Monday, June 17, 2013

Aamer Kheer or Mango Pudding......welcome summer!

My mother over a phone conversation told me that this year there was a bounty of mangoes in the market.Hmm....mangoes.As a child or teenager ,I was never a fan of this Indian "king of fruits".Things are different now.......i don't get the varieties I grew up with and my heart yearns for the smell of a "langra" or "himsagar".
The local supermarket sells 2 varieties of mangoes,both products of Mexico.One of them had a nice fragrant smell,and a reddish green skin.The other one did not have any smell but had a beautiful yellow skin.I picked the one which had the fragrant smell....I took my chances and it paid off.This mango was sweet and had a mild taste.I liked it.
I decided to make mango Kheer with about 2 cups of pureed mango pulp.Taking out the pulp is the messy part, once that is behind you, rest is very simple.
For making the pulp,first peel the mangoes.Taste the mangoes and pulp only those mangoes that are sweet or at least not tart.Sour /tart mangoes will not work for this recipe.Slice out the fleshy mango chunks with a knife and put it through a blender(You can add some milk for blending).Now pass the pureed mango pulp through a strainer and reserve it for the recipe.
For the Kheer you will need
Condensed Milk-1 cup
Whole Milk-2 cups
Mava-100 grams
Ghee-1 tablespoon
Semolina(sooji)-2 tablespoons
Sugar-5-6 tablespoons
Mango pulp-2 cups
Cubed mangoes-about 1 cup(as small as you can cube whithout making them squishy)
Raisins(kishmish)-to garnish

Heat the ghee in a Kadhai/pan.Once hot, add the semolina.Roast the semolina on a medium flame till it gets a reddish color(not brown.....just a nice tint).Now add in the milk.Once milk comes to a boil add the condensed milk.Let the entire mixture come to a boil then add in the mava.Break the mava in small pieces so that it dissolves easily into the mixture.Once the mava is fully dissolved,add the mango pulp.Keep stirring or the kheer will start burning from the bottom.Add in the sugar.Give it a taste.If you need more sugar....add more.Take the Kheer off the heat, a little before the consistency you desire because it will thicken a little during the cooling process.Once the kheer cools down to room temperature add in the cubed mangoes and fold it into the Kheer.
You can add saffron also at this stage.Just soak 3-4 strands of saffron in a small bowl of warm milk and wait for 10 mins.Now add the saffron infused milk into the Kheer.
Now you can refrigerate the Mango Kheer. Garnish it with raisins before serving.
Being the first mango that we bought of the season,I first offered it to God like I have seen my Grandmother do.....it truly is food for the Gods.




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