Kairi ki Launji (raw mango dish) sunte hee muh mei paani aa jaata hai (mouth starts watering after listening to the name of the dish). This dish is prepared with raw mangoes. Kairi ki Launji is one of my favorite raw mango dishes during summer since childhood. It is a side dish with your regular meals or you can have it with paratha during breakfast.
Sour taste of raw mango is balanced by sugar/jaggery, salt and red chili powder. Seasoning with fennel seeds gives sweet fragrant flavor. When sugar melts and gets mixed with the rest of the ingredients, the look of the dish and taste reaches to another level altogether!! You have beautiful caramelized raw mango dish which will get over by licking directly from the pan. Oh, I can really write a poem on this!!!
Am I exaggerating too much?? Not at all… Try this recipe and experience the wonderful taste of my favorite raw mango dish “Kairi ki Launji ” during summer!!
The whole credit for this recipe goes to my younger sister Nandini. Amongst the three sisters she is the one who started cooking very early. So her culinary skills are excellent. Last year during my Jaipur trip she prepared launji and since then I have been waiting for the summer season to get back that wonderful taste!!!
You can check one more post from raw magoes in the blog. It is traditional Indian cool summer beverage Kachhi keiri ka pana/panna (raw mango beverage)
Ingredients :
400 gm keiri (raw mango medium sized peeled and sliced)
2 tbsp oil
1 tsp sauf
1 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp salt or as per your taste( can take a mix of white and black salt)
Water 1/4 cup
1/3 cup Sugar
You can reduce or increase the quantity of salt, sugar and chilli powder as per your preference.
For oil, my preference is mustard oil for its pungent flavor.
Process :
Wash, peel and cut raw mangoes in long pieces. The seed of raw mango is tender. While slicing keiri, the seed will also be sliced. Remove the seed after cutting keiri into pieces.
In a broad pan heat oil and crackle funnel seeds.
Add cut pieces of kairie and rest of the spices, except sugar.
Add water, mix everything and cover the pan.
Raw mango gets cooked very soon – so after a minute keep stirring in between. When the keiri is 80% cooked and needs a few more minutes, add sugar and keep stirring very gently till sugar melts. Switch off heat.
Be careful here – don’t let keiri cook completely before adding sugar. If it is completely cooked, it will become mushy when sugar/jaggery is added. Slight crisp and soft pieces of keiri taste really nice.
Kairi ki Launji wouldn’t last more than a day, but if you want to save it for the next day to eat it with paratha for breakfast, keep it in the fridge.