Now it is peak summer in India. One fruit that is associated with summers in India is mango- ‘the fruit of gods’. The market is now flooded with mangoes of different hues, shapes and size. Summer is also associated with pickling. Today I will share the recipe of sweet and tangy mango chunda.
Also check recipe of raw mango salad that I had shared earlier. I very often make aam panna – a traditional Indian drink using raw mangoes.
Now a variety of pickles and preserves are available in market. But market bought pickles very often contain preservatives. Moreover when we make these pickles at home, we can use best quality ingredients, and also make the pickle according to our taste. It is not very difficult to make these pickles. Earlier there used to be large joint families, and even five kg pickle could not survive one year. But now with smaller nuclear families small amount of pickle is enough. Cutting half kg of vegetable and pickling does not require much effort. I have made it a habit of pickling and preserving seasonal vegetables in small quantities, and believe me these seasonal pickles enhance the taste of any meal by few notches.
Watch video to see how I made mango chunda:
For aam ka chunda, it is necessary to use firm raw mangoes that are sour in taste. I washed, wiped, and peeled the mangoes. Then grated them using slightly bigger grooves of the grater. If the mango is grated very fine, we will get paste-like consistency of chunda. We want grains of mango visible in chunda. I have used jaggery as sweetener here. It is much more nutritious as compared to white sugar. If you want you can replace jaggery with white sugar. With sugar the color of chunda is golden brown whereas when we use jaggery we get dark brown chunda.
I added salt and turmeric powder to grated mango. Presence of salt made mango sweat. I then kept this grated mango on low flame of gas. We have to keep stirring the mango while cooking it. I then added crushed jaggery to it. Jaggery gradually dissolved in mango juice. When the juice thickened and reached two thread consistency, I switched off the gas. At this stage the mixture was thick and not completely dry. If we dry it completely, chunda will become hard and chewy. So keep some liquid in the mixture. On cooling it will thicken further. I then added asafoetida, red chili powder and roasted cumin seed powder to it. When the chunda cooled down completely, I stored it in clean glass jar. It stays well for one year.
Sweet and tangy mango chunda is ready
This tangy tasty mango chunda goes well with hot parathas and other Indian breads. My daughter applies it on bread slice and uses it as mango jam.
You might also like desserts such as mango vanilla panna cotta, and fruit trifle pudding where I have used mangoes.
Recipe of mango chunda
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- 1 cup peeled, grated raw mango Use firm raw mango that is sour in taste.
- 1 and 1/2 cup crushed jaggery
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1 teaspoon red chilli powder
- 1/4 teaspoon heeng/asafoetida
- 1 teaspoon roasted cumin powder
- salt to taste
- Add turmeric powder and salt to grated raw mango and mix well. On addition of salt, the mango will start to sweat.
- Put the fire proof pan containing mango on low flame and stir the mixture for a minute. Now add crushed jaggery. Mix well, and gently press the pieces of jaggery (if any), so that they all dissolve in the juice of mango.
- Once there is enough juice in the pan, you may increase the flame of gas, but continuously keep stirring the content.
- When most of the juice has dried and the mixture reaches two thread constituency, switch off the gas. Now add red chili powder, asafoetida, and roasted cumin seeds powder to the mango. Chunda is ready. Taste and adjust salt and chili according to your taste.
- When chunda cools down, transfer it to clean glass jar. Serve it with parathas, chapatis or as side dish with any Indian meal. It can also be spread on bread slices.
Tips:
- Use firm raw mangoes which are sour in taste. If the mangoes are not very sour, reduce the quantity of jaggery.
- Always use clean spoon while handling chunda. Take care of cleanliness, and chunda will survive for more then a year.
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