Manga saadham (Raw mango rice)
So this is the part I totally totally miss being in chennai/ bangalore, India – Summers. While I hate summers, I have my most fond memories of my childhood around summers. I don’t think I hated summers back then at all. I don’t think it mattered to me what weather it was outside. It was all about spending the whole day with friends doing absolutely good for nothing things and of course, eat a lot. I also remember spending a portion of my holidays every now and then with my cousins at my mamas’ place. One thing all these things had in common were Mangoessssssss. I still remember us cousins waiting eagerly for my mama to get back from work since he bought us fresh mangoes every night. My paati (grandmom) would slice it up for us & serve it with curd rice. While I have never been a fan of the combo, I loved devouring into the mango slices. Each day one of us got turns to suck the flesh around the seed & those were the lucky ones that day :D. Mangoes are my hands down favourite fruit or maybe even food :). I remember a phase where I had mangoes for breakfast lunch & dinner. Aaah, what a blissful I tell you. Now, I do just 1 meal of mangoes during the mango season :). Anyways, as much as a fan of mangoes I have always been, I never had much of a taste for raw mangoes back then. Now I appreciate all forms of mangoes :D. I am sure my mom tried to give me this raw mango as a kid & I rejected it. Now, I am all up for embracing it & soaking in its glory :). This raw mango rice was soooo easy to make but tastes so different from the regular mixed rice that we normally have. A welcome change based on the season indeed :).
My friend Yogesh says I am a non-indian cook/ blogger & I am hoping to make a difference with this post :D. When I learnt that my mil was gonna make this for me & D, I told her that I need to need to have this documented and yayyy :). Adya as usual was all up for ‘helping’. He wanted to stir the raw mangoes, he wanted to salt, he wanted to click pictures but what caught his attention the most was the cute little crockery in which I took my final pictures. He liked it so much that he was nibbling out of it (phew, so picturing this wasn’t all that hard because usually he concentrates on moving the crockery around :D). When I finished clicking the final pictures, I transferred this rice to our lunch boxes and left a teeny tiny portion in the dish for Adya to dish it out and boy, he really enjoyed doing that even though this dish was wayyyyy above his spice levels. So after all, half the problem is solved with the presentation of a dish :D.
- 4 cups cooked basmati rice
- 2 cups shredded/ grated raw mango
- 2 tbsp refined oil
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 1.5 tbsp channa dal/ split chickpea
- 1.5 tbsp urad dal/ black gram
- 1/4 tsp asafodita
- 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
- 4 nos green chillies
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Wash & clean raw mango and grate it. Set it aside. Slice green chillies thin and long.
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In a pan/ kadai, heat some oil. Once heated, add mustard seeds.
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Once it starts to splutter, add channa dal & urad dal. Saute till they start to brown.
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Add turmeric & asafodita now.
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Along with it, add green chillies & saute till they start to change colour.
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Throw in the grated mango & mix well.
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Let the mixture cook on medium heat for 3-5 minutes. Salt at this stage.
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When the mangoes shreds have softened, turn off the heat. Allow the mixture to cool down.
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Once cooled completely, add the rice & mix with a fork (so as to not break the rice). Check & adjust for salt.
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Leave it in the pan for a few minutes for the flavours to soak into the rice.
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Serve warm alongside some pickle & chips/ appalam.
- My mil added 3.5 cups of cooked rice first & then did a tasting before adding the remaining. This is because each mango's tanginess varies & each person like/ dislike as well. So start by adding 3-3.5 cups of cooked rice first & then increase it to 4 cups if you feel the need to.
Stepwise pictures
Do the prep work of grating raw mango, slitting green chillies. Meanwhile, head some oil in a pan/ kadai add mustard seeds and once it splutters, add channa dal & urad dal.
Let the dals/ lentils start to brown. Add the turmeric & asafodita.
Add the slit green chillies & saute till they start to change in colour.
Add the grated raw mango at this stage & saute.
Saute for 3-5 minutes (or till the raw mango softens). Salt at this stage.
Once the mango softens, turn off the heat (typically this takes around 5 minutes on medium heat).
Once the mixture cools down, mix with cooked rice. Check & adjust for salt. Let it sit in the pan for a few minutes for the flavours to soak in the rice.
Serve warm!
