CHEMMEEN MANGATHOLI PAAL CURRY

Almost my entire childhood vacation at Kothamangalm in my Ammai's house included unlimited supply of Mangatholi along with plenty of Kappa Erachi,Cheeda and other goodies. Till a couple of years I thought Mangatholi was literally the sundried skin of raw mangoes.Only recently did I realize that it was the entire green mango flesh which were roughly cut up and dried under the sun along with salt till it was dehydrated and almost black in colour. That flavour of Mangatholi will be on my tongue until my last day. It is so good! Super tangy,salty pieces of mango which tastes like...the Sun!

Do you all like the smell of clothes dried under the scorching Sun? I do. It always reminds me of Pallikuttumma. All our clothes would be hung on the line and even on the pebbles on the ground to dry and in the evening when it's taken inside the house,it would be paper dry and smells like the Sun. If I were to close my eyes and take a deep breath, I can still smell those clothes of mine. Those were the days we carelessly roamed around everywhere wearing hand-me-downs,least bothered about how our hair looked like or how messy our face were after eating ripe and raw mangoes holding them as is. I miss my childhood. I really had a good one.

When I was pregnant with Zara, I craved for Mangatholi. That was when Jobin was travelling to India for work. I immediately Whatsapped Ammai and asked her if she had any stock. Of course, she did and she sent it to Amma and Jobin collected it from there and brought it all the way to Minneapolis. I wonder if those mangoes which were hanging on my Ammai's trees knew that they would end up in a dish in Minneapolis!

I usually eat them as is but off late, I've been using it instead of our Kudampuli/ Valanpuli for curries. They work just fine and provides such a rustic taste to the curry. When I came across this curry on YouTube, I had to give it a try right away. As I was cooking, I posted some videos of it on Instagram (which is currently where I am the most active...if you would like to get cooking updates ALL the time from me, you can follow me there! ) and I was flooded with requests to share the recipe. It's literally impossible to share recipes personally anymore because of time constraints and the lack of interest in typing out in detail using my phone. So I told them that I will share it here, so that all of you can view it and try it at home!

CHEMMEEN MANGATHOLI PAAL CURRY
Serves 6

Ingredients:
500g Shrimp,cleaned
2 inch piece ginger, crushed
1 medium onion,sliced fine
2-3 green chilies, slit
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon red chili powder
1 sprig curry leaves
Salt

About 1/3 -1/2 cup Mangatholi,soaked in 1/2 cup water*

1 1/4 cup thin coconut milk
1/2 cup thick coconut milk

For tempering:
3 tablespoons coconut oil
2 teaspoons black mustard seeds
2 dried red chilies
1 sprig curry leaves
5 pearl onions, sliced
2 teaspoon coriander powder
1 teaspoon red chili powder
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder

Method: In a meenchatti,add the shrimp,ginger,onion, chilies,spice powders,curry leaves, salt and 1 cup water. Cook on medium heat till the shrimp is half way done. Add the thin coconut milk, Mangatholi pieces along with the soaking water and cook covered until the shrimp is completely cooked.If the gravy is too thin at this point, cook the curry uncovered for 1-2 minutes. Add the thick coconut milk and bring it to a boil. Take it off the stove.
In a small pan, heat the oil and crackle the mustard seeds.Add the dried red chilies, curry leaves and shallots and fry till the shallots starts to turn colour. Turn the heat to low and add in the spice powders.Cook stirring well for 20 seconds. Turn off the heat and pour the tempering over the curry. Check for seasonings and serve hot with rice!

* You can use one raw green mangoes pieces instead. Just make sure you don't over cook the shrimp or the mango pieces. You can use Kudampuli too,if green mangoes are unavailable.

This is an AMAZING curry! It's tangy and spicy. Since the shrimp doesn't take that long to get cooked, the ginger and onion pieces retain their shape so you get a bite of it every once in a while. This curry is best served with plain rice. Ian loved it. Jobin is in India for work right now,so that's why you don't get to hear about him much these days. So do let me know if you try this curry, you will love it for sure! In the meantime, you can follow me on Instagram here!

I have some news for Kannur people! Amma and her fellow YWCA members have opened a cafe and guest house  right next to St. Teresa's School in Burnacherry. The quaint little cafe,originally a British cottage,serves homemade food made exclusively by Amma and two other members. It's called Cafe Y and it's open from 9 am till 7 pm. Please visit when time permits!

PORK ULARTHIYATHU

M

ammai is my Appan's sister. Yes,that also means she is my Ammai. Confused? We all called Appan's mom Mamma, so naturally, I got confused as a little girl and called my aunt Mammai,instead of Ammai. Mammai is an awesome cook just like her mother and she cooks a lot of stuff for every meal. Whenever we visit her family in Kothamangalam,she would definitely make her Kappa Erachi and this Pork Ularthu was another item that would visit the table quite often.

So just like you all having family groups on Whatsapp, we have one for our little family . Food is one of the main topics of discussion and one day, Mammai mentioned about her Pork Ulathu. I couldn't resist my temptation and got her precious recipe for her signature dish. I wrote it down on a piece of paper and that piece of paper vanished into a 'safe' place that I could never find!

On Monday evening,as I was rummaging through my little cookbook corner, I found that precious recipe! I was so excited, exactly the same way I felt 6-7 years ago when I found Ava's Mom's Chocolate Brownie recipe! So, when Jobin got back home from work that evening,we went to our nearby Oriental market to buy pork. That's the only place that I buy pork to make curries. Oh by the way, did I tell you all that I am on 10-day spring break? Yes, I am! :-) That also means,I will be joining Hyatt on April 4th for my 12 week externship! My Chef called me last night to tell me that my shift starts at 6.00 am which also means I need to wake up everyday at 4.30 am to get to the hotel atleast by 5.45 am since there's a 20 minute drive one way.Exciting times!

Okay, back to this delicious dish! So, whenever you are planning to make a pork curry like this or like my Pork Vindaloo ,make sure you buy a fatty cut of pork. If not, the meat will dry out during the lengthy cooking process and it will be fibrous in the end. If you've ever had that experience and didn't know what's going on, your meat was probably lean. The fat renders during the cooking making the whole dish succulent and delicious. Whenever I buy pork, I look for the marbling of fat throughout the meat. I don't buy meat with inches and inches of fat and skin above it,just a well marbled meat with some fat around it.

PORK ULARTHIYATHU

Ingredients:
1.5 kilos (3lbs) pork shoulder, cut up into 1 inch pieces
1 large onion, cubed
1 large tomato, cubed
1 1/2 tablespoon ground coriander
1 1/2 tablespoon cayenne
1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste
1 1/2 teaspoon garam masala
Salt

For seasoning:
1/2 cup coconut oil
1 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
10 cloves garlic, finely sliced
2 inches ginger, finely sliced
10 pearl onions, finely sliced
5 dried red chilies
1 sprig curry leaves
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon black pepper powder

Method: Pressure cook the meat along with onion,tomato,ground coriander,cayenne, ginger garlic paste, garam masala & salt for 4-5 whistles.DO NOT add any water. There should be about 1 cup of gravy left over after cooking. If you have a lot more than that, cook it down.

In a large saute pan, heat the oil and crackle the mustard seeds.Add the garlic,ginger, pearl onions and cook till they soften and the onions starts to brown a little bit. Add the dried red chilies and curry leaves,saute for 30 seconds. Add in the spice powders and mix well for 30 second. Add the cooked meat along with the gravy and cook until the gravy dries up,coats the meat and gets a dark brown colour. Adjust salt as needed and mix in the black pepper. Enjoy while it lasts!

This dish packs a punch for sure! It is so delicious that I couldn't stop myself from eating small portions of it every time I walked into the kitchen. At one point, I was a bit worried if I would eat up the whole thing by the time Jobin and Ian got back! This curry would be so perfect with some Kerala Matta rice, Kachiyamoru and a Mezhukkupuratti. It will pair really well with Appam, Puttu, Idiyappam, Batura, Chapathi, Poori etc.

When Jobin tasted it, he was like this thing is so tasty! It really is,so do give it a try and let me know! Just one word of caution, get a fatty cut of pork, please! :-)

It's a rainy day here today and all I can think of is curling up on the couch with some chorum,morum,pork ularthum and catching up on some old comedy Malayalam movies. I was watching Pattanapravesham as I was cooking this dish yesterday, I really need some background noise when I cook! ;-)