Friday, April 7, 2017

Manga Chammandi

There is a mango tree right outside my window and looking at those mangoes reminds me of the lovely “Manga chammandi” (Mango Chutney) my aunt used to make. 



I had to just pluck a mango and give it to her and she would make it in a jiffy, grinding all the ingredients together manually on a grinding stone.
With a vague memory of how she made it, I tried to do the same. Plucked a mango, added a few leaves of Kadipatta (curry leaves) and just three of these chillies from the garden. 



Got a medium sized coconut from the store, and grated half of it.
Adding a pinch of salt for taste, ground the whole thing in a mixer. (would have loved to do it manually on a grinding stone, but unfortunately we  don’t have one now)
The end result was not bad, but I am sure that my aunt’s chammandi was better. 


Plucking the mango was a bit tricky. It was a case of “so near and yet so far” 



Was thinking of designing a fruit plucker, when I came across a small video which showed “many uses of plastic bottles” and I used one of the ideas mentioned there.  Simple but very effective. 



All in all, it was a very fruitful experience. (reminded me of how we used to steal mangoes as a kid) 



21 comments:

Aditya Titus said...

👍👍 elegant in its own way. I ejoyed reading it.

Anonymous said...

Nice use of your photography skills, interest in cooking and passion for eating. - Sanjay Chandane.

Ankita said...

I love mango in every form :D

That bottle trick looks cool!

Alicia said...

I've never had mango chutney, but anything with Mango, Coconut and Chile Peppers sounds good to me! Love the photos and thanks for sharing the memory of your aunt.

Jeannette said...

I have a Kadipatta tree in a pot on my front porch. It was given to me as tiny seedling by a lady celebrating her 90th birthday. Much of her family lives in the US now, but she is back home in India. I only knew it as a curry tree and have been wanting to find out more about it, so this is a good start.

I like your fruit picker. I have one my dad made many years ago, It is an old metal coffee can on the end of a stick. The advantage it that the edge of the can can help cut the fruit off the tree. I put a rag in the can so the fruit has a softer and clean landing.

You have pretty pictures and an interesting narrative as always.

DUTA said...

You seem to be a very resourceful person.
Thanks for sharing your ideas of plucking a mango and turning it into chutney.
I love mangos both for their taste and health benefits. I wish I also had a mango tree outside my window!

only slightly confused said...

It sounds delicious and how lovely to have a tree of your very own.

Corinne Rodrigues said...

I'm enjoying the varieties of Telangana and Andhra mamidikai pachadis now. Bliss!

Haddock said...

@slightly confused: it is not exactly my own tree, but then what is life if we don't indulge in some activities which brings back childhood memories 😌

Antonina said...

My mom was staying with us in Mumbai for almost half a year. When she was getting back home, my mother-in-law gave her a jar of mango pickles. Everyone back in Ukraine simply adored it - they finished the jar in no time! :)

Anita said...

Looks good!!

And nice pix of it :))))

magiceye said...

The result must have been yummy!

Theresa said...

Very interesting and enjoyable, seems you have gone back to nature.

Nancy Chan said...

That is a great method of plucking mango. I love ripe mangoes. I would love to try mango chutney.

Baiba said...

What kind of magical place do you live in, where you have mango trees!?
It counts as a bit of a fancy fruit in Latvia, as we don't grow them here. Don't want to brag, but I make some delicious mango cupcakes! I might try mango chutney! Thank you :)

Marie said...

sweet memory of your aunt. :)
happy week to you & yours,
Marie

Obsessivemom said...

Love those mangoes and the chutney too.

Vineeta Yashssvii said...

what a mouth watering chutny... I will surly try this at home...

Sujatha Sathya said...

those pics loved them esp the curry leaves...with the water still on the leaves...fresh

childhood tastes linger on , don't they!
mango the king of fruits not for nothing

Swapna Raghu Sanand said...

I just had idlis with fresh mango chammanthi last weekend and I could so connect to this post:)

Amelia said...

Hi Haddock, the mango and chili look good. Great idea to use bottle to pluck the mango. :)) Thanks for sharing.

Have a nice weekend, regards.
Amelia