Mango Kairas (A sweet spicy & tangy Mango Relish !)

Cooked raw mango pieces simmered in a sweet and spicy coconut sauce!

 
     Kairas is a combination of two words, kairi+ras, meaning raw/green mango + juice. This is one of my favorite preparation using green mango. The sweet, spicy, tangy, tart flavors of this dish takes me back to the good  young days when I had first pestered my grand mother's friend to show how to prepare it and I was in 3rd std!!!.

     I believe this is a Konkan specialty, but it does vary from the one that is prepared in the Konkan region of Karwar and Mangalore. Its more of a dry preparation while this one is more of a gravy(ras) consistency. Yeah, I love to slurp the ras!!! And this goes to the Mango Challenge on Foodie Blogroll

Ingredients:
1 large mango, unripe,deskin, diced
4  1in-cubes of jaggery /  5 –7 tbsp of brown sugar
pinch of turmeric
salt to taste
Grind
  1/3 cup coconut, fresh/frozen
  1/2 tsp cumin seeds
Tempering
  1 tsp oil
  1/4 tsp mustard seeds
  1/4 tsp cumin seeds
  4 –5 curry leaves
  3 green chilies, chopped


Preparation Method:
1. Dice the raw mango into small pieces and cook them in a vessel with enough water.(Discard the seed).When cooked the mango pieces look transparent
2. Grind the coconut and cumin to fine paste or slightly coarse.
3. Heat oil in a vessel, add mustard seeds. As they splutter, add cumin, green chilies, and curry leaves.
4. Transfer the cooked mixture of mango to the tempering vessel. Add turmeric, salt, ground paste and jaggery and bring to boil.
5. Let it simmer for 5 mins, then remove from heat and serve with bread/chapati/paratha or have as is(which I love). It is also a good filling for sweet crepes.





Preparation Time: 20 mins
Serves: 2 – 4
Note: Add more or less jaggery/brown sugar as per taste.