The middle courtyard of my Mama’r bari or my mother’s paternal house had a mango tree. It was one of the three trees spread around the gardens. One behind the kitchen, that could be seen from the kitchen window, yielded the most unique mangoes I have ever had. These were small, green even when ripe, had a smooth almost jelly like pulp, and smelled like mango-ginger. Didubhai used to say that her father-in-law got the grafting from Burma and has planted it. The tree died when I was in high school; no grafting could be done and I still wonder what the variety was. Then there was one behind the house that towered over with its canopy. This was a Himsagar tree whose graft had come from Kolkata, and those largish mangoes gave us all enough scares when they would fall on the tin Assam-style roof in the dead of the night.

But it was the tree in the courtyard that I loved the most. It had low branches and a wide canopy that made it ideal to climb. It was the perfect launchpad to climb on top of the high boundary wall and take a peek into the neighbor’s, just because on could! During summer vacations, when all us cousins and children in the family got together to play cricket in the courtyard, it’s low branches became our commentator’s stand. A commentator’s stand laden with vermillion red and green Sindoori mangoes. One of the reasons why we children loved it was because it was our friendly, accessible tree, the fruits within our reach. Unlike the formidable ones.

The mangoes that it yielded were also the kancha-meethe variety, ones which are sweet when unripe. The unripe fruits had a sweet, fresh smell. We were forbidden from plucking mangoes; only the ones thay fell from the tree due to the frequent rains and storm (thank God for those) or the ones which were pecked at by birds were to be plucked unripe, under Didubhai’s watchful eyes. These made for delicious aam makha, chopped green mangoes macerated with salt, jaggery, kasundi, little chilli and mustard oil, that kept us company alongside comic books during those languorous summer afternoons. Those were not really the days of elaborate salads in usual household meals, but these mangoes occassionally found a place in between tossed cucumbers, tomatoes, even boiled pieces of chicken on odd days.

Another things that they found their way into was a kancha-meethe aam’er pulao. Ghee laced fragrant short grained rice, cooked with ginger, spices, nuts, raisins and these mangoes. The rice tasted sweet and sour, smelled like a bouquet of fragrances from the fresh mango, the joha rice and good ghee. Light, fluffy and refreshing, just perfect for to break the monotony of a summer table.

As I found a few kancha-meethe mangoes in the market early this week, I wanted to make the pulao. Just that with everything going around, I wanted a one pot meal. So I added pieces of chicken and vegetables to the same pot, and with some mango chutney and cucumbers on the side, it became a perfect one-pot, summer meal.

Is it frugal enough? In ways, yes. It uses seasonal produce. The chicken can be easily omitted and replaced by more vegetables and/or paneer, pieces of white fleshed fish or even prawns. And it doesn’t use a whole lot of resources – spices, aromatics or pot and pans.

Kancha Meethe Aam’er Pulao (Murgi diye)

Serves : 2

Ingredients
Rice: 1 cup (I used short grained, aromatic Joha rice, one can easily use Basmati or any other low starch variety); Chicken, curry cut: 4 pieces, about 300 gms; Small sized potatoes: 6, peeled, String beans: 6-8 (cut into 1-inch pieces); Green unripe mango (preferably the sweetish ones): 2, medium; Ginger: 2 inches; Garlic: 1 fat clove; Green cardamom: 3; Cloves: 6; Whole black pepper: 5-6; Bay leaf: 1; Whole cumin: 1/2 teaspoon; Green chilli: as per taste; Ghee: 2 tablespoons; Cashew nut: 6-8; Raisins: 6-8; Turmeric powder: 1/4 teaspoon; Red chilli powder: 1/2 teaspoon; Cumin Powder: 1/2 teaspoon (optional); Fresh ground Bengali garam masala (1 green cardamom; 2 cloves, 1/2 inch cinnamon); Salt and sugar: to taste

1. Wash the rice till water runs clean (about four times), drain and spread on a tray to dry.

2. Dry roast the 2 black peppercorns, one green cardamom, 2 whole cloves and the whole cumin till fragrant and toasty. Grind to a powder.

3. Wash, peel and roughly chop the mangoes. Save one cheek and finely julliene it, alongwith one tablespoon of the mango peel. Do not use the peel too near to the stem.

4. Grind the roughly chopped mangoes with the roasted spices, green chilli, garlic, one inch ginger, sugar and salt. It should be a sharp, tangy blend.

5. Marinate the chicken with the mango-spices blend, red chilli powder, turmeric powder and cumin powder. Cover and set aside for 30 minutes.

6. Soak the raisins in water. Lightly toast the cashews.

7. In a heavy bottomed casserole, heat the ghee till just about smoking, reduce the flame to a medium-low and add the remaining whole spices. Fry till fragrant, do not burn.

8. Add the potatoes and the green beans and rest of the ginger grated, add a little salt and fry till potatoes are glossy but not caramelised. Add the washed rice and saute while stirring with light hands till all grains are glossy and look slightly nutty.

9. Add the chicken, with the marinade to the rice. Stir in well and saute till the marinade is no longer raw, and most of the liquid has evaporated. This has to be done carefully so not not burn the marinade in the bottom but taking care not to break the rice grains.

10. Add one and half cups of warm water. Close the casserole with a tight lid, and put on very low flame till rice is 3/4 cooked. About 12-15 minutes. Do check in between as each variety of rice has different cooking time.

11. Open the lid, add the julliened mangoes, mango peels, garam masala powder, soaked raisins and fried cashewnuts on top, secure the lid again and put back on dum for about 8-10 minutes.

12. Open the lid, fluff the rice lightly with a fork and serve.

Notes:

1. The original recipe doesn’t use chicken or vegetables, and has no garlic.

2. You can use vegetables of your choice, but use non-watery ones.

3. Short grain rice needs about 1:1.5 ration of rice:water to cook, if you are using long grained or medium grained ones use 1:1.8 (a little less than two) ratio of rice: water.