As it always happens, the best mangoes are chosen first for making   pickle and chutney. Small ones are left, often neglected in some corner of the kitchen table. The heat shrivels them and turns them slightly tender, yellow and mildly sweet. They are in between- neither   ripe nor raw.  To salvage them, all I could think of  was to make instant sweet mango chutney. Easy to make and great in taste….

Ingredients
Slightly ripe mangoes
Salt to taste
Sugar to taste
Roasted and powdered cumin seeds 1 tsp.
Method
Peel   the mangoes.


 Remove the pulp.
I had a cup of pulp. Put all the ingredients in the blender.  Blend it well. This chutney requires very little sugar as the mangoes are not raw. The quantity of salt and sugar can vary according to taste. The chutney has a smooth texture and goes very well with rice and daal. It should be consumed fresh. Can be stored for a day or two in refrigerator.


 
A freak storm last week left us with baskets of raw mangoes from our only mango tree. There is a great sentimental value attached to home grown fruits and not using them and giving them away always leaves a sense of guilt. The obvious option left was to dig out recipes from the old diary lying in some forgotten corner of the cupboard.
Since the mangoes were raw, they were best suited to make Sweet Mango Chutney.
Ingredients
1 kg raw mangoes
Jaggery (sugar can also be used) double the quantity of mango pieces
Salt (½ tsp per cup of mango pieces)
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp roasted cumin seeds, 2 tsp roasted fennel seeds coarsely ground.
½ tsp asafoetida
1 tsp vegetable oil
½ cup water
Method
Wash and peel the mangoes. Cut them into long thin pieces. Measure the quantity of mango pieces.
Crumble jaggery. Quantity of crumbled jaggery will be exactly the double of mango pieces measured in a cup. If there are two cups of mango pieces, then four cups of jaggery will be used.
Take the mango pieces in a heavy bottomed steel pan. Add salt and turmeric powder. Let it cook on low flame for sometime. When the mango pieces become tender, turn off the gas. Add jaggery and water. Let it stand for sometime.
Now cook on medium flame stirring continuously till a thick consistency is obtained.

 Let the chutney cool. Add cumin and fennel seeds. Heat oil add, asafoetida and add it to chutney. Stir well and store in a bottle. Refrigerate.

This recipe comes from my mother. This chutney has a great taste. It peps up simple roti subzi and daal chawal. It has a shelf life of a week but it never lasts that long…..

Mishti Doi- my all time favourite is what I would like to start my blog with. Every time I prepare it, it sends me down the memory lane and reminds me of our childhood days when we would go to our Aunt’s place in Chittaranjan Park to spend our vacations. Going to a Bengali sweet shop to have mishti doi every evening was a must. We would relish the cold mishti doi served in kulhars for a long time scraping every bit of it from the corners and crevices of the clay pot.
That taste and flavour still lingers on ……
My recipe is a little different from the traditional Bengali recipe.

MISHTI DOI (SWEET CURDS)

INGREDIENTS
3 teacups toned milk
5 teaspoons sugar (sugar can be according to taste).
2 pinches cardamom powder
3 pinches saffron strands
2 teaspoons milk powder
2 teaspoons fresh curds as starter

METHOD
Add milk powder and sugar to the milk in a thick bottomed vessel and mix well.
Boil the milk stirring continuously for sometime till it thickens slightly.
While the milk cools, take some warm milk in a bowl and add saffron. Stir till it dissolves.
Add the dissolved saffron to the milk. Add powdered cardamom.
While the milk is lukewarm, add curds and mix it well.
Pour this mixture into individual kulhars / bowls / glasses.
  Cover and keep in a closed cupboard to set. When set, place in the        
   refrigerator.  Serve chilled. 
   Note: I use mineral sugar for this recipe. It is healthier than the white  
    sugar and lends a lovely caramel colour to the curds.





                                                                                           
MISHTI DOI
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