Aamer ambol, simply the Bengali way - Green mango chutney, little sour little sweet

I was in no mood to go to the kitchen late and cook the ambol. I was in a cleaning spree...cleaning the fridge. What did I find? A green mango lying under the weight of the Begoons (egg plants) and the cucumbers. When I brought out the heavy weights...eggplants and cucumbers...the single green mango seemed to speak out frankly. I could hear its cry... “Please take me out and do whatever you want with me. Peel, cut, cook, do it soon or I’ll rot here and will be of no use to you”.

You may ask, “Did it really speak”.

And I in my grave tone tell you, “Sometimes by looking can read the mango language”.

“Silly, fooling us?”

“Why should I? You are my strength. You know why? For all the lovely comments I get to read from you all”.

Back to my fridge cleaning account...took care to look into all the containers to see what’s left over...small plastic and steel containers with little of ‘this’ and little of ‘that’. I’ll have to finish the ‘This and That” soon as they are eating up a lot of space.

I also took out the empty Rosgolla tin that was there...not empty...eaten up the rosgolles and kept the syrup to use later on. So ‘Mango Dear, you’ve got a friend to go with you after sometime'.

After putting everything into place, back to my kitchen with the mango and syrup tin. With the heat beating down, temperature crossing the 44 degree Celsius mark, something quick and easy was in my mind. Having finished with the rest of the cooking for the day, the thought of Ambol brought me back to the kitchen.

Peeled and cut the green mango into small pieces, washed and kept it aside.

Measured ½ tsp oil into the small kadhai, next the dry red chilli broken into half went in. And soon 1 tsp mustard seeds went in and then came the spluttering noise.

Time for the mango pieces to go in, added ½ tsp haldi powder and salt. Mind you be careful of the flame...low flame...stir to mix the yellow of the haldi with the mango pieces. A minute or two and there goes the sugar syrup from the rosgolla tin. Added little more water. After the first boil came up, tasted the sweetness (as to my taste buds), felt I could add 1 tbsp sugar to it. Covered the vessel and let it cook till the mango was soft and fully cooked. I love the thin watery gravy of the ambol. Before switching off the gas, added ¼ tsp red chilli powder to it. Whenever I add the chilli powder to the ambol, I sing to me this small Bengali Rhyme I learnt as a child, “Sukhtunite jhal diyechi, Ambolete ghee, Che che che Rani randhte sekheni”.

And then the ambol goes into the serving bowl.

I love to add the sweet and sour gravy to my dal and drink it up like a soup.

Today I made Aloo-r Chop which I’ll be putting up later. With that I have a special tip...If you don’t have bread crumbs then another easy way to get the crispiness is...

Wait till I come back.