Mango Thokku - Cooked Mango Instant Pickle

 There are pickles - and then there is thokku.  Pickles are cut vegetables steeped in brine for a few weeks and then seasoned and left to mature before consumption. Traditional pickling can take a month to 6 weeks depending on how long you wish to leave the vegetables in brine for and then how long you wait to consume it.  They also have a very long shelf life.

Thokku, on the other hand, is an instant pickle. Immediate gratification of the sweet and sour and oily goodness but the shelf life is very low.  So you need to keep it stored in the fridge and use it quicker.

I had to explain this because there is no word for "Thokku" in English.  

During my University hostel days, all the room mates used to bring their own special pickles and thokkus from home.  We would then share it amongst us during meal times - it was a very friendly and communal activity. One of these girls Shobha brought the most amazing pickles and thokku - that were just out of this world.  Sadly, I have lost touch with Shobha, but I hope she somehow sees this some day and gets back in touch. 

Ingredients:

1 large green (unripe) mango

2 teaspoons Kashmiri chilli powder

1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds

1 teaspoon asoefetida powder

2 teaspoons fenugreek powder

4-5 tablespoons oil ( I used Indian sesame oil to get the flavours of home)

1 tablespoon piece of jaggery or brown sugar (optional - use only if mango is very sour)

salt to taste

Method:

Peel the mango. Slice it very thinly.  You can use a grater and just grate it if you like.

Heat oil in a saucepan.  Add the mustard seeds.  When they crackle, add the sliced mango pieces. Sauté till the mangoes go soft.  It took me about 5 minutes.  If you grate the mango, then it cooks much faster.

Add the asoefetida powder and sauté for a minute.  Next add the turmeric and chilli powders and salt to taste.  Keep sautéing until your slices are cooked and the oil starts to leave the sides of the pan. The idea is to cook the mangoes in a low flame and get as much water off it so that it will have a longer shelf life.  Remember there are no preservatives - so we need to sauté it till it is well cooked.

 Test for salt and sourness. If the mango is very sour at this point you add half a tablespoon of the jaggery and mix it in well.  You can add more or less jaggery according to your taste.  The mango I got was green on the outside but when I peeled it and sliced it and tasted it, it had a bit of sweetness to it.  So I skipped the jaggery.

Your mango thokku is ready for use.  You can store it in a bottle after it has cooled down and use it for up to two weeks.  Keep it in the fridge and always use a dry spoon to get the delicious pickle out.

Serve with any Indian meal or have with your roasts and sandwiches like a relish.