Saturday, 21 March 2015

Raw mango rice - Mamidikaya Chitraannam

Spring is here and we celebrated the March equinox yesterday, also known as  Ugadi, Gudi Padwa and the likes. In my house, it's Ugadi! And with Ugadi comes the delicious Ugadi pacchadi and a whole range of dishes for a full family lunch. As this is the celebration of the fact that days are going to be longer from now on, it is also the official announcement for mango season. Now, I'm not a big fan of mangoes, honestly but I love all things savory made with mangoes like mamidi pandu pulusu (pulusu/sambhar made with small mango fruits) and mamidikai chitraannam. 

You would have heard of lemon rice which is a South Indian specialty. While lemon rice is made using a tempering along with lemon juice, mamidikaya chitraannam uses raw mango. And it is amazing! 



Ingredients 

Oil - 2-3 tablespoons for 2 cups of rice 
Rice - as required 
Raw mango - grated (3/4 a cup)
Mustard seeds - a spoonful
Urad dal - half a spoon
Bengal gram dal - half a spoon
Grated coconut (optional) - 3-4 spoonfuls
Asafoetida - 1/2 spoonful
Dried red chillis - 1 or 2
Green chillis - 3-4 roughly chopped
Turmeric - 1 spoon
Groundnuts (optional) - 3-4 spoons
Roasted gram dal (optional) - 1 spoon
Curry leaves (optional, but compulsory for South Indian taste) - 10-12 leaves
Salt - as per taste

Method

1. Cook the rice and keep aside.
2. Heat oil for tempering. Start with adding the mustard seeds once the oil  heats up. When the mustard start crackling, start adding the other ingredients one by one. Make sure to add the raw mango at the absolute end. The other ingredients should roast well except for the mango. It should still be raw.
3. Add the tempering to the rice. Add salt as needed and mix well till the entire rice is yellow. Serve hot.