Is it that time of the year, already? Talk about March madness.. means different things to different people..isn’t it?
March brings in the onset of spring, a thing of beauty and joy forever… It is also the time when the Indian Summer bears fruit. Not something ordinary, but the king of fruits – the one and only Mango. And this is exactly the time of the year, I want to be nowhere else, than in India and my hometown Bengalooru (and Mysore), to gorge on these luscious juicy beauties by the basket full. Well, at least I wish!
When I am just left with wishing, I run to the nearest Sam’s and buy a box full of Ataulfo mangoes, fill them in a brown bag, put them in the darkest corner of the laundry room and wait for them to ripen. After a couple of days when they’re ready, I ‘try’ to satiate my mango cravings with these fully ripe, not so flavorful, not as juicy and not quite sweet ‘mango look a likes’ of Indian mangoes…
Eating a mango is more than just delicious, it is pure fun – licking the juice running down the palm or squishing the pulp off the seed to leave no trace of the fruit on it are some of the few times when messy is good! And that is how I always love to eat them..
But, once in a while, when I need a little extra with minimal sophistication, I love this simple Seekarane desert recipe. This is as close a desert can get to real fruit. This recipe needs no selling. The ingredients do all the talking for themselves.
Seekarane or Rasayana is a traditional dessert prepared by squeezing ripe mangoes to pulp, may be due to the lack of mixer/grinders in that era. Even with the latest kitchen gadgets today, I wouldn’t change a thing about how it is made. That’s just me, I guess!
Oh, I almost forgot to tell you, Maavina Hannu is Mango in Kannada btw..
So, what is your favorite mango dessert?
- 4 small-medium ripe mangoes preferably juicy
- 3/4 cup freshly grated coconut
- 3/4 cup water
- 2 small cubes or abt 4 tbsp grated jaggery preferably dark variety
- 4-5 cardamom pods
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For the mango pulp:
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This part can be a little messy, but it is all worth it. Traditionally, most of this is done by squishing the mango to a pulp, by hand. We'll get some help from the grater though.
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Wash the mangoes well and pat dry. Slice off the top at the stalk. Cut off the cheeks on either sides of the mango first. Remove the skin off the seed. Using the grater, grate the fruit off the seed or just squish the seed with your hand until all the fruit is off the seed. I prefer doing this way as there is minimum wastage of fruit.
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Halve the cheeks or quarter them with the skin intact, depending on your convenience for grating. Grate the fruit to get all the pulp out of the skin. Do not hesitate to get any remaining fruit either with a spoon or your trusty fingers. Repeat with all the mangoes. Once all the pulp is extracted, give it a nice stir or squish to get a uniform consistency. Taste the mangoes for sweetness.
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For the coconut milk:
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Blend the freshly grated with a little water to a smooth paste. Add the remaining water to this, stir to mix well and strain the coconut milk. If using frozen coconut, thaw first and use warm water for blending so that the fat does not separate. Refrigerate the remaining strained coconut to be used later in cooking.
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Mix Coconut milk with the mango pulp. Grate jaggery into this, less or more depending on the sweetness of the mangoes.
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In a mortar, smash the cardamom pods with the pestle and pry the seeds out with your fingers. Save the skin for later for flavoring tea or water. Smash the cardamom seeds first and crush them back and forth with the pestle for a fine powder. Sprinkle generously, not too much though.
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Give it a good stir and serve as soon as possible. Tastes best when fresh. This dessert gets ready in a jiffy. Explaining how to do seems more tedious than the actual doing.
Jaggery can be substituted by brown sugar, but the depth and flavor of Jaggery cannot be. Other mexican unrefined sugars like Pillonchillo or Succanat may come a tad closer than sugar.
Jaggery is available in Indian stores. Always look for unbleached Jaggery
Freshly grated coconut works best, if not, thawed, frozen coconut works just fine if you are not too particular.
Fresh coconut milk is the star of this recipe. If you would rather save yourself the trouble of making it from scratch (which isn't too difficult), you could use canned coconut milk. I won't promise great results.
Milk can be substituted for coconut milk and this variation comes out well too.
Raspuri mangoes are best suited for this recipe. In its absence, Alphonso works well. I've used Mexican Ataulfo mangoes (that's the best I can get here) and they are fully ripe when wrinkled and golden yellow.
If you'd rather not get your hands messy, you could blend the cut up mango pieces instead. Blending makes a juice out of the pulp though and doesn't quite result in a hand squished consistency.
Mangoes are the only fruit I miss here.. Loved the recipe.. Beautiful presentation
This is delicious! I often pair mango with cardamom. But the coconut milk and jaggery take it to a whole new level. Beautiful photos!
Love the cute little jars, your recipe took me back years. Summer=mangoes=seekarane+bili rotti :-). I am still savoring my green mangoes, want to put off the ripe fruit recipes for later as like you I am not a big fan either of the fruits I get at my place.
Those canning jars are photogenic indeed, aren’t they?
We’ve been savoring green mangoes too since Yugadi.. in Kai Saasive chitranna, thokku, chutney etc..
Ripe mangoes to me are just so irresistible, even when it is the mexican mangoes.. what to do!
ah sekarane with raspuri mangoes! sheer bliss…i didnt know they use coconut milk to make it..always made it with regular milk. Should try it with coconut milk sometime!
Ambika & Jyoti, Thank you.. So glad you liked it..
Swathi, Happy to read your comment my dear.. One just cannot understand the bliss of Raspuri mangoes without having tasted them.. So good to see you relate there..
It is also made with regular milk, but coconut milk yields a delicate taste..
this is THE dish that spells SUMMER…beautiful soothing recipe and lovely summery click…guess its all about summer 🙂
beautiful recipe and beautiful pics. loved the combination of coconut milk, jaggery and mangoes… yum!!!
mangoes are in full season here now. we just end up having them plain or in a lassi or milkshake.
This dish is my all time favourite. Seekarne along with puris will make a great combo 🙂
Nature’s gifts make the sweetest nectar. Perfect.
this with neer dose or poori and i will be in mango heaven… looks lovely 🙂
Love your description of eating mangos. Reminded me of when I was a kid and we’d eat oranges fresh off the trees. Messy, dripping delight! Lovely pictures.
Oranges fresh off the trees? Kathleen, I’ve never done that and it sounds a lot of fun!
True, eating mangoes without using any cutlery is fun too.. something I’ve done during most summers in my childhood..
Thank you 🙂
I love anything made with mango and I too miss India during this time of the year! I am saving this recipe. Have to try it 🙂
You must! Am sure, you’ll love it Kana..
Wow! I love the photography, very nice…. blog as well 🙂
I love mangoes in whatever form I can get them and this sounds too good and too easy not to try.
Wow! Never thought so.. Glad to learn you’re an active member of the mango lovers club! 🙂
Just can’t resist mangoes.. can we 🙂 ?? And this looks super delicious!!!! Lovely clicks!!
Welcome to Just Homemade Spandana..
Never! If not, that won’t be me! Glad you like it..
Hi..I came across your blog while blog hopping..what a beautiful blog you have out here.. i am a sucker for photographs..and yours are brilliant… especially since i think indian food is soo tough to phtograph!! you’ll be seeing a lot of me out here..
Absolutely delicious — the styling is amazingly drool-worthy 🙂
Wow…I like the food pictures… the layout of the food on the layers of fabric makes the yellow of the concoction stand out even more!
I am from Bengaloru also. I loved the way you described eating Mavina hannu. Your clear step by step instruction for making the dessert and hints for variations, gets a perfect score of 10. I cannot wait to try this.
Hey Radhika!
I want to make this right now! It looks so good! I’m pinning it to my board! Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Sayantani, Dassana, Ambika, Nandita, Deeps, Hellopalz, Kiran & Madhuja
Thank you for your sweet words..
Happy to see so many of you are mango lovers… fantastic!
Baker in disguise – Welcome to Just Homemade! pleasure will be mine to see you here more often..
Thank you Frances Antoinette.. you have quite an eye for appreciating details..
Namaskara Janaki! If you’ll find the instructions useful, it was all worth it! Hope you get to try it while the season lasts..
Enjoy the season’s bounty!
Deesha, I was just surfing the web today, came across your posts. Photographs and dishes are so beautiful I have been stuck in your blog for hrs now! 😀
How are you girl? I am still not ready to come back bit will be soon, fingers crossed. Gorgeous photos in your blog though, loving looking thru’ all of them and drooling. Made Hurulikalu saaru yesterday, loved your’s here too.Seekarane looks delicious.
So sorry Radhika! I called you Deesha in my previous comment because I was just looking at Huruli saaru pic before the comment and I wrote the same name. I apologize!!!
That’s a delicious treat! Any alternative ingredient for coconut if I don’t have one? Yeah squeezing the mango into pulp manually is more fun! You really get to enjoy the food because you know that you really worked hard to prepare it 🙂