Raw Mango-Moong Dal Curry

As a child, I always looked forward to the summer season; mainly the summer vacation which brought with it all the flavours of the season, especially mangoes! My mouth waters at the thought of the raw mangoes we instant-pickled and ate, or the ripe ones we tore apart with our teeth and licked the juice running down our fingers-all freshly plucked out of the numerous mango trees scattered in my grandmother's enormous backyard. Those memories will always be cherished.

At home, Amma always uses raw mangoes in a lot of dishes, raw mango and coconut chutney, fish curries with mango and coconut gravy etc. After Vishu, I wanted to use the raw mangoes I had picked out for the Kani and was wondering what to do with them, since A does not like coconut chutney much (sad, but true!). So I decided to make Mango Dal with Moong Dal with it and adding the bottlegourd vegetable too.



To make the Raw Mango-Moon Dal Curry seen in the picture, you will need:

Moong Dal - 2 cups
Raw Mango - peeled, chopped large
Bottlegourd/ Dhoodhi - peeled, deseeded, cubed - 1 cup
Onion - chopped - 1 (optional)

Coconut - grated - 1/2 cup
Ginger - peeled and pounded - 2 tsp
Green chilly - sliced - 1 small
Coriander seeds powder - roasted - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds powder - roasted - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Red chilly powder - 1/2 tsp

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - 1 strand
Asafeotida/ Hing - 1/4 tsp/ a pinch
Oil - 1 tsp

Salt - to taste



Method:

• Wash the moong dal well and soak for about 15 minutes
• In a pressure cooker, add dal, bottlegourd pieces and chopped onion with enough water and boil for 2-3 whistles
• While it cools, grind raw mango pieces, grated coconut, green chilly and ginger along with the powders and salt into a smooth paste
• Mix the paste into the cooked moong dal and bottlegourd vegetable and adjust consistency with water and bring to boil on low flame
• Temper mustard seeds and curry leaves in oil with hing and season the curry
  

Serve with rice. It also goes well with chapathi if made thick.