Mango Has a Season. Making it Longer!

Manga Thera (Mango Bars) made through a laborious process using the Kerala local variety of small bunchy mangoes is an all time favourite and a unique delicacy.

My mother used to make the best theras and I wanted to try and make it. But this season is taken away by the virus.

Recently my daughter sent me a recipe of making rolls or bars with raw mango and chilli powder. So I got the Bangalore local variety Totapuri.

That’s when the idea struck me, how about manga Thera with ripe Totapuri! Totapuri is local, pest and pesticide free larger mangoes which are cheap too.

But I don’t have the wherewithal to make it the traditional style in Bangalore. So innovate.

Here it’s three ripe Tatapuris skinned, de seeded and made into a pulp. Added some rice powder and jaggery. A teaspoon each of ginger and cardamom powder into it and the mix spread on the baking tray.

My wife named it Mango Fudge and this tastes really good.

Steamed Mango Payasam

This is a traditional dish that I came across at a relations house.

Ripe mangoes are steamed and the skin removed. It is then boiled in coconut milk and jaggery. The second milk (added with some water after the first milk has been extracted) is used for this stage of cooking.

The picture shows the mix getting boiled in medium fire.

A friend gave us some exclusive Marayur Jaggery and the same is used here for the dish.

When done with the boiling into a payasam (kheer or firni) consistency, the first coconut milk previously extracted and kept is added and allowed to simmer for two minutes in slow fire.

The boiled mango payasam is ready for serving.

Ideally the small local variety of mango would make the dish better. Just that I got only the bigger ones.

It’s a pleasure to eat the cooked mango from it’s seed, and I don’t hesitate to use hand to do complete justice.

Stored in the refrigerator, it can be enjoyed for sometime. How long! well, I don’t think it ever lasted that long as it’s too good to keep.

This is very traditional and rare dish and I love it. Try it please.

A Blissful Fruit Season

It’s the best fruit season in Kerala. There are plenty of mangoes and the new health food Jackfruit.

My sister gave me this Jackfruit and the mangoes (in the photo) when I visited her.

The huge mangoes are from her front yard, growing in plenty on the big spread out mango tree. These are the ‘Black Andrews’ variety which are very tasty.

We had a couple of mangoes for consumption, plucked fresh from the tree and cut into small cubes after removing the skin.

Such fresh mangoes give an extra flavour which is from the presence of a little of the sap or the latex under the skin of the mango.

The sap which oozes out when the mango is plucked is bitter and even hurt the skin if you are not careful. Essentially this is the fruit’s defence against attackers like squirrels and bats who try to break them before it’s ripe.

A little bit of this unique taste along with the sweet taste of the mango is a rare experience we miss when we buy mangoes after being stored for a while.

The taste of fresh and ripe mango is something to be experienced.

And I cut the Jackfruit after coming back home. It was a bit too ripe and innovation set in. The result is fresh, all natural Jackfruit ice cream which is healthy and tasty.

The flesh of the Jackfruit is mixed with coconut milk and natural honey and made into a smooth pulp in a Nutribullet.

The mixture is then put into the ice cream trays and placed in the freezer for creamy, yummy, all natural healthy ice cream.