Chennai

Memories, for many including me, consist of precarious attempts to pick elusive mangoes dangling enticingly from the branches of fruit-laden trees. The joy of munching on raw mangoes cut and smeared with chilli powder and salt, and the heady smell of ripe mangoes on trees brought happiness to countless Indian homes including mine.  It’s no wonder that the mango is rightfully called the king of fruits because of this.

Apart from the various pickles and sweets made with mango, mambazha pulissery is one of Kerala’s favourite summer curries. Usually, the ripened fruit is plucked off the trees in one’s home and is used to make this aromatic delicacy, which is sweet and sour, and has a yogurt and coconut base, spiced with green chillies. Mambazha pulissery is also an integral part of the traditional Vishu festival sadhya or feast.

History shows that Indians have been cultivating this juicy fruit for more than 4,000 years, while the Western world has savoured it only for the last 400! Fossil evidence indicates that the mango made its first appearance even earlier — 25 to 30 million years ago — in Northeast India, Myanmar and Bangladesh, from where it travelled down to southern India.  

The earliest name given to the mango was amra-phal. It was also referred to in early Vedic literature as rasala and sahakara, and was written about in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad and the Puranas, which condemn the felling of mango trees. 

On reaching South India, the name was translated to aam-kaay in Tamil, which gradually became maamkaay due to differences in pronunciation. Malayalis further changed this to maanga, while mango as we know it today, was introduced to the world by the Portuguese. 

The mango tree was also associated with the god of love, Manmatha, and its blossoms were considered to be the God’s arrows by the Nanda Kings. It was during the Nanda rule that Alexander arrived in India and fought the famous battle with King Porus. When it was time for him to return to Greece, he took with him several varieties of the delicious fruit.

With the rise of Buddhism, mangoes came to represent faith and prosperity among the religion’s followers, as there were several legends talking about Buddha’s association with mango trees. Amongst Buddhist rulers, mangoes were exchanged as gifts and became an important tool of diplomacy. During this period, monks took the fruits with them wherever they went, thus popularising it.

Megasthenes and Xuanzang, the earliest writer-travellers to visit ancient India, wrote about how the then kings, notably the Mauryas, planted mango trees along roadsides and highways as a symbol of prosperity. They also wrote about the incredible taste of the fruit, bringing it to the notice of people outside the country.  

Next came the Mughal emperors, whose fondness for the mango became legendary. Their obsessive love for the golden-yellow fruits was, in fact, the only legacy that flowed untouched from one generation to another in the Mughal dynasty. Akbar built the vast Lakhi Bagh near Darbhanga to grow over a hundred thousand mango trees. This was one of the earliest examples of the grafting of mangoes, including the Totapuri, Rataul and the expensive Kesar varieties.

Shah Jahan’s fondness for mangoes too was so deep that he had his own son, Aurangzeb, punished and placed under house arrest because the latter kept all the mangoes in the palace for himself. The Mughal khansamas can be attributed for creating unique dishes like aam panna, aam ka lauz and aam ka meetha pulao. Nur Jahan used a mix of mangoes and roses to create her legendary wines.

A Peshwa of the Marathas, Raghunath Peshwa, planted ten million mango trees as a sign of Maratha supremacy. Folklore has it that it was a fruit from these trees that eventually turned into the famous Alphonso, the king of mangoes. The advent of Europeans and the British eventually affected the mango, which fell from its position of ‘empire builder’, to simply a fruit. Though it retained its superiority in terms of taste, many varieties disappeared from the scene, and several new ones eventually emerged.

Mambazha pulissery first appeared as a dish in the sadhya served for distinguished visitors, during the time of Marthanda Varma, one of the greatest kings Thiruvithamkoor (Travancore) had ever seen. From there, the fame of the dish travelled to other parts of South India and has become a household favourite for many, today.

Naadan mambazha pulissery 

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 15mins

Servings: 4

Calories: 310 cal per serve 

Ingredients

Mango (ripe, medium sized): 4

Fresh coconut (grated): 2 cups

Turmeric powder: 1 tsp

Green chillies: 3

Fenugreek seeds (dry roasted and powdered): ¼ tsp

Cumin seeds: 1 tsp

Curd (beaten): 2 cups

Red chillies: 2

Black mustard seeds: 1 tsp

Coconut oil: 3 tsp

Curry leaves: 10

Coconut milk: 1 cup

Salt: to taste

Asafoetida: ¼ tsp

Method

• Peel, deseed and chop the mangoes. Squeeze out as much juice as you can from the mango slices and keep aside.
• In a mixer-grinder, grind together the grated coconut, turmeric powder, cumin and green chillies. Add half the coconut milk to make a smooth paste.
• Heat a teaspoon of oil in a kalchetti (stone vessel) or a saucepan on a low flame and add the ground paste to it.
• Fry the paste for about four minutes on a low flame till it begins to give off a pleasant aroma of the spice mix.
• Sprinkle the roasted fenugreek powder over it. Add the asafoetida powder and salt. Stir continuously on low flame.
• To this flavorful blend, add the curd and stir well so it remains smooth.
• Add the chopped mangoes and the fresh juice. Keep stirring.
• Let the mangoes simmer on a low flame, and stir continuously for about 5 minutes or till the fruit becomes soft and blends with the juice.
• Add the remaining coconut milk. Turn off the flame and stir for another minute.
• For seasoning, heat 2 teaspoons of oil in a pan. Add the mustard seeds and when it begins to splutter, add the red chillies and curry leaves.
• Pour that into the mambazha pulissery immediately and cover for at least 10 minutes to let the flavours seep in.
• Allow it to cool and serve with hot, steamed rice and papads.

Kitchen Tips

• Keep unripe mangoes at room temperature to ripen, which may take up to a week. A paper bag or box of rice might help them ripen sooner, but they will not ripen at temperatures below 55 degrees.
• To cut a mango, slit it lengthwise along the pit. Once you learn how to locate the pit, the rest is easy. 

— Chef Ramaa Shanker  is the  author of  Festive Offerings to  the Gods: Divine Soul Recipes

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