Vadu Mangai

Summer reminds me of mangoes in all forms. Especially, the start of summer brings memories of childhood days where we used to have curd rice and vadu mangai or maavadu(baby mangoes) for lunch everyday. Though I was brought up in Mumbai, we always had the tradition of preparing pickles and storing it for the whole year. Be it maavadu or narthangai or avakai, pickles are a specialty. Nowadays we get all types of pickles in the market, but homemade pickles are always the best!

Ingredients
Baby Mango (Maavadu) - 1 kg
Crystal Salt - 150 gms
Red Chilli Powder - 100 gms
Turmeric Powder - 1 tbsp
Mustard Seeds - 50 gms

Method
Clean the mangoes and allow to drain. Wipe every single mango with a cloth until completely dry and leave it airy.
In a air tight bottle or ceramic jar, add a little salt first. Mix salt, red chilli powder and turmeric powder and keep it ready.
Place a handful of maavadu in the jar, then top it with the mix, keep alternating for all the mangoes.
Mix well and store in a air tight. Everyday mix all the mangoes, so that the spice mix doesnt precipitate.
Keep mustard seeds in good sunlight for 2-3 days and grind to a fine powder. Add this to the pickle after 3 days, and mix well. By this time the salt would have melted to water and the maavadu would be soaking in it.
After 10 days you will notice all the water inherent in the mango would have come out and the mangoes would have compressed nicely. Thats when the spices have all been finely infused and the pickle is at its best.
Im sending this to Kalyani's Pickles and Preserves Fest, Cooking with love~Dad, a brain child of Sara.

Note:
Use a dry spoon everytime you mix or serve. Dry wooden spoons or ladles are preferred. Else the pickle could get spoilt easily.

Bon Appetit!!
Rudra