Mango Mania

MANGO MANIA MEMOIRS 

 Continuing with the mango mania this time I would like to share with you the summers and mango season of Hyderabad.Being inland, Hyderabad, has a hot and dry summer and people would begin bracing up for the summer with a few preparations; I would like to reminiscence about those wonderful summer days captured through my memories.It was a time when Telugu wasn't heard so often except occasionally in the telangana dialect.As summer began our home in Hyderabad especially in the colonial style verandah that overlooked the garden and backyard was draped with Khus (vetiver)mats called Khus ki cheekein in Urdu.It required to be splashed with water frequently in order to keep the coolness within the house and the all essential and trusty cooler would be put in place as it blasted jets of cool air sprtizing everything with droplets of water.Well,if you are wondering I am talking about the mid eighties to mid nineties period where most people had large spacious independent homes and flats were beginning to only line up the city.

Then there were absolutely two things to be done making of the Aam ka Panna and mausambi/ nimbu ki shikanji ( a sort of lemonade) this was an old tradition in Hyderabad but later on Rasna also became a frequent feature in summer entertaining along with the panna and shikanji.Food had to be kept light and lot of summer vegetables featured in the menu.The absolutely important summer siesta was written down in iron words and for children like us it was resentful and horrible wasting of the precious vacation time. The summer slumber brought the household to a slow halt and the sounds of the flower seller shouting out motia bahar! Motia bahar! and the occasional tapping of his cart with the cash box woke us up.Sometimes we were allowed to buy the motia bahar flowers after a proper bargain yes didn't I tell you it is a hyderabadi dakhani term for Jasmine.The scent of the jasmine flowers caught our fancy and my mother would patiently make gajras( garlands) out of them for those who were interested to wear them in their  hair.The other most important activity happened to be the kulfi time matka kulfi was getting rare and it had become a commercial item under the many ice cream brands. The ringing bell of the matka kulfi walah had us all in boisterous spirits. We would make the most of our pocket money now  a smile comes to my lips that I never wondered about the hygiene of the ingredients used and though in good faith we never fell sick thankfully but today I would not be able to do the same sadly.So it is a branded kulfi except when browsing through my very own kulfi recipe or when one of my friends make and post.Since it is summer here is a fresh twist on the favorite kulfi with a hint of mango.The pictures are in the order below:Picture of Mango,Mangolada - a take on the classic mango smoothie but replaced with coconut milk and honey, Mango Kulfi and Kairi ka panna.Shikanji is prepared like nimbu paani with half of a small lime squeezed in 200 ml chilled water sugar cumin powder and black or regular salt is added. Crush some ice with a few sprigs of mint leaves and add it to the chilled shikanji and add the sabza/ basil/ tukhmulanga seeds as they are very cooling to the body. They turn gelatinous and the black seeds lend a beautiful touch to the drink.

The other things that I remember are the musk melon, cubed and served with chilled milk and sugar and the same recipe was followed for munjal ( ice apple).These summer coolers kept us quenched and nourished.The mango stalls filled the open places and bargaining went on and every house seemed to be feasting on these luscious fruits.So, coming out of my reverie,today I give you two of my recipes Kairi ka panna  and mango kulfi. My gratitude for Priya who so painstakingly prepared and photographed recipes I am blogging about.As I told you her inspiration was the mango tree in her backyard.

Mangolada :

Mango Kulfi:

Mango kulfi:

Milk -1500 ml

Sugar250-300 gms

Khoya -5 tbs

Thick cream- 150ml or half cup

Saffron - few strands

Thick mango pulp1/2 cup

Corn starch- 1/2 tbs

Pistachios- blanched and slivered about 25

Method: Boil milk until it is reduced to one third it's original content about 500 ml in this case.Dissolve the corn starch in 2 tbs of cold milk and add to the reduced milk and cook till it  thickens.Now, add sugar and stir well until dissolved . Turn off the stove add the khoya, fresh cream saffron and pistachios .Cool completely now add the mango pulp mix well and then fill the kulfi moulds with the mixture and place an ice cream stick and freeze for four hours. Before serving dip each mould in warm water and gently tug at the stick until kulfi comes out of the mould.Enjoy.

Kairi ka panna ( green mango cooler)

Ingredients:

Unripe green mangoes -300 gms 

Jaggery - 250gms( increase or decrease as per your taste and the sourness of mangoes)

Black salt -10 gms

Cumin - 2 tsp ( toasted and powdered cumin)

Pepper- 2 tsp

Peel the mangoes and remove the seed place the pieces in enough water to submerge and boil them until soft.Now, blend the pieces with powdered jaggery and black salt. strain the liquid and mix it with 500 ml of cold water add the cumin and pepper and serve in chilled glasses with a mint garnish and lime wedges.