(Indian) Mango Pickle

I have a lot of mangoes. When I say a lot, I mean 15 mangoes. I bought them for £2. I think that's a pretty great deal.

So I needed to make some Tomato Chutney and not being able to get hold of green tomatoes, I settled on three massive punnets of red cherry tomatoes for £1, which makes the whole enterprise a lot more cost effective. Then I grabbed some standard onions (40p a pound) a couple of chillis, some courgettes and spices etc.

I followed the recipe found here because frankly, Elise is FANTASTIC, plus I've made it before. I added a whole chopped courgette because the first time I made this recipe we were in the midst of a Courgette glut and I had a rather unruly 'marrow' to use up, so in it went and it was great. I also macerated the tomatoes, onions and courgettes before I started, with 30g of salt and a bit of sugar. I don't think I'll do this again as the results are too salty, the whole batch tastes like ketchup, which is fine except I was making relish, not ketchup, so boo to the recipe that recommended that technique.

So I finished brewing that concoction and had cored and chopped 10 mangoes in the interim (what better to do on one's birthday?) and figured I'd try making Indian mango pickle. My Grandad eats this like a fiend and gets it from his neighbours. I'd always wondered how it was made so I looked it up. If you follow the recipe below with a couple of underripe mangoes (aren't they always, in the UK!?) then you'll get delicious results but I didn't want to risk this uncooked pickle as a gift. To get around this I've totally bastardised the recipe, (scuse language).

http://www.tarladalal.com/Mango-Pickle-(-South-Indian-Recipe-)-32879r


My recipe

Ingredients


1 to 2 medium sized raw mangoes cut into thin slices

1 Onion, thinly sliced
1 tbsp salt
1 Lime, juiced
1 inch of fresh ginger, grated
1/2 Cup of Vinegar (cider or your preference)

1 tsp chilli powder
1 tbsp mustard seeds ( rai / sarson)
A Pinch of fenugreek (methi) seeds
1 tbsp turmeric powder (haldi)
1 tbsp Onion Seeds (also known as Kalonji/Nigella)
1 tbsp Garam Masala
1 tbsp Smoked Paprika
1 cups sesame (til) oil or whatever is on hand
1 Onion grated
1 Courgette Grated
1 chilli (mild)

Marinade the Mangoes in lime, ginger, salt and vinegar.Dry roast all the spices then add the oil to the hot pan, once its hot quickly add the grated onion, chilli and grated courgette to cool the oil, let stand a while.Add the mango mix and heat on medium (gentle bubble) until you start to see the grated vegetables disappear and the larger mango and onion softer (30 minutes)I added around a cup of the liquid from the macerated tomatoes and onions (see above) but water should have the same effect.Once the oil starts to separate out and it seems to have the right consistency, place in hot jars and seal.