Mango Phirni Recipe

I really love the fact that I have super helpful neighbors. When I had to cut short a function in the apartment complex due to unexpected visitors and was at a loss for what to make in a hurry, a neighbor walked back along with me and gave me a big bowl of paddu/paniyaram batter. I had to return her vessel and again I was left wondering what to make. Normally, when giving back the vessel, you put something sweet into it and do not return it empty. While I was thinking of what is the simplest sweet dish that I can make, my eyes fell upon the mangoes in the fruit basket and the easiest sweet I could think of making with it was Mango Phirni - totally my kind of dish- takes less than half an hour to make.

The phirni is an Indian Rice pudding that is normally served in earthenware and is topped with chopped nuts. It is made from a base of milk and ground rice. Rose water or Kewra Water is normally used to add flavor to the phirni.  It is not overtly heavy on the stomach and you can eat a whole cupful without too much guilt. Mine is not the traditional dish. First of all, it has mangoes in it. These days, the mango phirni that is served in the restaurants has mango puree in it. I could not be bothered with making puree, so I just added chopped mangoes into it. It is nice to bite into chunky pieces of mango while eating the phirni. Garnish can be done with the nuts of your choice. I added blanched almonds just before serving the mango phirni.

Preparation Time: 10 minutes ( excluding soaking time)
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Cooling Time: 1 hour
Serves 4

Ingredients for Mango Phirni

3 cups milk 

3 tbsp Basmati Rice
5-6 cashewnuts (optional)

8 tsp sugar 

1 mango chopped 

A large pinch of cardamom powder

Nuts for garnish 

Method to make Mango Phirni

Soak the Basmati Rice in water for about an hour and half. 

Once done, start boiling the milk. While the milk is boiling, grind the rice to a fine paste in the mixer. Make sure there are no grains. You could add a few soaked cashewnuts too to this while grinding. 

When the milk almost comes to a boil, add to it the sugar and the rice paste. Now start mixing everything together and keep stirring constantly. It is best to do it with a whisk. Add the cardamom powder into it too. As you are stirring it together, you will be able to feel the resistance building up.

Whisk it on low flame for about fifteen minutes. By now it would have considerably thickened. Turn off the heat. At this point, I transferred it to individual containers for the two of us and the rest into her bowl.

Allow it to cool for about half an hour. Now chop up the mangoes into small cubes. These go into the chilled phirni.

Top the phirni with a spoonful of mango cubes.

Mix the mango cubes well into the phirni. Garnish it with the chopped nuts and refrigerate again for at least half an hour. Upon refrigeration, it gets set and you can cut it from the kulhad with a spoon and enjoy a simple yet fulfilling dessert.

Easy Cut Mango Pickle

I was in for a surprise recently when my neighborhood grocery store started stocking banana flower, raw mango, fresh turmeric, kumquat and many other veggies and fruits that i generally don't get to see. So though it was off season, i bought one raw mango to give the cut mango pickle a try.

Preparation Time - 15 Mins

Ingredients

Raw Mango           1 No.
Salt                        1 tsp
Red Chili Powder   1 tsp
Mustard                 1 tsp
Fenugreek Seeds   1/2 tsp
Hing                      a big pinch
Oil                         for tempering

Preparation

Wash the mango and wipe it dry. Chop it into bite sized pieces.

Now add to this the salt, chili powder and asafoetida. Mix well and leave for a few minutes.

In your tadka ladle, add the oil. One it starts smoking, add in the mustard. When it splutters, add the crushed fenugreek seeds.

 Turn off the heat. Pour it on the mango. Mix well. Transfer the mango into a sterilized glass bottle. 

This takes just a couple of minutes to put together. Adds a tang when accompanied with rice or roti. Stays for a week when refrigerated. But since it is not very heavy on oil and spice, one tends to eat more of it. So a small batch like this,will get finished before you know it!
My favorite way of eating this is with potato chips.