Mambazha Pulisseri – A well-marriage of sweetness and sourness!

This post is part of SADYA VIBHAVANGAL – Learn to make the traditional Kerala Feast- An Artist’s Edible Palette !

A classic dish of Kerala that would make most Malayalee salivate at the mere mention of it. Those who love this dish become a slave to it. The taste…..the flavour….the aroma……it’s a well-marriage of sweetness and sourness…….a canvas where the ripened mangoes embrace the sourness of homemade curd with a textured interplay from the fresh ground coconut paste , augmented by the aromas of coconut oil and the princess herb of Kerala, the curry leaf! Who can resist this savory mango-ey goodness!!!! The real blending of flavors happen as it rests for one or two hours and taste the best the next day. When there is a shower of “Chandrakkaran mangas”, a Kerala variety, Mambazha Pulisseri reigns everyone and everywhere!.

Ingredients: (Approx.) For cooking:

• 1 cup of sweet and ripe mango, skin off and diced ( 1 medium size mango) OR 2-3 Chandrakkaran manga
• 2 -3 Indian green chillies, slit opened lengthwise
• ½ inch piece of ginger, thinly sliced
• ¼ tsp turmeric powder
• ¼ tsp red chilly powder
• Salt to taste
• Water to cook mangoes

For grinding:

• ¾ cup grated coconut
• 2-4 Indian green chillies
• 1 small clove of garlic
• ¼ to ½ tsp cumin seeds, jeera
• ¼ tsp turmeric powder
• 3-4 curry leaves
• Salt to taste

1 cup homemade curd or store-bought yogurt
Sugar, if required

For seasoning:

• 2-3 tsp coconut oil
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
• 2 dry red chillies
• ¼ tsp fenugreek seeds/Uluva
• A pinch of red chilly powder
• 4-6 curry leaves

Directions:

• Grind grated coconut, green chillies, garlic, cumin seeds, turmeric powder and curry leaves with a dash of salt into a fine and smooth paste and keep aside.
• In a deep vessel, cook ripe mango pieces or Chandrakkaran manga mildly spiced with green chillies, ginger, turmeric powder, red chilly powder in little water, just enough to cook the mangoes.
• While mangoes are cooking, heat oil in a shallow pan and splutter mustard seeds, dry red chillies, fenugreek seeds and tear off some curry leaves and add to this. Transfer this to a small deep bowl and keep aside. In the same pan, sauté the ground coconut paste for a minute and pour it to the cooked mangoes and gently blend everything well and cook for a minute. Remove the vessel from the heat and now add the thick homemade curd; stir continuously while adding curd and then bring the vessel back to the stove and stir occasionally, in medium heat, until it starts to boil. Let it boil for a minute, without letting the curd to curdle. (Note: You need to be very careful at this stage because if you stop stirring for a while, it will boil immediately and curdle. So stay away from phone calls and other chores.) Do a taste –test and adjust the flavors. If sourness still dominates the dish, add 1-2 tsp sugar and stir well. Adjust the flavour until the right balance of sweetness and sourness is reached. Switch off the stove and transfer the vessel from the stove and keep stirring gently for another minute as the bowl is still hot and hence it will continue to boil until the temperature of the bowl subsides. At this stage, pour the seasoning, which was made earlier, to the dish and stir gently. A pinch of red chilly powder we added to the seasoning will now create a nice streak of reddishness to the yellow dish , making it appealing to your eyes and taste buds at the same time :)
• Let it stand for atleast 30 minutes before serving. Serve with rice.

Note: Please note that Mambazha Pulisseri tastes better with aging. The real blending of flavors happen as it rests for one or two hours and taste best the next day. It should have a thick yet liquid-y consistency. The taste basically depends on the ripeness and the variety of mango used, thickness and sourness of the curd and smoothness and creaminess of the ground coconut paste.

Luv
Shn

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