Puthandu special- Mango Pachadi

While the ongoing Chithirai Vs. Thai tussle remains a political issue, the Tamil public is happy to celebrate New Year at all given occasions - after all, in the circle of life, each day is a start of the next year. As actor Trisha says, if it means an extra holiday, hey,join the party ! Let the debate continue to rage, the more conventional of us will celebrate Tamil New Year as the sun moves into Aries, which was, today. The Tamil New Year is close behind the vernal equinox, where the tilt of the earth causes the sun to cross the equator into the Northern hemisphere, thus heralding a few months of summer up North. The Tamil New Year thus formally announces the blaze of the sun to us - as if we needed an announcement.




So, do we pass up any opportunity to cook and eat goodies? No. Beyond mere pleasures of the flesh (in the tongue, to be more precise), we design our dishes to teach us more profound truths, if we choose to see them. Such as the fact that life cannot be pudding and pie all the time, and any year comes mixed with sweet and bitter in equal measure and bitter makes sweet sweeter.

Hence Mango Pachadi.

Mango pachadi is a culmination of all the tastes that our buds can feel. The mango gives it the tang, the jaggery makes it sweet, salt triggers just those little special buds at the sides of the tongue, and the neem flowers, remind you that bitter is not all bad, especially when it is part of the ensemble.


Ingredients

Mango - Thin slices-1 cup(Slices needn't be thin, as we are going to cook the mangoes and mash it)

Jaggery- 1 cup (pound the jaggery before measuring)

Neem flowers(fresh or dried)-Veppampoo-1 spoon(optional)

Green chillies-2

mustard and ghee for seasoning

Procedure

There are many ways to prepare this recipe.I am going to give you the simple, fast yet tasty recipe.

1.Pressure cook the mango slices with green chillies and a tiny pinch of salt (one whistle should be enough).Also boil the jaggery with little water.

2. Jaggery may contain lot of dirt.So it's better to boil the jaggery and filter it before adding it to the cooked mango.Some people add the jaggery directly to the mango. I prefer to filter it.

3.Open the pressure cooker, add the filtered jaggery.Simmer and stir until it's thick.

4.Season it with mustard seeds and veppampoo (neem flower) in Ghee.

A small variation is that instead of green chillies, red chillies are fried along with the neem flower and added to the concoction at the end.

புத்தாண்டு வாழ்த்துக்கள்