Every year with the mango tree in my parents house being very kind to us we do get a good crop of mangoes. This means that, these mangoes would have transformed as curry, gifts, pickle, jam or sun-dried. Nevertheless, I always ask my mom to keep a handful of the sun-dried mangoes for me.
Transformation to sun dried form
The mangoes from my house are really sour. So, even if a few pieces are strong to make a tangy effect on the curry. this is the flavor factor for this Indian curry
The mangoes are first sliced and marinated in salt and a bit of chili powder and then sun-dried til it looks black and stiff. This painstaking task for about 15 days.. My mother does meticulously. Once dry she stores the sun dried mango for the rainy months. When, the tomato prices hit a peak… She unleashes her magical mango weapon. Out of all her preparations I really love “Palaghat style maavattal kozhambu” with these sun dried pieces. she on the other hand loves the way I make rasam with the maa vattal.
I will leave the maa vattal rasam for another day. Today I really was missing her so made the vattal kozhambu. Since my dad doesn’t really like it she hardly gets an opportunity to make it nowadays. We used to share this liking especially when he is travelling. Going back and forth it’s a big bowl of maavattal kozhambu, squabbling over the softened mango pieces and finally the motherly warmth letting go of the last piece so that the daughter can beam a giant grin…. ahhh motherhood!!!
My kids don’t seem to have formed an opinion about this so far…so my wait is on.
I honestly don’t know whether to call it vattakozhambu or sambhar..(of the addition of the cooked tuvaram parippu)… Well,I just decided not to change the name because that’s how she called it. The only difference is that she makes it really spicy and a little more thinner than the current one. I have just used my regular homemade sambhar powder to form the masala part.
Try it out and let me know your feel.
Here is another classic from palaghat cuisine
and if you really love to do some sun dried ones this summer.. try this
Maavattal kozhambu
Sun dried mango curry
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup maa vattal sun dried spiced mango
- 1/2 cup split pigeon pea cooked, arhar dal, tur dal
- 2 cups drinking water
- 2 tbsp sambhar powder
- 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
tempering
- 2 tbsp Sesame oil
- 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
- a pinch Asafoetida
- 1 sprig curry leaves
Instructions
- In a heavy-bottomed wok add sesame oil and add the mustard seeds.
- In the same pan, heat the remaining oil, add mustard seeds.
- As they splutter, add curry leaves, asafoetida , saute till the curry leaves turn crispy.
- Add the mango pieces and water and bring to a boil.
- Run the cooked dal and sambhar powder in the processor to get an smooth consistency. Now add this to the boiling mango pieces.
- Add the turmeric powder, salt. Caution with the salt as the mango pieces will already have salt in them.
- Simmer for 10-12minutes, stirring often.
- Enjoy hot with steamed rice
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
Beautiful dish… It is interesting how our older generations preserved and made food… the kuzhambu looks very comforting!
So true.. some age-old favorites are everlasting.
Can anything go wrong with a dish made with Raw Mangoes.. I am sure NOT!! Lipsmacking stuff with that pic of the raw mango tree, couldnt get better than that!
Mangoes are a full time love..thanks
This looks delicious.. perfect combo with some hot rice
yes it is … please do try the recipe
very simple but I am sure the most tastiest sambhar. How I wish I could get these sun dried mangoes at home. kozhambu looks tempting,
yes, its been my favorite.
Should try the sun dried version of mango sometime. This kozhambu looks delicious Seema, soul food.
Yes indeed, soul food. Its a beautiful recipe.
Wow..this curry is awesome and tempting. In India, I’ve seen my mum using dried mango in making daal.
Yeah.. my mom makes the dal too.. its yumm
What a lipsmacking dish …. Delicious
thankyou…
The curry looks so flavorful !
I use dried mango to make mango powder but never made curry out of it. Looks so delicious.
Its dried cured mango, slightly diffrent from the mango for aamchur. But still should work
Wow!! Never heard about this dish. I am sure it must be cery tasty. I am big fan of mangoes ????
Thank you,i am sure you will love it if you love mangoes too.