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) 

Chutney

I tried making the traditional chutney (with some changes) and now all at home are of the opinion that  I am the chutney expert.

So come Sunday and the first thing that I have to do (after my morning tea) is to make the chutney.

This is to go with the breakfast which could be Idli or dosa or appam or uttappam.

One of the reasons why the family likes this chutney is the green colour.

Adding the ingredients in the right proportion is the trick.

Grated coconut is the base, to which I add a few pods of garlic, a little shaving of ginger, a few bulbs of the small onions (commonly known as the sambhar onion) a little bit of imli (tamarind) , one long green chilli, a few leaves of pudina (mint) and lots of curry leaves (yes that is the secret ingredient that makes the whole chutney go green) Of course salt to taste.

Grind all these together in a mixer by adding a little warm water till you get a good paste.

The final step is to do the seasoning with  rai (mustard seeds) and one or two dried red chilly, a few curry leaves and lo behold the chutney is ready.

This is not as green as my usual chutney.
I had to click this before it was set on the table (along with uttappa)

Now don’t ask me how to make uttappa. That is my wife’s department.