Mango Rice
Yesterday, I described a visit to some friends' home that had left lingering memories in my mind. Well, it was not only the things that I saw that left an impact - there was one other thing that left me rather impressed, and it had to do with my taste buds!
After our tour of the house and it's surroundings I had felt rather thirsty and had made my way to the kitchen along with the lady who helps out at our friends' place. As I quenched my thirst with some cool water, she showed me something that she was rather proud of. Earlier, in the garden, she had showed me the saplings of various herbs that had been planted such as mint, parsley, coriander, thyme and so on. Now, she took off the lids from a couple of bowls and showed me their contents. In one I saw some green-colored rice and in the other there was white rice mixed with a yellow-looking substance. She explained that she had tried out two rice recipes and almost all the ingredients were sourced from their garden! Getting to cook with fresh produce from one's own garden was a blessing indeed! I could well understand her excitement and delight as she encouraged me to taste the two dishes. I first tried the green rice and it tasted like rice mixed with the green chutney that I remembered my mother making when we used to live in Delhi. The yellow rice tasted somewhat tangy, like the lemon rice that I was familiar with. I asked what I was tasting in the two dishes and she was only too happy to oblige. The green rice comprised white rice mixed, as I correctly surmised, with a green chutney made from a combination of herbs like mint, coriander and curry leaves with a bit of green chilies added to give it a zing! This was very similar to my mother's green chutney except that for nourishment and nutrition she sometimes added leaves of fenugreek and spinach to the chutney without any of us kids realizing! This was her way of making us stubborn ignoramuses in the family who did not quite appreciate the benefits of green leafy vegetables, consume them without a whine!
The yellow rice was a revelation for me. She told me that the yellowy thing mixed with the white rice was actually raw mangoes (this ingredient was market procured as mango trees would be hard to grow in this region and are hence, mostly imported) grated finely to mix well with the rice! This was news to me. I had previously tasted a variety of rice dishes typical of the South such as lemon rice, curd rice, tamarind rice, tomato rice and even a specialty of the North - Meethe Chaawal - having saffron and sugar/jaggery as the main ingredients. So, the fact that the mouth-watering raw mango could be consumed in this new avataar had eluded me - until now! There is one peculiarity about all these varieties of rice dishes made in the South, however, and it is that all the main ingredients are tangy in taste! In the North of India on the other hand, it is not so. There are many rice dishes including pulaos and biryanis made from different kinds of vegetarian and non-vegatarian ingredients, even the humble Peele Chaawal made simply with turmeric and red chilly powder, and Zeera Rice made with cumin seeds and thinly-sliced onions.
And so, the idea of trying out this delicious recipe germinated in my mind until I got home and tried it out a couple of days later. The first thing I did was to do an Internet search to find out if any varieties of the dish existed. I was not really surprised to discover that this dish formed part of the cuisine of almost all the Southern States including during festivals and had its own regional name to go with, based on geography. For instance, Tamilians call it Mangai Saadam, while in Andhra Pradesh and Telengana as Mamidikaya Pulihora and in Karnataka as Maavinakayi Chitranna it forms an important part of Ugadi celebrations.
The Internet recipes were more or less the same and after I had got a fair idea of the ingredients, I got down to the preparation of the dish. Anyone familiar with lemon rice would find this dish to be very similar in terms of the ingredients with the raw mango replacing the lemon rice, to simplify things! So, to start making the dish the first thing required is some cooked white rice. It is better to stay away from Basmati and rather opt for smaller grained rice as the strong flavor of Basmati rice might interfere with the rest of the flavors. Leftover rice kept in the fridge can also be used as this dish serves as a useful way of dealing with leftovers that we sometimes find hard to dispose of! Once you have the rice ready, get down to washing and peeling the raw mangoes. A couple of medium-sized ones would do for a start, but do keep in mind the quantity of cooked rice you have on hand. Next, finely grate the mangoes and keep them aside. Now, you need to keep ready the following ingredients as all of them would need to be used quickly one after the other. So, keep aside a few grains each of of split urad dal and chana dal, some peanuts or cashew nuts, couple of dry red chilies (sabut mirch), some curry leaves, couple of split green chilies, some ginger either in paste from or chopped up very fine, some thinly-sliced shallots (onions are not present in any of the recipes I came across, but I added them as a personal preference) and some asafoetida (hing).
Once the preparation is done, we can get down to the cooking. So, we heat a kadai or wok and add some oil. Once the oil turns hot we sputter some mustard and cumin seeds, and quickly add the chana dal and urad dal. Remember to turn down the heat to meduim-low before adding the dals, otherwise the dals might get burnt and not crispy as is the desired outcome! Next add the peanuts or cashews depending on what you prefer. Then, in go the dry red chilies, curry leaves, ginger, onions and green chilies. Keep stirring and frying all the ingredients. Once the onions turn golden, add some turmeric powder and a pinch of hing and stir. Next, add the grated mangoes and salt per your taste and cook for a couple of minutes till the mangoes turn tender. Finally, add the cooked rice and mix everything well enough so that the rice absorbs all the flavors. Turn off the heat and keep mixing the rice for a couple of minutes more. Before serving you may fry/roast a couple of papads for accompaniment. Else, this delicious dish can be savored with a bit of salad or raita or anything that you fancy - the possibilities are endless if you put a bit of imagination into what makes your taste buds dance! Enjoy cooking this dish, and bon appétit!
After our tour of the house and it's surroundings I had felt rather thirsty and had made my way to the kitchen along with the lady who helps out at our friends' place. As I quenched my thirst with some cool water, she showed me something that she was rather proud of. Earlier, in the garden, she had showed me the saplings of various herbs that had been planted such as mint, parsley, coriander, thyme and so on. Now, she took off the lids from a couple of bowls and showed me their contents. In one I saw some green-colored rice and in the other there was white rice mixed with a yellow-looking substance. She explained that she had tried out two rice recipes and almost all the ingredients were sourced from their garden! Getting to cook with fresh produce from one's own garden was a blessing indeed! I could well understand her excitement and delight as she encouraged me to taste the two dishes. I first tried the green rice and it tasted like rice mixed with the green chutney that I remembered my mother making when we used to live in Delhi. The yellow rice tasted somewhat tangy, like the lemon rice that I was familiar with. I asked what I was tasting in the two dishes and she was only too happy to oblige. The green rice comprised white rice mixed, as I correctly surmised, with a green chutney made from a combination of herbs like mint, coriander and curry leaves with a bit of green chilies added to give it a zing! This was very similar to my mother's green chutney except that for nourishment and nutrition she sometimes added leaves of fenugreek and spinach to the chutney without any of us kids realizing! This was her way of making us stubborn ignoramuses in the family who did not quite appreciate the benefits of green leafy vegetables, consume them without a whine!
The yellow rice was a revelation for me. She told me that the yellowy thing mixed with the white rice was actually raw mangoes (this ingredient was market procured as mango trees would be hard to grow in this region and are hence, mostly imported) grated finely to mix well with the rice! This was news to me. I had previously tasted a variety of rice dishes typical of the South such as lemon rice, curd rice, tamarind rice, tomato rice and even a specialty of the North - Meethe Chaawal - having saffron and sugar/jaggery as the main ingredients. So, the fact that the mouth-watering raw mango could be consumed in this new avataar had eluded me - until now! There is one peculiarity about all these varieties of rice dishes made in the South, however, and it is that all the main ingredients are tangy in taste! In the North of India on the other hand, it is not so. There are many rice dishes including pulaos and biryanis made from different kinds of vegetarian and non-vegatarian ingredients, even the humble Peele Chaawal made simply with turmeric and red chilly powder, and Zeera Rice made with cumin seeds and thinly-sliced onions.
And so, the idea of trying out this delicious recipe germinated in my mind until I got home and tried it out a couple of days later. The first thing I did was to do an Internet search to find out if any varieties of the dish existed. I was not really surprised to discover that this dish formed part of the cuisine of almost all the Southern States including during festivals and had its own regional name to go with, based on geography. For instance, Tamilians call it Mangai Saadam, while in Andhra Pradesh and Telengana as Mamidikaya Pulihora and in Karnataka as Maavinakayi Chitranna it forms an important part of Ugadi celebrations.
The Internet recipes were more or less the same and after I had got a fair idea of the ingredients, I got down to the preparation of the dish. Anyone familiar with lemon rice would find this dish to be very similar in terms of the ingredients with the raw mango replacing the lemon rice, to simplify things! So, to start making the dish the first thing required is some cooked white rice. It is better to stay away from Basmati and rather opt for smaller grained rice as the strong flavor of Basmati rice might interfere with the rest of the flavors. Leftover rice kept in the fridge can also be used as this dish serves as a useful way of dealing with leftovers that we sometimes find hard to dispose of! Once you have the rice ready, get down to washing and peeling the raw mangoes. A couple of medium-sized ones would do for a start, but do keep in mind the quantity of cooked rice you have on hand. Next, finely grate the mangoes and keep them aside. Now, you need to keep ready the following ingredients as all of them would need to be used quickly one after the other. So, keep aside a few grains each of of split urad dal and chana dal, some peanuts or cashew nuts, couple of dry red chilies (sabut mirch), some curry leaves, couple of split green chilies, some ginger either in paste from or chopped up very fine, some thinly-sliced shallots (onions are not present in any of the recipes I came across, but I added them as a personal preference) and some asafoetida (hing).
Once the preparation is done, we can get down to the cooking. So, we heat a kadai or wok and add some oil. Once the oil turns hot we sputter some mustard and cumin seeds, and quickly add the chana dal and urad dal. Remember to turn down the heat to meduim-low before adding the dals, otherwise the dals might get burnt and not crispy as is the desired outcome! Next add the peanuts or cashews depending on what you prefer. Then, in go the dry red chilies, curry leaves, ginger, onions and green chilies. Keep stirring and frying all the ingredients. Once the onions turn golden, add some turmeric powder and a pinch of hing and stir. Next, add the grated mangoes and salt per your taste and cook for a couple of minutes till the mangoes turn tender. Finally, add the cooked rice and mix everything well enough so that the rice absorbs all the flavors. Turn off the heat and keep mixing the rice for a couple of minutes more. Before serving you may fry/roast a couple of papads for accompaniment. Else, this delicious dish can be savored with a bit of salad or raita or anything that you fancy - the possibilities are endless if you put a bit of imagination into what makes your taste buds dance! Enjoy cooking this dish, and bon appétit!
Yummy - Delicious dish - The way it is described , one feels like tasting it forthwith
ReplyDeleteThank you so much Uncle! It is a delight to receive such encouraging feedback. N very inspiring too. Please, do read more as and when you can.
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