A few decades ago, when we were kids, the process of making raw mango pickles used to be a week-long event, as our parents used to make all the ingredients of the pickle from the scratch, including making raw chili powder.  Also, varieties of pickles used to be about dozen. And the process used to involve the entire family, extended family, and often a collaborative partnership next door neighbors too.  All of us four brothers and sisters were also involved in the process of peeling garlic and ginger and removing seeds from mangoes.

Yesterday morning, my father-in-law got a bag of mangoes that were plucked from a decade-old mango tree in his backyard. I told Radhika, I am FREE this Saturday, and that I want to document the process of making mango pickles, including the process of buying all the ingredients in the local farmer’s market.  However, she said, she already has all the ingredients purchased, and that we just need to go to the market to just the mango sliced into small pieces.

You just can’t imagine, what types of activities you can get outsource in India now. This morning, I went to a local Farmer’s market to get those chunky mangoes sliced into smaller pieces.  I found a person who is providing Mango Slicing as a Service (mSaaS) and charged INR 2 per Mango.  I had about 30 mangoes, so he charged INR 65 (just about 1 USD).  Given the hard work he put in,  Radhika asked me to round off the payment to INR 100.  See the video in the below collage clips.

Later, I documented Radhika’s meditative efforts in making the pickle.   Key recipe tips and ingredients are the end of this blog.  However, one needs to have guidance from Mom or a Friend who has ‘been there and done that’, to replicate it, as any misstep in the process can ruin the pickle

Here is the approx. recipe for 6KG of Mangoes:

• Slice the mangoes along with the shell. Remove the seeds post slicing process
• Make 1kg Ginger and 1kg Garlic Paste. Mix the both together as a single paste
• 1 KG Red Chilli Powder
• 2 KG Salt (Yes, it’s lot of salt)
• 2 Ltrs.  cold pressed oil – Seasame or Peanut
• 25 gms Turmeric Powder
• 25 gms Methi + Jeera Powder ( 1 : 1.5 ratio).  Roast them and ground them into fine powder
• 50 gms. raw mustard powder
• 25 gms.  Chilli seeds

My primary objective of the blog is to not to teach how to precisely replicate it, but just my weekend hobby to key events in my life.