end of the three or four days of resting, the Mangoes would have changed the color a little. (They would have become a little pale). Take out the Mangoes one by one with spoon and keep in a plate with enough space in between each Mango. Keep the plate with the Mangoes directly under the sun. Keep the vessel which is containing the liquid also in the sun. Ensure that you cover the Mangoes and the liquid with a very thin cloth so that dust does not settle on them. In the evening, put back the Mangoes into the vessel (containing the liquid), mix gently so that all Mangoes get wet with the liquid, cover the vessel and allow to rest overnight. Repeat this process every day and you will see that the liquid evaporates completely and the Mangoes would also become semi dry. Store them in an air tight nonmetallic container.
