MAAvina Hannu Khara – Instant Mango Curry

Maavina Hannu khara was one of the few dishes that I remember my paternal grandma making. She wasn’t much of a cook, at least not when I was big enough to remember. My amma or my aunts were incharge of the kitchen while she worked in the estate full day. She would go out and work in the estate all day and she is the one who taught me a lot about trees, plants and flowers. I remember her making Maavina Hannu khara, amatekaayi Uppinakaayi and Mosaru bana, curd rice made using colostrum milk.

We had a huge field in the centre of our coffee estate and that field was covered in grass and had one huge, tall mango tree on which a swing was tied. We spent most of our afternoons playing there. This mango tree bore small mangoes, very fibrous, not too sweet. So me, my cousins would collect these mangoes and ajji would collect them in her saree Pallu ( end of the saree) and tie it and get it home. She would make Maavina Hannu khara and let it marinate till dinner and all of us would enjoy it like a festive meal. It is the love that makes the simplest of dishes taste the best.

Here is the most easiest, yummiest dish that you could make using these small mangoes. Sakkare guthi is the mango I have used here. The other dish is Maavina Hannu Gojju which I make using this mango. Do try both of them, if you like rustic, basic recipes.

Ingredients

6 nos – Small mangoes

1 Tbsp – Red chilly powder

Salt to taste

1 tsp – sugar

1 Tbsp – Oil

1 tsp – mustard seeds

5 to 6 – Curry leaves

Method

Peel the mangoes.

Mix the mangoes well with red chilly powder and salt. Rub them and mix them well.

I squeeze one of the mangoes so that the juice helps mix the spices well.

Cover it and let it marinate for at least a couple of hours.

Just before you want to serve temper it.

Heat oil in a tempering pan. Add mustard seeds and let it crackle.

Add curry leaves and let them crisp up.

Add this to the mangoes and give it a good mix.

Serve it with rice, ghee or enjoy it on its own.