Ambe Khol / Spiced mango curry

A favourite delicacy among Konkanis is Ambe sasam or curried mangoes. If its not the season for mangoes, then fruits like pineapple or grapes are used. Coconut, red chillies and mustard are ground to make a base for the mango curry and I, personally, do not care too much for this and always prefer eating the fruit as is



I've always believed that adding any spice to the fruits spoils the real taste of it, though I am slowly opening up to it now
My son was on a mango diet in Bangalore and totally enjoyed it. Then Ma made this ambe khol. This is different from the sasam - it does not have coconut, just slightly spiced.

My son enjoyed it so much, that I decided to finally give it a shot. Though I hate to admit, I actually enjoyed this. I may even give the sasam a try, with pineapple perhaps. The spices should work better with that !

Ambe Khol

What you need -

5 small mangoes (called goyant ambe in Konkani)
1/2 cup grated jaggery
a pinch of salt
1/2 tsp pepper powder
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1 red chilli, broken into 2-3 pieces
1/2 tsp oil
1 cup water
pulp of one mango (alphonso, badami or any other, based on availability)

What you do with it -

Wash mangoes and peel the skin off. Keep the mangoes aside
Add 1 cup water to the peeled skins and squeeze them well, taking as much pulp as you can and then discard the skin
In a pan, heat a tsp of oil, add the mustard seeds and the red chilli
Add the mangoes, squeezed out pulp, mango pulp, jaggery, salt and pepper powder
Bring it to a boil and then add adjust salt and jaggery, as required