Miracles of Nature is everywhere.
While all the world is in Partial lockdown, and life is literally come to a pause, the flowers and fruits continue to bloom and in this season, I have tasted some amazing mangoes that were sent to me directly from the farms of Devgarh. When they arrived they were raw, I spread them to mature in my spare room and watched them everyday as they changed their colour to yellow and red. Of course, I couldn't eat all, but sharing is caring and with who-so-ever I shared, I earned their blessing.
It is depressing time really, the lockdown has sucked the life off me. I am really exhausted of the monotonous life of same routine everyday. Birds sing less, the siren of ambulance shrills more. If it wasn't for my interest in cooking and art, my work on online communication with special school staff and the occasional chat on Watsapp, the days would have stretched endlessly. But thank God for that.
Last week, I made a visit to my sister's house and saw one kilo of chopped mangoes in her kitchen. She had salted the sliced mangoes and was keeping in the sun for drying. I was excited. Here was the chance to record the recipe, while she makes.
Sweet & Sour Mango pickle is made in every Sindhi house. Enough stock is made that can last for more than a year. It tastes best with Koki or Puri but can be relished even with meals.
She had kept all the ingredients ready on her kitchen platform.
There was one kilo of sugar in one bowl.
50gms of dates were in other bowl
One litre bottle of water.
and there was one orange tray with all the dry masalas such as
1tsp Kalonji seeds
1tsp Cumin seeds
2tbsp red chilies
2tbsp Kashmiri chilies
3pc Dalchini
4-5 Cloves
1tbsp black pepper corns
3-4 Bay leaves
Salt to taste.
Method
First a syrup o is made by boiling sugar and water. Mangoes and all the masalas are added including dates and it is kept for cooking for one hour at medium heat.
2tbsps of Vinegar is added when the cooked pickle cools down.
This is stored in glass jars
You may watch the procedure on my youtube channel here
