MAVINAHANNINAA SEEKARANE/AAM RAS/ AAM SHIKARAN

Eat a mango every day for the benefits it offers say experts so feel guilt free to indulge.

India is home for more than 100 varieties but Raspuri mangoes are favorite. Raspuri mangoes have an excellent flavour and juicy texture.They are rich in carotenes. They are our own. Yes they are cultivated majorly in Karnataka state of India and are unparalleled in popularity. Because of its unique flavour and pulpy nature raspuri is used in smoothies, milk shakes and jams.

So this mango season it is a strict no to carbide ripened mangoes and hunt for organic ones.   Bangalore has lost most of its Raspuri growing belt to real estate boom. My online hunt for  my kind of raspuri was fruitful in real sense. I was overjoyed and ordered them in dozens for eating uncut - the traditional way?, for distribution, for smoothies and of course for making the very traditional Seekarane.

Curious me opened the carton as soon as consignment arrived home and the signature aroma of Raspuri wafted the air and was enough to take me back to my school days.  Mango season always coincided with fun filled school summer vacation. There would be a huge stock of semi ripe mangoes in hay packed  bamboo baskets. We  would always check if there were enough mangoes in the basket, if were they ripe enough to have after lunch. ( there is a saying and belief in Karnataka - undu mavu, hasidu halasu - meaning have mangoes after lunch and have jack-fruit before lunch).  Select ripe ones and carry them to the dining room were they would  be consumed whole after a meal. Some times hide fruits in between pleats of the skirt and run to the play ground where we would share them with friends.  All of us,  siblings, sat in a circle on the floor, cross legged, and have lunch/dinner. One of us would serve each one with a ripe whole mango to be had after the meal. We would eat the whole fruit, tearing open the skin with incisors and digging into the pulp and extracting the last bit of the juice left on the kernel. We would not bother if the mango juice was flowing down the cheeks, flowing on the arms, it was whole lot of fun. We would also pull each others legs, make faces  if the fruit was sour, have some sugar if fruits were sour. Hmm those were the days.

My daughter in law is from Mumbai and is Amras fan wants to have it with puri. Down South in Karnataka we make maavina seekarane, have it with obbattu or simply as a dessert after meal.

Seekarane is a very simple, quick, healthy, nutritious recipe that goes well with young and old, traditional and modern. So here we go.

• Ease - Very easy
• Preparation time - 15 minutes
• Cooking time - 10 minutes
• Yield - about 500 ml.

Ingredients

• Fully ripe aromatic Raspuri mangoes - 4
• Sugar - 5 - 6 tea spoons (as per taste)
• Cardamom - 4
• Coconut milk - 1/2 cup
    

Method

• Wash, wipe dry mangoes and peel the skin
• Squeeze the pulp and remove the kernel
• In a bowl add mango pulp, sugar and coconut milk and mix thoroughly.
• Sprinkle powdered cardamom on the top for garnish and flavour.
• Add chopped roasted almonds for making it richer (optional)
• Serve with puri, holige, obbattu
• Serve chilled as a dessert.

Notes and tips

• If raspuri mangoes are not available, use badam, alphonso , mallika or malgoba variety
• Replace coconut milk with finely grated coconut. Gives you a granular texture
• Replace coconut milk with almond milk/ cream to make it richer.