Mitha Amba Achara

Mitha Amba achara Pickling is an art to preserve fruits n vegetables, like store it while it is the season n enjoy the goodness through out the year. And my preservation of the mango saga is still on, and this time it's time for some sweet mango pickle. Pickle is an integral part of Indian cuisine. We all have our own memories associated with pickle making. Our grandma and ma are blessed with art of the preserving seasonal fruits n Vegetables. This mitha amba achara was the signature pickle of my bou (mother). she had mastered in making pickle every year she used to makes a lots of pickles and variety of pickles and lots of means lots of, sometimes I felt like she was making for the whole colony. When I was a kid, always wondered why she was bothered to make a huge batch of pickle n later shared them with others. But now I know may be the happiness n joy what she got from sharing was priceless.

So here is my mother's mitha amba recipe

Ingredients:-

Sl. no	Item	Quantity
1	Raw mango	1 Kg
2	Mustard oil	2 cups
3	Salt	As per taste
4	Panchaphutan	2 tbsp
5	Dry red chilly	10/15
6	Jaggery powder	500 gm
7	Turmeric powder	2 tbsp
8	Red chilli powder	2 tbsp
9	Hing/Asafoetida	1 tbsp
10	Blackpepper	2 tbsp
11	Saunf/Fennel seeds	2 tbsp
12	Kalonji /Onion seeds	2 tbsp
13	Mustard seeds	3 tbsp
14	Fenugreek seeds	2 tbsp

Method:-

• Washed the mangoes  and cut into 1/8th pieces.Make sure that everything you use is dry and has no moisture.
• Sterilize your jars in which you will store the pickle and also dry properly.
• After washing, chopping and discarding the seeds, coat the mango pieces with some slat n turmeric and dry them for at least 1 day.
• Lightly roasted saunf, and fenugreek seeds and grind them into fine powder. Roast the mustard seeds& black pepper and lightly pound them.
• Now mix together salt, red chilli powder, kalonji, hing, jaggery powder along with the coarse spice powders.
• Heat the  mustard oil  in medium heat till it reaches the smoking point, put some hing, panchaphutan and dry chilly onto this and then switch off.
• Let the oil cool down. 
• Heat a kadai, caremalised the jaggery and  add the mangoes and the spices into this  mix well, cook for few minutes and then switch off.
• Then pour the oil into this,let the oil completely cover the pickle.
• Put in a ceramic or glass jar.
• Keep it in the sun again for 4-5 days.
• Your mitha amba achaar is ready to use.