It’s the time for mango pickle again! Even if we don’t get ripe Bangladeshi mango in Denmark, we get green mangoes in local Indian stores. I wait for this time of the year to buy and make mango pickle, to at least get some taste of Bangladesh! Today’s recipe is tangy mango pickle, a very common oily pickle in Bangladesh. Usually this kind of pickle is made in Bangladesh in full summer, when there are scorching sun to dry and braise the mangoes. It takes a week or two to complete the pickle but you can conserve it for more than a year (as long as it don’t get finished).

The most important element for this recipe is mustard oil, since this is a oil based pickle. Also, in Bangladesh, pickle means mustard seed and red chili. Garlic is a must go too. Other ingredients are needed for this recipe are paach phoron and salt.

I took almost a kilo of green mango, including the skin and pit. After taking out the pit, the volume and weight decreased a bit. The other ingredients are measured per kilo, but no need to change or adjust the quantity.

The perfect mango for this pickle would be having a fully formed yet soft pit, so that mango can be cut through knife. As you can see in the photo, the pit is fully formed but also developed a harder shell, but it can easily be cut. This kind of mango can hold the texture for a longer time.

Mangoes are cut into 1 inches cube shape. Pits are also removed. Then I coated mangoes with mustard seed paste, salt and turmeric.

I put all spice coated mango chunks in a big tray over a baking paper. Then I put them under the sun until the mango skin and spices mixture gets dried. If you don’t have sun available, then dry them in a oven for 5-6 hours in low heat (50 C).

It will take almost a full day to completely dry the mangoes. So meanwhile I am preparing the oil for the pickle. In a big pot, I added mustard oil and turn on the heat. Then I added paach phoron, dry red chili and garlic cloves. When they started to bubble, I turned off the heat and take out the chili and garlic, and pour down the oil in separate, cold pot to cool it down. Otherwise, if you leave the oil in heated pot, it will get burned and the pickle will taste bitter.

I did not get enough sun to dry the mangoes so I put them in oven for 2 hours in low heat (50 C). You can see the difference between dried and non-dried mango from the picture. The main goal is to dry the outer wet parts of mango so they don’t get fungus when stored.

Now when mangoes get dried and cooled down completely (after you take them out of oven), then put them in a clean glass jar one by one. Add the oil that was made previously. Put them in a way so all mangoes are dunked under oil. If you see there’s not enough oil, then heat some more, cool it down and put it in the jar to cover the mangoes.

Then put the jar of mango pickle under the sun, covering with a piece of paper or cloth, so the moisture doesn’t get trapped inside. Slowly the color of the mango skin will change and them it will be ready to consume. There were no sugar added in this recipe, so it is a sour, tangy pickle and it goes best with any daal.

Recipe: Tangy Mango Pickle

Ingredients: Green Mango – 1 kilo Yellow Mustard seed- 1 Tbsp Garlic – 5/6 cloves Paach Phoron – 1/2 tsp Dry Red Chili – 8-10 pieces Salt as needed Mustard oil – 1 litre

Instructions: 1. Wash and pat dry mango. Cut in half and remove the pit. Then cut the mango in 1 inch pieces. 2. Mix mango pieces with mustard paste, turmeric and salt. Put them in a tray. 3. Dry the mango pieces under the sun or in oven until the outer coating is dried. 4. Heat mustard oil and add chili, garlic cloves and paach phoron. 5. Put dry mango in a jar and add oil until all mango are covered under oil. 6. Leave the jar in sun until the skin changes color and mango gets soft.