Random Vibrations

To Live or not to Live

2010-04-15T09:06:00.001-07:00

Some weeks ago, NPR posted a video of the colombian harp player Edmar Castaneda as part of their tiny desk concerts. Castaneda plays alone and it is an amazing performance. Even after having watched it 20-30 times, the video still gives me the goosebumps.

So I went to iTunes and bought his new album Entre Cuerdas, which includes the two songs that he played live on NPR. On the album he is accompanied by Drummer Dave Salliman and Trombonist Marshall Gilkes and others. For some reason, I am not exactly sure why, the album disappoints. The live versions of the title track "Entre Cuerdas" and "Jesus De Nazareth" are so much better that I cannot bear to listen to their studio versions. The studio versions of these songs come across as tame and mellow whereas the live versions are full of excitement and fire.

Edmar Castaneda

2010-02-09T07:30:00.000-08:00

I had no idea that the harp could be played like this.

Baby Eggplants in a Peanut & Tamarind Sauce (Bhaghara Baingan)

2010-01-25T19:28:00.000-08:00

This is recipe comes to me courtsey of Mrs. Vidya Srivathsan. While this is a south indian dish, the flavour and aroma is almost Thai.

Ingredients

For 8-10 small eggplants.
1/4 tsp mustard seeds,
1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds
1/4 tsp nigella
3 green chillies
8 curry leaves
4 tbsp oil
2 Tbsp sesame seeds
2 Tbsp coconut(grated)
2 Tbsp raw peanuts
1 tsp chopped ginger
1 tsp garlic
1/4 cup finely chopped onions
1/4 tsp turmeric
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp tamarind paste
Salt to taste

Instructions

Dry roast sesame coconut, peanuts, ginger, garlic and onion over slow flame till light brown.
Add the powders and tamarind and grind to a smooth paste with water keep aside
Heat oil. add the mustard fenugreek and nigella seeds till crackling. Ddd curry leaves, green chillies and saute.
Now add the coconut sesame paste. and cook tilll the mixture leaves the sides of the pan.
Make lenghtwise slits in the brinjals. keep stem intact. Add the brinjals to the cooked paste with half cup of water and salt and cook till eggplants are tender. You can use pressure cooker for 2 whistles.
Garnish with chopped coriander. Serve hot

Listening

2009-12-01T11:45:00.000-08:00

Watching

2009-12-01T11:36:00.001-08:00

The Sandbaggers. To put it in literary terms, Ian Mackintosh, the creator of the show is to espionage on TV, what John Le Carré is to espionage on paper.

(Many thanks to Mike Denton)

Why I stopped watching the Food Network

2009-07-31T09:11:00.000-07:00

Michael Pollan in a brilliantly argued essay about the state of cooking in America today, captures much of what I feel about cooking shows on television and why I have stopped watching the Food Network completely and never got into Top Chef. The only show I like to watch with some semblance of regularity is American's Test Kitchen.

We learn things watching these cooking competitions, but they’re not things about how to cook. There are no recipes to follow; the contests fly by much too fast for viewers to take in any practical tips; and the kind of cooking practiced in prime time is far more spectacular than anything you would ever try at home. No, for anyone hoping to pick up a few dinnertime tips, the implicit message of today’s prime-time cooking shows is, Don’t try this at home. If you really want to eat this way, go to a restaurant. Or as a chef friend put it when I asked him if he thought I could learn anything about cooking by watching the Food Network, “How much do you learn about playing basketball by watching the N.B.A.?

Hypnosis

2009-06-10T11:02:00.000-07:00

Some years ago when I was a new graduate student at UCSD, I was walking around on campus to find some lunch one weekend afternoon. I heard a strangely melodious sound. It was a rich sound a combination of a piano, an analog synth, a guitar and some sort of a percussion instrument. I figured that there was a 3 person group playing some music at the saturday afternoon concerts hosted by the the coffee shop in the local food court. Walking into the cafe I realized that all the sound was being produced by a single man playing a strange electric sarangi like instrument, on which he was plucking, tapping, bending notes. The sign said, that the man was playing a Chapman Stick. Which is basically a guitar on steriods, invented a couple of decades ago.

Something similar happened a few days ago. I am not quite sure, where in my internet surfing I came across a reference to the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble. Literally, a band of brothers from chicago. Upon looking around some more, I realized that the buzz I was hearing was coming from a recent New Yorker piece on them by the New Yorker music critic Sash a Frere-Jone (yes I know there is a pattern here).

I have been listening to their self titled album, and it is hypnotic. One of my favorite songs is War, for which they have done a video too.

Kinsmen

2009-02-26T10:10:00.000-08:00

Things have been quite busy lately, so, not much time to cook or post recipes. The flip side is that long hours in front of the computer screen means more time spent listening to music, and in some cases new music.

One of my first loves was guitar music and one of the first albums I remember buying is Joe Satriani's "The Extremist". That was followed by more Satriani, Steve Vai, Yngwie J Malmsteen and various other rock and metal guitarists. Along the way I discovered the world of Jazz guitar, and the fusion music of John Mclaughlin. His indian fusion group Shakti has had two incarnations. The original incarnation in the 70s and then a revival a few years ago. Searching for more John Mclaughlin music led me to "Friday Night in San Francisco", a truly magical live recording on which three of the leading gutarists of our time - John Mclaughlin, Al Di Meola and Paco De Lucia play acoustic guitar with no other accompaniment. It remains one of my favourite pieces of guitar music of all time.

But back to fusion music, and the reason for this post. Rudresh Mahanthappa is an indian american saxophonist who has been collaborating with Indian saxophonist Kadri Gopalnath to create a beautiful explosion of jazz fusion -- Kinsmen. I could go on about it, or I could point you to the new yorker article that introduced me to him.

Imitosis

2009-02-05T13:40:00.001-08:00

After I was done waxing poetic about Quantum Cello, the most excellent Ms. Branson pointed me to the music of chicago based multi-instrumentalist Andrew Bird. One of my favorite pieces is this live performance of Imitosis.

Kidney Beans (Rajma)

2009-01-23T20:54:00.000-08:00

After my parents got married, one of the first dishes my mother cooked for my father and my grandparents was a Garbanzo bean curry (Chole). It was a very rustic preparation done in the style of banias from western Uttar Pradesh. To this day my father remembers the flavor of that dish. Unfortunately that recipe has been lost to the sands of time. The recipe she uses these days has evolved over the years, and while it is perfectly delicious, my father continues to pine for the flavor of the years gone by.

One of the key differences between how she cooked then and how she cooks now is her use of Onions. In Ayurveda, Onion and Garlic belong to a category of foods know as Tamasic. Foods whose consumption is considered harmful to the mind or body. They promote the darker tendencies of the soul, thus many people in india, particularly the Vaishnavs, avoid Tamasic foods, and instead eat a Sattvic diet.

Onions and garlic were a big no-no in my maternal grandmother's house. Her daughters -- my mother and her two sisters learnt to cook without using these ingredients. My paternal grandparents were more liberal in these matters and while onions were allowed, garlic was still not permitted. So, over the years my mother learnt to use onions in her cooking and adapted the recipes she had brought with her from her mother's house to suit her audience.

Onions and garlic are ingredients with pleasant but intense flavors that can easily dominate the other ingredients present in the dish. This can be a good or a bad thing. Sometimes they offers a way for hiding bad ingredients and sloppy cooking, at other times they can mask the delicate flavors you have worked so hard to create. A look at the indian cookbooks around today will give the impression that no dish is complete without onions and garlic. So, it was a very pleasant surprise when I came across Lord Krishna'a Cuisine:The Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking by Yamuna Devi. Yamuna Devi was a disciple of and the personal chef for A. C. Bhaktivedanta, the founder of The International Society of Krishna Consciousness. He was a Vaishnav, a strict vegetarian who did not eat any tamasic foods. The book is devoted to vegetarian cuisine from northern india, with a particular emphasis on the food from eastern India (A C Bhaktivedanta was from West Bengal), and all the food is sattvic.

One of my favorite recipes from the book is for Rajma (or Kidney Beans). A very popular north indian staple, which is usually presented as a punjabi dish. A cuisine not known for its timidity in matters of fat, onions or garlic. The recipe below trades onions and garlic for the deep flavor and fragrance of Ajwain seeds. I usually eat my Rajma with some Chawal (rice), but it can equally well be eaten as a vegetarian Chilli with all the usual fixings.

Ingredients

For the beans

2 1/4 cups dried Kidney beans
6 cups Water
1 Bay leaf
1/4 tsp Turmeric
1/4 tsp Cayenne pepper
1 Tbsp Ghee

and the rest

2 1/2 Tbsp Coriander seeds
1 Tbsp Cumin seeds
1/2 tsp Fennel seeds
1/3 tsp Ajwain seeds
2-3 Tbsp finely shredded fresh ginger root
1/2 cup Water
1 tsp Garam Masala
1 tsp turmeric
1 Tbsp Salt
1 1/2 Tbsp Lemon/Lime juice
5 Tbsp Oil
6 oz Paneer cut into 1/2 inch cubes
4 medium ripe Tomatoes, diced.
1 Tbsp Ghee
1/4 cup chopped fresh Parsely or Cilantro

Method

Wash the beans in a colander under running water, place them in a 3-4 quart/liter saucepan with 3 cups of cold water and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to moderate, cover and boil for 2 more minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and allow the beans to soak for 1 hour.
Drain the beans, collecting the soaking water in a bowl. Add enough cold water to make 6 cups and put it, along with the beans and other ingredients for cooking them in a 3-4 quart saucepan. Bring to a boil and gently simmer over low heat for 1 1/2-3 hours or until the beans are soft and tender but not broken down.
Mash 3/4 cup of the cooked beans to a puree. The cooking liquid should be quite thick. If not, ladle out the tender beans with a slotted spoon and transfer them to a bowl. Gently boil the sauce until it is reduced to about 1 1/2 cups. Remove from heat and set aside.
Combine the coriander seeds, cumin seeds, fennel seeds, and ajwain seeds in an electric coffee mill and reduce them to a powder. Transfer to a bowl.
Place the ginger root and 1/2 cup of water in a blender, cover and blend on high speed until the mixture is a smooth liquid. Pour it into the powdered spices and add the garam masala, turmeric, salt and lemon or lime juice. The mixture should have the consistency of thin cream. Add water if its too thick.
Heat 5 tablespoons og oil in a 3-4 quart heavy nonstick saucepan over moderate heat. When it is hot, drop in the paneer and stir fry or 5-7 minutes, carefully turning the cubes with a spatula, till they are browned on all sides. As the cubes brown, transfer them to a dish.
Pour the spice paste into the oil and stir fry for 1-2 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes and cook for about 8 minutes more or until the tomatoes are reduced to a paste and the oil separates from the mixture.
Add the whole cooked beans, mashed beans, fried cheese cubes and 1 1/2 cups of the cooking liquid, reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 15 minutes. Before serving, stir in 1 tablespoon of ghee/butter and the minced herb.

Quantum Cello

2009-01-21T17:03:00.000-08:00

I like to listen to podcasts when I am walking Bob and Lola in the morning and on the bus to and from work, so over the past six months I have been on the hunt for various things to listen to. The ones that I have settled on are

The last one was suggested to me by the most excellent Ms. Kristin Branson. It is "This American Life" for geeks and is by far my favorite podcast these days. Most of the time it is devoted to issues of science and philosophy, but every now and then they do an episode like Quantum Cello, which is devoted to the music of celloist Zoe Keating. There is only one way to describe what she does -- mind blowing.

Eggplant in Pickling Spices (Achari Baingan)

2009-01-02T08:39:00.000-08:00

The indian style of pickling is very different than the way vegetables/fruits are pickled in Europe/US. In my experience, american pickles are typically brine or vinegar based. Indian pickles can be dry, water, oil or vinegar based. One of my favorites is slices of onions and sharp green chillies pickled in vinegar. But perhaps the key element that distinguishes indian pickles from european/american pickles is the variety and quantity of spices used in the pickling process. The classic mango pickle for example is as much a function of green mangoes as it is of the particular mixture of spices used. Sometimes pickles are used to spice up an otherwise bland meal, at other times the pickle is an integral part of the dish itself. A good example is the south indian dish of Chilled Yogurt & Rice (Thair Sadam).

In some cases pickles are also used to cook with. My mother routinely uses pickles as a delicious substitute for lime/lemon/dried mango powder. In other cases, the pickle serves as inspiration instead and we use the pickling spices for cooking. Today's recipe is an example of such a dish. It comes from Indian Cooking by Madhur Jaffrey. The eggplant is pan fried first so that it will hold its shape upon subsequent cooking. It is then cooked in a tomato sauce which is flavored with a mixture of pickling spices. The key ingredients are the fennel and kalonji seeds (Nigella sativa) which give the dish its distinctive taste and aroma. They are easy to find in any indian grocery store. Do not skip them.

I serve this dish as a starter. Ms. Jaffrey recommends that it be served on pieces of lettuce as finger food. In my opinion a better idea is to use some crackers. They are firmer, hold the eggplant and the accompanying sauce better and add a very nice crunch. The dish can be served warm or cold. I usually make more than is needed and then snack on it for days :).

Cooking time: 40 mins

Serves: 6

Ingredients

1 inch cube of fresh ginger peeled and coarsely chopped
6 large cloves garlic
1/4 cup water
750 grams (1 3/4 lb) eggplant (1 large or 2 small)
1 1/2 cups of vegetable oil for frying
3 tablespoons of oil for the sauce
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1/2 teaspoon kalonji seeds
3 medium tomatoes, peeled and finely chopped
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/3 teaspoon cayenne pepper (more, if you like)
1 1/4 teaspoon salt

Method

Blend the ginger and garlic together with the water into a smooth paste.
Cut the eggplant into slices or wedges that are 3/4 inch thick and about 1 1/2 - 2 inches long.
Put 1/2 cup oil in a deep 10-12 inch wide skillet over medium heat. When the oil is hot, put in as many egglant slices as the pan will hold in a single layer. Let them turna reddish brown color. urn them over and brown the other side. Remove the slices and put them in a strainer. Repeat this procedure with the rest of the eggplant slices. You will probably need to do 3 batches, using 1/2 cup oil for each batch. At this stage, you can let the eggplants drain in the strainer for up to an hour. The idea is to get rid of some of the oil that the eggplant has absorbed. I usually let them sit till the sauce is ready.
Put 3 tablespoons oil in the skillet and heat it over medium heat. When the oil is hot, put in the fennel and kalonji seeds. As soon as the fennel seeds turn a few shade darker, put in the chopped tomatoes, the ginger-garlic mixture and the remaining spices. Stir and cook for 5-6 minutes, breaking the tomatos with the back of a slotted spoon. Turn the heat up slightly and continue to stir and cook until the spice mixture gets thick and paste like.
Not put in the fried eggplant slices and mix gently. Cook on medium-low heat for about 5 minutes, stirring very gently. Cover the pan, turn the heat to very low and cook another 5-10 minutes.
Oil will have collected at the bottom of the frying pan. Use a slotted spoon the lift the eggplant and sauce out of the oil and serve on a platter with a side of crackers.

Garlic Soup with Ham and Sage Butter

2008-12-29T21:21:00.000-08:00

Here is another soup recipe. It is almost the exact opposite of the previous recipe. While the Rasam is fiery hot this soup is mild and delicate. The source of this recipe is The 150 Best American Recipes by Fran McCullough and Molly Stevens. My sister Richa gave me this book as a present two years ago and since then it had been sitting on my shelve for the most part. Recently I started cooking from it and it has turned out to be a treasure trove of beautiful, original and delicious recipes.

I cooked this soup for the first time on christmas day last week. We were at Marin's parents' house on Bainbridge Island for Christmas and I served it with grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch. It was a hit !

Cooking time: 40 mins

Serves: 4

Ingrediants

15 Garlic cloves, unpeeled
3 cups Chicken broth
1/4 cup diced cured Country Ham or Prosciutto
5 fresh sage leaves
3 Tablespoon Butter, softened
1/2 cup heavy cream
3 large egg yolks
Salt and freshly ground Black Pepper

Method

Combine the garlic and broth in a large heavy saucepan. Simmer over low heat until garlic is soft, about 30 minutes. If you have big fat garlic cloves, they won't soften in 30 minutes of cooking, so peel them first. One whole head of garlic is about the right amount. Let the mixture cool slightly, then puree, using the fine disk of a food mill or a food processor. Press the mixture through a sieve back into the saucepan and set aside.
Meanwhile, chop the jam and the sage together very finely and place in a bowl. Add the butter and salt and pepper to taste and mix until well blended. Set aside.
Whisk together the cream and egg yolks in a small bowl. Set aside.
Bring the soup to a boil, remove t from the heat, and gradually whick in the cream mixture until the soup is thickened slightly. (If the soup doesn't thicken, return it to the heat for 1 minute, whisking constantly; do not let it boil.)
Ladle the soup into warm soup plates and spoon and equal amount of the ham and sage butter into the center of each serving.

Buttermilk Rasam (Moru Rasam)

2008-12-27T13:42:00.000-08:00

I have been cooking this recipe for a little more than two years now and every single time, it causes my guests to say wow. It combines the heat of black peppercorns and red chilli peppers with cool buttermilk and the aroma of curry leaves. The recipe comes from Dakshin: Vegetarian Cuisine from South India by Chandra Padmanabhan.

Cooking time: 2 hrs

Serves: 4

Ingrediants

4 Tbsp Red gram dal (toor dal)
2 cups water
1 Tomato, quartered
1 cup Buttermilk
4 teaspoons ghee
2 red chilies.
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1 teaspoon chana dal
1/4 teaspoon fenugreek seeds (methi)
1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
1/2 teaspoon asafoetida powder (hing)
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 red chili pepper , halved
a few curry leaves

Method

Wash the red gram dal well. Place the dal in a heavy saucepan along with 1 cup water and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer the dal for 90 minutes. If the dal starts to dry up, add some water.
Meanwhile make the spice mix. In a heavy frypan toast the red chillies, coriander seeds, chana dal, fenugreek seeds, blackpepper corns till the mixture becomes fragrant. Using a spice grinder (I use a coffee grinder) grind the spices to a fine powder and set aside.
To the cooked dal, add the remaining 1 cup of water, quartered tomato and salt to taste. Simmer this mixture till the tomato has cooked. Add the spice mixture and simmer for another 2-3 minutes.
Heat the ghee in a frypan, add the asafoetida, mustard seeds, cumin seeds, halved chilli and the curry leaves. As the mixture starts to pop, add it to the rasam mixture in the saucepan.
Remove the saucepan from heat and add the butter milk and stir it well.
Serve hot rasam with some Basmati Rice.

Yet Another Blog

2008-06-27T19:55:00.001-07:00

So my wordpress blog at UCSD got hacked sometime last month. I guess I asked for it by not updating the wordpress software on the webserver in over two years. Lately I have been thinking that perhaps its time for me to start posting again. So, here it is the brand spanking new version of Random Vibrations, hosted this time on Blogger. I am going to start by resurrecting a few of my posts from the earlier version of the blog and starting next week have something new for you to read atleast once every week.

Mr. Modi tries to come to america

2008-06-27T19:49:00.002-07:00

It has been reported that a grave insult and injustice has occured. The honorable chief minister of the great state of Gujarat, Mr Narendra Modi’s civilian visa to the US has been revoked and his request for a diplomatic visa has been denied. Clearly this is another example of the ever increasing and unreasonable influence of US power in the world and something needs to be done about it.

Well, to all you hypocritical morons defending Mr. Modi’s cause, here goes.

Much as Mr. Modi and some of you would like to believe, there is no fundamental right to visiting a foreign country. It is a nation’s right to decide who they will let into their boundaries and who they will shoo away. The same holds for India should it choose to exercise that right.

Now that we have the legalese out of the way, Narendra Modi for all his official posts and talk of democracy, is nothing more than a religious fundamentalist terrorist. The man was the chief minister of a state, people put their trust in him to govern, and he violated that trust in the worst possible manner. That he is out of jail in India should be a bigger matter of shame and debate rather than the US denying him a VISA.

Some would argue that this is a matter internal to India and the US has no business “interfering” in it. Instead, they should honor the diplomatic code. If that is the argument then I guess there really is no reason to stop genocide anywhere in the world. Let us indeed turn a blind eye to Rawanda and Serbia. Will the same people who are arguing so vehemently for Mr. Modi’s cause be open to the idea of Osama Bin Laden or Idi Amin (when he was alive) being granted a VISA to India? I would guess not. And while we are on the topic, I would like someone from amongst Modi’s defenders to tell me as to what should be the criterion for denying entry to a person to a country? Exactly what is the threshold of barbarity that he has to cross before you think it is enough?

Some one other than the Supreme Court of India should have the courage to point out the reality to Mr. Modi and while I am no great fan of American foreign policy, I am glad that they have the balls to do it.

On Cauliflower

2008-06-27T19:49:00.001-07:00

They don’t sell Broccoli in India. Atleast not in the grocery shops that my mother shops in. The first time I heard about this vegetable was when I heard about how George Bush Sr., the then president of America hated Broccoli, and how Broccoli farmers started sending truckloads of Broccoli to the White House in an attempt to convince of the error of his ways. It didn’t work and I do not blame him.

I was introduced to Broccoli when I came to the US in 2000. I was a vegetarian then(more about that some other time) and every now and then while sampling the token vegetarian dish at an eatery I would come across green florets of Broccoli in my plate. Quickly I came to the conclusion that Bush Sr. had it right all along. There was nothing likeable about Broccoli. Given its similarity to Cauliflower, a vegetable that I absolutely love, it was clear to me that the all mighty one was actually trying to create Cauliflower and Broccoli was his first failed attempt at it. Thankfully he got it right the second time. What is less clear to me is why anyone would bother with the abomination that is Broccoli when they had perfectly good florets of Cauliflower available to them. But it does not stop there. The other day while browsing the aisles in my local supermarket I came across Broccoflower. A chimera created by crossing you guessed it, a Cauliflower and a Broccoli. Why someone would do such a thing is quite beyond me. But I digress.

My earliest memory of cauliflower is of watching my mother clean and cut a Cauliflower into individual florets for the purposes of making Aloo Gobhi. A simple and sublime dish. It starts with the potato and cauliflower spending a quick minute or two in hot oil and ample amounts of cumin seeds. Turmeric, dried mango powder, salt and red/green pepper are then added and the mixture is then slowly steamed with a few drops of water till the vegetables are so tender that they literally melt in your mouth.

For most of my life, it was my belief that Aloo Gobhi was every Gobhi’s destiny( perhaps with the exception of Gobhi Massallam). However, every now and then I would come across people who would talk about Cauliflower dishes which would involve some sort of gravy, the most prominent being the atrocity known as Gobhi Manchurian, one of the many authentic Indian-Chinese dishes out there. It was my feverent belief that all these people were in a state of sin, and come judgement day they will pay for it. Or so was the case till a few weeks ago when I came across the recipe for Cauliflower Sambhar. The source was Dakshin by Chandra Padmanabhan and is devoted to vegetarian cooking from the south. It is a gorgeous book but I wish the quality of cooking instruction matched the quality of photography and printing. That said while the book is far from being a classic along the lines of Julie Sahni’s writings, it does contain a number of interesting recipes. The Cauliflower Sambhar is one of them.

Like the Potato, Cauliflower is capable of absorbing large amounts flavour from the spices around it while retaining its very nice texture. This is exactly why the Cauliflower Sambhar is so good. The spices are pretty much the as the ones that go into regular sambhar with an extra tablespoon or two of freshly grated coconut, but the slow cooking of the cauliflower in the spicy lentil broth infuses each floret with spicy juice which pairs up so well its own intrinsic mild flavour. Have it with some steamed rice or just by itself. If you have the time, cook it a few hours in advance, the taste just keeps getting better.

On Mango Pickle

2008-06-27T19:48:00.000-07:00

I come from a mango growing family. My grandfather, Lala Murari Lal planted a mango orchard and while it was one of the primary sources of income for the family for many years, it was much more than just that. Mango is a summer fruit and each year the arrival of mangos conincided with the end of the school year. For me and my myriad cousins that meant that it was time to pack up our bags and go to Dankaur(the small town east of New Delhi where my grandparents lived). Much of that summer was spent eating fresh mangos from the orchard. Ah the joy of the days gone by. Another annual ritual was the pickling of fresh green mangos from the orchard. The tart green flesh of the mango was sliced off of the mango, or the mango was just chopped into pieces with the outer shell of the pit holding it together. Different cutting procedures gave rise to different style of mango pickles. The cut pieces were then dehydrated by salting them (yes osmosis is the name of the game). The dehydrated mango pieces were then mixed with spices and oil and stored in ceramic bottles. A few weeks and you had delicious mango pickle ready for your eating pleasure. As the mango pieces spent time in the spice and oil mixture they became increasing tender and juicy, absorbing the spices and forming a delicious blend of the tart and the spicy.

It has been ten years since I left home for college and then graduate school. During this time the quality of mangos that I have had access to has steadily decreased. The less I say about the quality of mangos in san diego the more civil this posting will be. The only link to decent mangos and home cooking has been the bottles of pickles my mom makes sure I get regularly. Or so was the case till two weeks ago. It was my nephew Arush’s first birthday and I was there to take part in the celebrations. And it was fun, but clearly the high point of the weekend was my introduction to the mango pickle produced by Ahmed Foods from Pakistan.

Mere words cannot begin to describe this pickling masterpiece. The first thing you notice is that unlike the usual crap sold in the market the mango pieces have a dark green color, indicating both the quality of the mango used as well as the amount of time spent in the spice oil mixture. The spices themselves are just the right blend, yes it is tart, yes it is spicy and yes it has the right amount of oil in it to make sure that every part of the mixture is well irrigated. To summarize, the perfect mango in oil pickle.