Mama's Green Mango Curry

For me this is one of Mama's best vegetable dishes. It took a good hour of sitting with her to work out the recipe and translate the ingredients into English. It was only when she started cooking the dish this morning I realised we'd forgotten a couple of stages and ingredients. Hopefully we have it all now. You might need to experiment with the quantities a bit, but it's worth it for the finished result. Unfortunatley I don't think you'll be able to find all the ingredients in England, in particular the green mangos, so this one is for readers in India only.

Serves 4

250g unripe green mangos (see picture if you don't know what to look for). These should be washed and roughly sliced into strips around the stone. Keep the skin on and include the stone. Don't worry if it's still got mango flesh on it, you can eat around it. Mangos should be sliced from the stalk upwards so you get less of the stringy fibres.
2 medium onions, finely diced or grated if you have a grater.
2 small bulbs of garlic, peeled into cloves and crushed in pestel and mortar.
50g vegetable oil
1 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 tsp tumeric
4 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)
1 tsp sanaf (fennel seeds I think)
1 tsp cumin
1/2 cup water
1 tsp miti (a spice available from the general store, smells a bit like curry leaves, looks like little pellets). Be sure to pick out the dust and little pieces of stone.
100g gud or brown sugar. Gud is the raw material of sugar and is available at the general store. Looks a bit like toffee, see picture. The gud should be bashed in the pestel and mortar so that it crumbles easily when you add it to the pan.

1. Boil the mango for 8 minutes until it softens. Throw out the water afterwards and place the mango to one side.
2. Put the oil in the pan and place on the chula, or stove to heat up. Add the onion, garlic, miti and cumin to the hot oil.
3. Add the rest of the spices to water and mix well. Add the spice mixture to the hot oil and stir.
4. Add the bashed gud or sugar to the pan.
5. Add the mango and cook for 10 minutes on a high heat. You may need to add some more water if the curry isn't runny enough.

How to eat- do not eat the skin or the stone. When I first arrived in Laporiya I tried to eat the skin because I didn't know what the vegetable was and didn't want to appear rude. Pick up the pieces of mango and eat the juicy flesh inside them. Serve with roti.

Recipes from our first homecooked Indian meal

Tomato Paneer
2kg tomatoes
2kg paneer (probably could’ve been 1.5kg)
2 tbsp cooking oil
200g chopped onion
50g fresh ginger
50g garlic 1 tbsp red chili
2 tbsp ground coriander
2 tbsp salt (or to taste)
Ketchup (this seems to be optional)

• Slice paneer into strips or cubes.
• Crush garlic and ginger in mixer with a bit of water, until paste.
• Boil whole tomatoes in a pot for 30 minutes.
• Remove the skin from tomatoes and mash ‘em, then set aside.
• In a large pot or wok, fry onion in oil till golden on medium heat.
• Add garlic and ginger paste, and spices. Saute and stir 10 minutes.
• Add mashed tomatoes. Simmer and stir 10 minutes.
• Add paneer. Simmer and stir on low heat another 15 minutes.
• Mix in ketchup if desired. Garnish with chopped fresh coriander.

Aloo Palak (Potato Spinach)

2kg fresh spinach, chopped
2.5kg yel low potatoes, peeled and chopped
3 tbsp coo king oil
2 cups chopped onion
10 cloves garlic, pureed in mixer with a bit of water
4 tomatoes, peeled and chopped 2 tbsp salt (or to taste)
1 tbsp red chili
1.5 tbsp ground coriander ¼ tbsp turmeric
4 whole dried red chilis

• Wash spinach and rinse 3-4 times.
• Soak chopped potatoes in water 30 minutes.
• In a large pot or wok, fry dry chilies 2 minutes on medium heat.
• Add onion and fry in oil till golden.
• Add garlic, tomatoes and spices. Saute 15 minutes until juice is down.
• Stir in potato and increase heat to high, cook 5 minutes.
• Stir in spinach. Cover and simmer (possibly back on medium heat) 30 minutes.
• Uncover and cook 10 minutes more until water is almost gone.

Mutton Curry
3kg mutton on the bone, chopped into serving sizes
100g garlic, pureed in mixer with a bit of water
100g ginger, pureed in mixer with a bit of water
1/2kg peeled and chopped tomatoes
1/2kg chopped onion
3tbsp cooking oil
1tbsp tumeric
1.5 tbsp ground coriander
1/2 tbsp red chilli, or more if desired, up to 1.5 tbsp
1/2 tbsp garam masala
1.5 tbsp salt, or to taste

• Stir dry spices with a bit of water to make a paste.
• In a large pot or wok, fry onion on medium heat in oil till golden.
• Stir in garlic and ginger and, then stir in spice paste and finally tomatoes.
• Reduce heat to low and simmer 20 minutes, stirring often.
• Add mutton, stir well and cover. Simmer, still on low heat, for one hour.
• Transfer mutton to pressure cooker and set aside the sauce.
• Add 1 cup of water and seal the cooker. Cook on medium heat 10-12 minutes until cooker “sneezes” several times.
• Combine mutton and its original sauce in serving dish.
• Garnish with chopped fresh coriander and a dash of garam masala.

Dhal
1/4 kg each red and yellow lentils
2 tbsp cooking oil
1 chopped onion
10-12 cloves of garlic, peeled and whole
1/2 tbsp tumeric
1/2 tbsp red chilli
1 tbsp of salt, or to taste
2 tomatoes, chopped

• Soak lentils in water for 5 minutes. Rinse and repeat 2-3 times until water runs clear.
• In pressure cooker, fry onion in oil on medium heat till golden.
• Stir in tomatoes, then add spices and stir vigorously.
• Stir in lentils.
• Add 1.5 litres of hot water and stir.
• Seal the cooker and cook 8-10 minutes.

Raita
4 cartons of yogurt
1.5 cups water
2 cucumbers, peeled and grated and drained
2 tsp salt, or to taste
2 tbsp dry fried cumin*

Stir all ingredients together and serve.
* Toast whole cumin seeds in skillet without oil, on medium heat until darkened. Transfer to blender and grind.

Mint Chutney
1 bunch mint, chopped and soaked and rinsed
6 fresh green chillis, stems removed
1 onion, chopped
1/2 tbsp salt, or to taste

Put all ingredients in a mixer and puree.






Roti
2 cups of wheat flour per 10 rotis desired

• Gradually mix 2-3 handfuls of water with flour in a bowl.
• Knead the dough with your knuckles until it forms a stiff ball.
• Divide dough into 10 balls. Roll out flat and flour.
• Dry-fry in roti pan, then brown both sides on open flame with tongs.

Thanks to Richard Johnson for writing up the recipes as we cooked.