Mango Pickle/Maangai Oorgai

Today I am going to share a delightful, lip smacking and tempting mango pickle. This mango pickle is my mom’s recipe and she makes it every year for the whole family. The mangoes I used are from my mom’s back yard; they are extremely sour and are perfect for pickles. Try this fool proof mango pickle recipe and enjoy. Meanwhile do check out other interesting and tempting Pickle/Oorgai varieties here.

Here’s how to make Mango Pickle with step by step photos…

Ingredients

Cleaned and Cut Mango Pieces	1 kg
Red Chilli Powder	1 cup /200 gms
Mustard Powder/Kadugu Podi	200 gms
Fenugreek/Methi Seeds/Vendhayam	2 tbsp
Salt [Sea Salt]	1 cup
Gingelly Oil/Nallaennai	1 ½ cup

Preparation Time:
Author: Priya Anandakumar

Preparations:

To make pickles, selection of mangoes plays an important role. Choose big, sour and firm mangoes.

I have used  home grown mangoes [from my mom’s backyard] they are extremely sour. And when freshly plucked the mangoes will have a sticky liquid on it which has to be cleaned. Add all the mangoes to a bucket of clean water and let it soak for about 30 minutes. Now wash the mangoes thoroughly by rubbing with your palms. Drain all the water completely.

Take a clean dry cloth and wipe each mango thoroughly. Let the mangoes dry on a clean cloth in shade for about 10 minutes.

After it is completely dry, cut the mangoes to bite size pieces. Do not make it very small, the mangoes will become mushy later on in the pickle.

Add 3/4 cup of sea salt to the cut mango pieces in a wide bowl . Shake really well so that the mango pieces are uniformly covered with the salt.

Tie a cloth around the bowl and keep it in sunlight  for about  4 days or in a warm place. this is ensure that the skin of the mango pieces become tender and soft in the sunlight.

Every day make sure you shake the mangoes really well and it will have some water content from the salt. If not add little salt and shake well.  IF you feel the mango is tender and ready in the third day itself, then you can follow the below procedure to make the pickle.

Now the cut mango pieces are ready to be pickled.

Method

Dry roast the mustard seeds in a pan and transfer it to a plate. Let it cool.

In the same pan dry roast the fenugreek seeds/vendhayam and transfer it to a plate. Let it cool.

Now grind the roasted mustard seeds and fenugreek seeds in a mixer to a fine powder.

In a wide bowl add the cut mango pieces, red chilli powder,little salt and mix thoroughly.

Now add the ground mustard & vendhayam powder to the mango pieces and mix really well. I have not used hand at any point. I have used a clean ladle throughout the process. 

Add about 1.25 cup of oil and mix really well. Make sure all the mango pieces are completely covered with the masala. At this point check the masala taste and adjust the salt if needed.

Now transfer the prepared mango pickle to a clean jar. Now pour rest of the oil to the mango pickle as a thin layer of oil must always be present in the pickle to prevent it from getting spoilt. Make sure the oil should float for up to ½ inch over the pickle.

Now cover the jar with lid and tie a clean white cloth over it and keep it in sunlight for one day. If you live in a place where you don’t get sunlight you have to rest the mango pickle in a moisture free area. The mangoes will ooze out all the moisture.

After keeping it in sunlight, open the cloth and mix the pickle very gently with a clean ladle. Cover the jar with white cloth, place the lid over it. Let the pickle marinate for another 4 days.

After 4 days, mix the pickle with clean, dry ladle.

Yummy, lip smacking and finger licking mango pickle is ready for consumption.

Suggestions:

Use only sour mango for the pickle.

I use only homemade red chilli powder, so I recommend the same to all of you.

Use only clean dry spoon every time to get pickle from the jar.

Make sure the pickle jar is tightly closed.

Oil must float on top, if you feel the pickle is dry add more gingelly oil/nallenai to the pickle.

Thank you all for visiting my space, please come back again for more traditional and authentic recipes from my kitchen. 

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Have a great day and enjoy.

Until then I am signing off…