Kerala Mango Curry is a mildly spiced tropical curry which is made from ripe mangoes and coconut. Sweet, sour, spicy, and hot, this simple curried fruit recipe is great with rice, and oh so soul-satisfying! Mangoes, coconuts, and chilies, how can you go wrong?
Ingredients:
- 2 large or 4 small mangoes ripe, about 600g before cutting
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
- ½ teaspoon red chili, ground or to taste
- 1 cup water, just enough to cover mangoes in saucepan or pot
- ½ cup grated fresh coconut
- ½ teaspoon cumin seed
- ½ cup fresh plain yogurt
- ½ teaspoon mustard seed
- 8-10 fresh or dried curry leaves
- 2 whole dried red chili
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil Click here to buy
Instructions:
- Cut mangoes into small dice. Don’t throw away the seeds.
- Mix mangoes, salt, turmeric, and red chili, ground in a 6” pot saucepan.
- Bring to a boil then lower heat and cook for 15 minutes. Use a wooden spoon to mash mango pieces as they cook.
- Grind cumin and coconut in a mixie or grinder for about ½ minute until well blended.
- Add mixture to mango, and cook for another 2 minutes.
- Beat or whisk yogurt until smooth. Add to mango, and cook curry for another 5 minutes on low heat. Do not bring to a boil.
- Heat oil in a wok or deep frying pan on medium heat.
- Add mustard and curry leaves and stir.
- When the mustard starts to sizzle and pop, add whole dried red chilies, and stir (about 2 minutes).
- Pour the tempered oil with the leaves and chilies into your curry pot.
- Serve with rice.
Critical Ingredients:
The mangoes, of course. You can simplify the recipe further by dropping the dried red chilies and the green chili and still get adequate flavor. The coconut can be reduced to ¼ cup. If you use dried (not sweetened) or desiccated coconut, soak it in milk for ½ hour in advance. Yogurt, coconut, and cumin seeds are critical. If you leave out the curry leaves you won’t get full authentic flavor, but you will still have a nice sweet, sour and spicy curry. Coconut oil gives a distinctive South Indian flavor as do the curry leaves, but you can substitute the coconut oil with any mild-flavored oil for tempering. Worst case, even if you leave out the tempering, the curry will still taste good!
