Fresh mango pickle / Kothle lonche

Life's been good since I've reached Bangalore. Being with my family and friends is always wonderful, and to add to it, the weather is at least 10 degrees lower than Ahmedabad !! It rained the day I reached and its been a nice pleasant weather ever since...

I've been visiting my favourite places to eat in Bangalore and in one of the places, where you get Mangalorean style food, I had this absolutely yummy fresh mango pickle. I even had a second serving of this pickle at lunch that day !



This fresh pickle or kothle lonche, as its called in Konkani, is almost always on the traditional wedding lunch menu. These lunches, however simple or lavish, are traditionally served on a plantain/banana leaf. There is a particular direction in which the leaf should be placed and an order in which the various items are served. It starts with the salt then the pickle, and then the servers start with the stream of side dishes, rice, kheer, etc...
This pickle is made on the same day or perhaps a day before and served fresh. I remember eating this pickle like a side dish at most weddings.

It does not have oil and there are no preservatives, so it can't be stored for too long. Mango pickles generally have the skin on, but in this one, the skin is peeled so that it doesn't change the texture too much when you are eating this pickle.

My aunt has sent across a bunch of raw mangoes and Ma promptly made this pickle the next day.



Fresh Mango pickle

What you need -

2 raw mangoes
1" piece ginger
1-2 green chillies
1 tsp mustard seeds
15-20 methi seeds
a pinch of asafoetida / hing
10-15 red chillies (if using byadgi chillies, lesser if its a spicier variety)
juice of 1 lemon
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp salt

1 clean and dry glass bottle with an air-tight lid

What you do with it -

Wash and peel the mangoes. Cut it into tiny pieces
Peel the ginger, wash and dry completely and chop finely
Wash and dry the green chillies and cut really fine
In a cleaned and dried glass bottle, add the turmeric powder, hing, salt, mango pieces, ginger and green chillies
Grind the mustard, methi and red chillies to a smooth paste, adding as little as required
Add this ground masala along with the lemon juice to the mangoes in the bottle
Mix well with a dry spoon and close the bottle with an air tight lid
This pickle should be stored in the refrigerator and used within 3 weeks, since it is a fresh pickle and has no preservatives or oil