Make the most out of mangoes while they are still about and try Anupama Jail's take on Kairi Chutney.
Team it with hot Palak Paratha and reward your family with a healthy, hearty Indian breakfast.
Every summer, Anupama, a homemaker fondly remembers her childhood in Dewas, Madhya Pradesh, which was spent playing with friends and relishing mangoes to her heart's content.
After moving to Pune, post marriage, she has experimented with a variety of dishes that use raw mango, be they in curries, chutneys and pickles.
Now at 74, she enjoys treating her grandchildren and guests to tasteful, traditional, seasonal recipes.
Palak Paratha and Kairi Chutney
Serves: 2-3
Ingredients
For the kairi chutney
- 50 gm or ½ cup chopped raw Totapuri mango
- 1 tbsp finely chopped onion
- 1 tsp red chilly powder
- 1 tsp jeera or cumin seeds
- 100 gm jaggery powder (ideally it should be twice the quantity of the mangoes)
- Pinch salt
For the palak paratha
- 100 gm palak or spinach, blanched and pureed
- 200 gm aata or wheat flour
- 1 tbsp dahi or yoghurt
- 1 tsp ginger-garlic paste
- 1 tsp red chilly powder
- 1 tsp haldi or turmeric powder
- 1 tsp til or white sesame seeds
- Salt to taste, about 1 tsp
- Ghee, oil or butter, as required to fry the parathas + extra to drizzle on the hot parathas before serving
- Water
Method
For the kairi chutney
- Grind all ingredients to a fine paste.
Serve with the parathas and store the excess in covered container in the fridge for up to two days.
For the palak paratha
- In a bowl, mix together the spinach puree, wheat flour, yoghurt, ginger-garlic paste, red chilly powder, sesame seeds, salt, haldi.
Knead into dough adding a little water.
Cover the dough with a damp kitchen towel and keep aside. - After 15 minutes, knead again and divide it into 8 to 10 golf-sized balls or any size you desire.
Roll them into circles; they should be on the thicker side like parathas are. - Heat a tava over medium-high heat and fry the parathas, first without oil or ghee or butter.
Gently press the edges till they fluff up, flip and let each paratha cook on the other side as well.
Trickle ghee/oil/butter onto the paratha, flip and fry for a minute more and serve the parathas hot with kairi chutney.
Editor's Note: For Jain parathas, skip the ginger-garlic paste. And for a Jain version of the kairi chutney, skip the onion and use a pinch of hing or asafetida.
For vegan parathas, substitute the dahi in the recipe with vegan yoghurt.
