THE KING OF FRUITS: Making Green Mango Rice. It has been said that India has only two seasons: Monsoon season and Mango season. While the monsoon replenishes Indian soil, mangoes are food for the soul. Did you know that India holds 40% share of the world mango production?
• Having to forgo Indian mangoes was definitely a downside of emigration to the US. I don’t count Mexican mangoes: sorry Bobby Flay, I’m sure your mango salsas are nicely fibrous and vaguely sweet 😉 but these mangoes are unfit for consumption unless cooked. I brightened momentarily when President GW visited India, fell in love with the most regal of mangoes, the Alphonso, and granted special import permit for this variety, only to be foiled by the competitive Indian shopper who snaps up crates of mangoes at the going rate for gold. I recall a friend attempting to smuggle import a crate of mangoes from Toronto. At being stopped at the border and asked to throw them away, she refused indignantly. Instead, the family pulled over for an impromptu mango feast with the Customs officers joining in with gusto.
My green mango rice was inspired by a photograph shared by Feisal Kamil taken in his mother-in-law’s garden in Terengganu. The rice tastes even better after the flavors have had time to blend: delicately tangy and slightly sweet, sharply astringent with mustard, balanced out by creamy richness of coconut, all topped with crunchy peanuts and little pops of roasted mustard seeds. Enjoy!
Recipe: https://madamescientist.wordpress.com/2012/06/16/the-king-of-fruits-making-green-mango-rice/
#foodporn #food
madame scientist's not-so-mad musings 
Hi Shinae Choi Robinson , good tip..I’ll do a search for Kent mangoes and track them down. I’m dying here of mango deprivation 🙂
Colorful 🙂
that looks yum….
In addition to the Kent mangos, you should look out for Ataulfo mangos. Wikipedia informs me that they are very closely related to the Alphonso mangos of India. They’re absolutely delicious.
Thanks, also Robin Goins . Do you think I would find them in the northeast/mid Atlantic area? I’ll search for them too.
No Kent Rajini Rao. Only the great Hapus from select yards of Ratnagiri(well it is Devgad).
Just the thought that I have not tasted it for many years makes me depressed…. 🙂
Sadly in Taiwan Mangoes are already in season
Would ripe mangoes work on this, Rajini Rao?
Make a trip to India, mandar khadilkar ! Hapus are fabulous. My parents save some for my visits.
Somewhat ripe would be fine, Annie Yim , because that’s how mine turned out to be ..because I let them sit out for a week 😛 You can see that the grated mango is fairly yellow instead of bright green.
For those who are reading this, Hapus is the names used for those in India.
Devgad is the place in Konkan (coastal region in Maharashtra) where famous Hapus is grown.
yeah… but mangoes in Taiwan are golden yellow ripe :p
i’ll give it a try anyways… hehe, parents are away, kitchen is mine muahahahahahah…ehm…
That looks amazing. Hopefully we’ll get the varieties of mangos you like here in American someday.
Rajini Rao it’s amazing and sad that a lot of people have no idea of the varieties of mangoes. I like the yellow ones (I don’t know what it would be called in English) with sweet rice and coconut milk. I think I mentioned before I eat the unripe green mangoes with chili sauce made with a little raw sugar, fish sauce and dried chili. Which reminds me of Som Tum (unripe papaya salad). I haven’t found unripe papaya anywhere except at the Thai/Vietnamese stores. Here’s a recipe: http://goo.gl/T9QXJ, You’ll have to figure out how to substitute for fish sauce. Maybe just add more salt and a touch of apple cider vinegar. Don’t ask me why, but there is actually a song about it. http://goo.gl/6oqCx
Haha, don’t mind my whining John Poteet 🙂 I love being here.
mmm, that does look delicious Rajini Rao !
The hazards associated with mango deprivation should not be underestimated!
Marc Ponomareff , when I walk through customs, the officers look me up and down and ask Did you bring back mangoes? LOL! I manage to put on an offended look, I wouldn’t dare 😉
Rajini Rao – you’re doing it again! Amazing food post just before I turn in.
Thank you, Chad Haney ! First of all, some recipes deserve a pop song dedicated to them. I’ve made green papaya salad and liked it (not sure how authentic, though!). No fish sauce, just soy. The raw mango dish you describe would be similar to Indian chaat. Deeksha Tare would know all about it. We do make sweet desserts with mango, and everything in between.
That looks delicious. As you will recall from our cardamom hunt the area round here is lacking many of the ingredients for a good Indian dish let alone the mango’s !!
Oh no, Paul Melrose . Snacking just before turning in for the night is supposed to be fattening 🙂 Virtual gluttony is fine.
Are they foodies, Khairul Zainal ? Recommend adding to my foodie circle?
Rajini Rao you probably don’t have time to make a trip to Silver Spring, but let me shoot an email to a friend and see if there’s a Thai grocery store near Wat Thai DC with good mangoes.
Mangos are delicious and especially when you make a mean mango smoothie
Silver Spring is close by, Chad Haney . I can get there easily (or dispatch husband). LOL, Mahesh Sreekandath !!
John Figueroa are you talking about Mango lassi?
There is a super intense mango puree that one can buy canned ..it works well for mango smoothies and ice cream.
Rajini Rao for fun, maybe try Local on G+ for an Asian market. This popped up just from a regular Google search. http://goo.gl/sCLdj
They have lime leaf which is hard to find. I would guess they have green mangoes and unripe papaya there. Looks like there’s an H Mart nearby too. They are a Korean chain in case you aren’t familiar.
Did you know that India holds 40% share of the world mango production?
Rajini Rao No, I did not. We have mangoes all the time, although as an American I have to ask: what’s the difference between the Mexican and Indian varieties?
California is a treasure trove of seasonal fruits and vegetables but when I lived in Minnesota there were also two seasons; Winter and road repair.
Kevin Clift that sums up the midwest.
Good use of Local G+, I’ve known about it and not thought to test it out. You’re right, I have not found lime leaf at my local mega Korean store (HMart), but I do get lemon grass and galangal there. I make a bastardized version of tom kha soup ..your mom may not approve..no fish sauce again 😦
看上去很香，很好吃
Any left for me Khairul Zainal ?
Thank you for the notice Khairul Zainal ! 🙂
Rajini Rao this dish looks absolutely amazing!!! I’m so stoked to give it a try. It must be so awesome to be able to have access to so many varieties of mangos. As far as I’m aware we get 2 here, the ones you show here and the little yellow alphonso ones you speak of. The mango’s here are imported from Mexico, as far as I know. Thank you again for this wonderful recipe!! 🙂
Did you know that there is a Mango.org Rajini Rao with varieties versus availability? http://www.mango.org/varieties-and-availability
That is a useful site, thanks, Kevin Clift . Kent and Ataulfo have been mentioned here already.
Khairul Zainal , I found some pictures in my files from visits to India. My aunt has this massive tree that produces thousands of mangoes each season. Professional mango pickers show up to pick them, and she gets to keep a few hundred 🙂 If you take pictures, do tag me.
Just for fun:
Following India in volume of exports are Thailand, 774,365 tons (702,500 MT), Pakistan and Bangladesh, followed by Brazil. Mexico ranks 5th with about 100,800 acres (42,000 ha) and an annual yield of approximately 640,000 tons (580,000 MT). The Philippines have risen to 6th place. Tanzania is 7th, the Dominican Republic, 8th and Colombia, 9th.
http://goo.gl/NHmC4
Wow, that’s sweet. Nice job Rajini Rao. I think anybody that knows me, knows how I love to cook. All styles, all cuisines, that’s great.
Thanks, Chad Haney for that orgy of information 🙂 James Karaganis , if you take a quick peek at Chad’s link above you will get a sense of how many varieties of mangoes there are (i.e., hundreds). If you cut into a mango and it is fibrous in the slightest, thick skinned and only mildly flavored..that specimen would generally be scoffed at and used for cooking in Asia/India. The Mexican ones tend not to be particularly juicy..they are cut into cubes for salads and salsa but don’t seem to drip juice which I find odd. 🙂
James Karaganis here’s a pictorial guide of the Thai varieties (excuse the ads). http://www.simply-thai.com/Thai-Market_Fruit_Mango.htm
Very helpful list, I stand corrected, Ataulfo and Haden are the varieties available here.
I’m talking about mango blended with ice basically with a few other ingredients Chad Haney
Mango Smoothie
Rajini Rao They do seem to be rather variable from Mexico. My daughter and I got some last week though and were absolutely wonderful and drippy. I don’t know why, maybe closer to the border here? Not sure. Being an old fruit farmer I can usually tell by feeling of it if it’s any good. None of the peaches from California are any good. At least I haven’t found one yet. The best peaches come from Colorado, if you can find them.
Anita Dhyani you might like this recipe and did you send me your mango lassi recipe?
Sounds good, Jim Carver . Peaches and mangoes are so delicious when just right but ugh when mealy and bland. John Figueroa , it is like a mango lassi, then (sweetened yogurt drink). Thanks for the link..easy recipe!
Oh I have just got to mention this: If you like making yogurt at home, the food dehydrator works great. Just set it to 110F and it stays very stable. I checked it with a thermometer and it was spot on. And it always turns out great. Last week I made Greek which tends to be a little firmer than average. Be good for making yogurt cheese, but I didn’t do that this time.
Btw, my brand is Excalibre and I think those are pretty common.
Wonderful, Jim Carver . We make yogurt at home from 2% milk routinely. One trick is to always boil the milk first to kill off the endogenous flora (I zap it in the microwave until it just boils). Do you do that? We use yogurt culture from India, hehe. Just a teaspoon or two works wonders. The biggest challenge was temperature control, like you said. We don’t have a dehydrator and used to mess around with the oven or use the pilot light. Sometimes it would get too warm = sour yogurt. Other times, the yogurt would not set.
But that problem has been solved. We upgraded our kitchen recently to have this extra drawer under the oven where the temperature can be set anywhere up to 150F. It even has a timer 🙂 It is designed for rising bread and setting yogurt. Perfect yogurt every time now, finally after all these years!
u made me think twice on how to get green mango rice into my mouth in near future n reminded my old days..presentation is everything n all ur articles r nicely put.
Bruce Harding , one of the comments was that Mexican mangoes near the border are much better 🙂 Oh, the Caribbean! I have a student from Trinidad and she is always telling me about the mouth watering fusion cuisine her mother makes.
Rajini Rao That sounds like a great thing.
I want to get into some other fermentations also. Especially with soybeans, like natto and miso, etc. I know a good site to get the starter. Just need to get started. 🙂
I usually use 2% also. I have made it with lesser and more fat and it doesn’t seem to make much difference in the taste, I think the 2% is about right though.
Concerning the pasteurization, I have made it without re-pasteurizing it. I do it from a sealed container, not one that has ever been open. It has always worked and no problems. As long as you get a good colony going, I don’t think there’s anything to worry about.
The last batch with the Greek, I did re-pasteurize that though. It takes a little more time. Guess it’s just a personal judgment, if the container is sealed, there shouldn’t be anything to worry about. If it has been opened though, that’s different.
How do you make Greek yogurt, Jim Carver ? Is it regular yogurt that is drained to remove whey? Or something different. Thanks.
Rajini Rao Just the different strains, dog gone went and looked and don’t have that package anymore or I would give you the strain.
I usually buy one and make a batch, sometimes two. I don’t like to carry it out too far though. I think you would like it though and you might find it at your store. It’s even a Greek sounding name, but I can’t remember it at the moment.
Okay, let me know details when you can, Jim Carver . I’ve not seen anything like a starter for Greek yogurt in the local grocery stores. Perhaps I should look online. Actually, prefer Greek yogurt for the texture. If anyone wants a small commercial yogurt maker, this one from Chad Haney works great: http://goo.gl/V0Kvr
Good morning, Feisal Kamil . You deserve a long weekend sleep after a busy week. Did I get the name of mom-in-law’s village right?
Great find, Khairul Zainal. This looks absolutely delicious Rajini Rao!
Glad they were safe, Feisal Kamil . Thanks for the loan of your mango pix! I did find one as well, of one of my aunt’s trees..it was perfect for the banner image for the blog. BTW, a commentator reminded me that the traditional version of this rice dish uses tamarind paste in place of raw mango. Does that sound familiar?
Thank you, Leslie Speights !
Khairul Zainal is too kind 🙂
Wow! Never had mangoes with rice before. I’ve to try this. The pictures are ‘delicious’!
Rajini Rao tamarind paste is used in Thai food a lot. Let me jog my memory for a dish.
Agreed, Khairul Zainal . Also, we need inspiration from other cooks so we don’t get stuck in a rut and lose our passion for cooking 🙂
Glad you approve, Shah Auckburaully !
Three fingers and thumb…you are an insider then, Rashid Moore ! Food should not touch one’s palm..only the tips of one’s fingers 🙂 Mango slices cooked into curries sure are delicious.
Mouth watering! 😛
Wonderful, it is a learned art indeed, Rashid Moore ! We have several people from Malaysia here; Aida Hazlan and Feisal Kamil for starters.
Rajini Rao mentioned dispatching her husband to fetch mangoes if find a better source. That reminds me of “dispatch Ajax war machine to bring back his body”.
Queen – ‘Flash’
Blast from the Past! Love Flash Chad Haney . I know that the fights over mangoes are fierce, but I hope I get back both mangoes and spouse from Silver Spring 🙂
P.S. Hope I don’t have to choose between the two, haha.
Looks so good Rajini Rao might want to open a restaurant after the career in academia?
Tom Lee can engineer top flight equipment for the chef’s kitchen? Not refurbished ones, I hope!
Thanks, Aida Hazlan 🙂
That what engineers are good at Rajini Rao _refurbishing_ stuff ! 🙂 I can learn to be a sous-chef if being trained well !
Thai Green Mango salad sounds delish, Aida Hazlan:) Tom Lee , start working on those knife skills!
Rajini Rao I do have a set of Ginsu.
I’m confused Aida Hazlan are you talking about green papaya salad (som tom)? Are you talking about a dish that uses Thai green mangoes?
I look forward to a demo of your knife skills, Tom Lee 🙂
Rajini Rao if you’ve ever been to Benihana of Tokyo then you’d know what I’m talking about: I like to be able to use those knives like the chefs at that restaurant. LOL. and I’m getting close.
Benihana’s of Tokyo #2
Tom Lee , in that case I had better invest in some fire extinguishers for my restaurant! And buy a bunch of band aids 🙂
Hahaha a good kung fu chef won’t hurt his coworkers and customers!
May be safer if you did the live band ..bring out your old guitar and sing some Frampton? That’ll get the guests in.
I can do both, after finishing the cooking show I can move on to my old guitar to do some Baby I love you way. Probably making a decent living without having to sit in meetings all day consuming much coffee ( not from Starbuck or Peete’s but from that old Mr. coffee machine). 🙂
Excellent plan, Tom Lee . All the college girls from India will jump over the gates to have dinner at my restaurant. Don’t forget to take your Uncle for Starbuck’s lattes, he may have good suggestions for covers 🙂
If I can break my uncle away from watching Tiger playing the U. S. Open this week in San Francisco, yes! College girls from India sounds very nice. They would appreciate Frampton’s tunes. I hope they’d _Feel Like I do _.
You can count on it, Tom Lee , as long as you’re there to Show Me The Way. Goodnight for now!
Rajini Rao indian mangoes are available in indian grocery stores in Chicago though I am not sure if this includes the king of them all, the Alphonso.
“Chief importers are England and France, absorbing 82% of all mango shipments.” http://www.2747.com/2747/food/mango/export.htm
I should be able to find a decent mango here in France then! I suspect I only had the ‘poor’ ones when living in America. Some good fruit is shipped in from Reunion that I know, so much better than the stuff I once ate in America. Indian cuisine is somewhat popular here, probably because of the Pondicherry connection.
(Left a comment at your blog, btw, Rajini Rao)
after seeing this ,I must go to kitchen and cook because now i am hungry .
Hi Rajini Rao and Chad Haney ! Have been quite busy today with an exam.
My classes start tomorrow so gotta start packing!
Great post Rajini Rao ! 🙂
Mouthwatering
Good morning Deeksha Tare Have a safe trip back to school.
This looks sooo good! Rajini Rao you have the yummiest posts!
Haha, thanks Gail Barnes . Science-y post coming right up 🙂
Something else to get one’s teeth into? 🙂
I loved the mangoes there, but was mostly impressed by the variety of very tasty bananas – the best ever!
Were you in India, Linda Hedrick ? We have the little yellow bananas with thin skin, they are delicious!
Sivarama Venkatesan , snap pix if you get some good mango specimen, for us to admire!
Yes, Rajini Rao. My degree is in Indian art history and I got grants to travel one summer – I was there for three months visiting ancient temple sites. Extraordinary country, excellent food! Once I discovered those little yellow bananas I ate them constantly!
Mangos didn’t exist at all in areas where I’ve shopped up until recently, and then the first ones to arrive were hard as rocks and never seemed to turn into anything useful. I tasted a few that I thought were just excellent at Cinco de Mayo festivals. I’ve gotten some at Costco in little plastic packages that were reasonably ripe and thus tasty. Now, Rajini Rao you have me desiring the ones you describe. I’ll try to educate myself with Kevin Clift website and widen my search.
Hehe, mango madness. It’s a good thing 🙂
As a child, fruit only came in a few varieties, apple, peach, pear, orange, grape. We had a tangerine tree, that was quite novel. And vegetables came in cans, even spinach (ugh!). Mangos I only read about in the encyclopedia.
Ugh, canned veg. They still serve canned beans and beets in school lunches.
Saw Prometheus, Feisal Kamil . In 3D no less. Quite a confusing story, LOL.
No, where? It was entertaining enough, it’s just that it never works to have your logic or wits about you when watching these movies.
ROFL!!! The whole time I watched that clip I was nodding and asking Why? Why? Yes, exactly so, WHY?
Just leave your brain at home, and enjoy!
3D is tres cool. My 13 yr old was thrilled to be sitting in on an R rated film, although there wasn’t anything particularly objectionable other than alien violence 🙂
Oh, there was an HD 3D version as well, for a few more bucks per ticket.
Its biryani..
Linda Hedrick I read somewhere that too much banana can cause constipation. As with mangoes, there are so many varieties of bananas in SE Asia that people sadly aren’t aware of.
As exported to the US, I think bananas are a product of the United Fruit Company, which later morphed into “Chiquita Brands”. In addition to a whole host of apparent aid to paramilitary groups and accusations of human rights violations in Central America, I believe Chiquita bananas were developed to be easy to ship, and to be bland. Sort of like a grocery store tomato. Of course, we grow corn and soy pretty much as monocultures here too.
I bet that something similar could be going on with the mangos I sampled. They all fit so neatly into the preformed Costco sixpacks. All the same size and shape and all at the same point of ripeness.
Maybe SE Asians should be advised to protect its diversity of mangos and bananas the way some people here guard heritage tomato seeds!
The blanding down of fruits and veg also means that younger people grow up never knowing what they should taste like. Indians are crazy about cauliflower, even though they tend to have hidden bugs and imperfections in India. When I got to the US I was delighted to find these enormous, perfect, bug free specimen. Sadly, they didn’t seem as “cauliflower-y” any more. An aunt made a similar comment about the cilantro we get here..it is so abundant and huge-leaved but is low on flavor. You have to use so much to get the same impact..she remarked that she treats it as a leafy vegetable more than a herb.
Indian food has no competition madam..
Nishant Namdeo what? Please explain. There is a whole world of cultures and food. Who did the taste test?
dekhkar mujhe bhi bhukh lag gayi
There is no need of taste test Chad Haney.. it is delicious to eat and u can also eat.. here there is no question of culture and food.. And now i am also hungry.. and now u will not ask me to give the demo..
Happy eating, Nishant Namdeo! No need for a food fight 🙂
this is not food fighting mam.. 🙂
Good to hear 🙂
ok..
superb dish…it looks yummy
I’ve been eating such dishes made from mango since childhood…
my favorite one is mango ambal(I don’t know what it is known in english)
Sudhanshu Pathania , is that Maharashtrian or perhaps, Bengali? I’m thinking of a sweet and tangy dish with mangoes in mustard oil.
nope…Punjabi I guess…it is sweet and tangy…but without loads of mustard used by bengali…
I’ll look for it on the internets, thanks! Haha, Bengalis love their mustard oil. I used to live in Kolkata and sometimes my eyes would sting from the fumes of mustard oil in my friend’s kitchen.
nis good i like
I got some more Greek yougurt today and it’s Chobani Brand:
S. Thermophilus, L. Bulgaricus, L. Acidophilus, Bifidus and L. Casei
This makes a rather firm product.
Did you use the Chobani as starter for your own then, Jim Carver ? Often, the commercial brands don’t work well as starters, despite being labeled as having “active” cultures.
Yes, Rajini Rao I have good luck with this process in many types. They come out true to the original. As I said before though, I never try to take it out very far. I’ve had one failure in about the last 50, so 2% failure rate. I think that was a mistake on my part though.
One thing is I always try to get the Plain, that seems to have the best cultures. And oc, that intuitively makes sense! Yay! at least something does.
I guess I should clarify what I mean by “taking it out too far”, I mean taking that culture and starting a new one and taking that and starting another…etc. I know you understood that Rajini Rao, just for anyone else reading this who is not as familiar with these things. 🙂
I’m going to try starting with Chobani this weekend, Jim Carver . I’ll let you know how it turns out.
Oh good, I think you’ll like it. That “once removed” batch is usually the best because you have distanced yourself, to a great degree, from any additives. It will be tart, I usually go for 12 hrs. The time is up to you though. 🙂
I think I mentioned that I have a temperature controlled “proofing” drawer under my oven. It works really well for setting yogurt, so I’m hopeful.
Sounds good as long as you can maintain a good 108-112F, 110 being the preferred. I’m always amazed at how many of these organisms like that temperature. …say, that might be a good topic for a #ScienceSunday : Fermentations You Can Do at Home, or some such title. I think people would be interested in that. I know wine and pickles also. Trying to get into miso and such too.
dss
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