

The summer is coming to an end and not one mango post on the blog, or so I was thinking. And then life presented me a sour mango this morning…
You cut open a luscious looking mango anticipating sweet and juicy fruit, which is already making your mouth water. Sometimes, the mango lives up to your expectations (and taste buds) and sometimes it makes your screw your eyes shut because it is so sour, giving your taste buds a rude shock. Instead of fretting over sour mangoes, how about putting them to good use. This Mango Dal recipe is one of them. The sweet-sourness from the ripe mango, heat from chillies go beautifully with any cooked dal. Here, I’ve used masoor dal. You could well use chana dal, tur dal or a mix of all the three dals.

Mango Dal, Bhindi curry served with paratha – Lunch
I think mango, ginger and coconut make a fantastic flavour combination. If you don’t have coconut on hand or you are not especially fond of coconut, by all means leave it out.
This dal, made as per the recipe below is thick and creamy, with a great depth of flavour and yet so easy to make. Even a beginner in the kitchen can churn this out in no time. Also, masoor dal cooks even on stove top in no time, in case you are one of those grad students stuck in the US without a pressure cooker 🙂
I’ve used Banganapalli variety of mango here, but you could use any mango that is ripe but too sour to eat as it is. If you use a small Mango like Alphonso, you’ll need 3-4 sour mangoes, as they don’t come with much flesh, not unlike the popular size zero movie stars of Bollywood.
Does your family have a special recipe for Mango Dal, which is made when mangoes are in season? Come over and participate in this discussion on the Facebook page of Saffrontrail .

Recipe for Mango Dal
Serves 3-4
Time taken : Under 20 minutes

When life gives you sour mangoes - Make Mango Dal
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup masoor dal
- 1 mango large (ripe but sour)
- 3 coconut tbspfresh scraped or frozen (unsweetened).
- 1 - 2 green chillies (depending on how spicy they are).
- 1 tbsp ghee / oil .
- 1/2 tsp cumin seeds .
- pinch asafoetida Fat .
- 1/2 tsp ginger grated .
- 1 inch cinnamon stick
- 1 sprig curry leaves .
- 1/4 tsp turmeric powder .
- 3/4 tsp salt .
Instructions
- Wash the dal and pressure cook with 1.5 cups of water (2 whistles, 5 min on sim).
- Peel and cube the mango roughly, scraping off any flesh around the seed (stone). This should make a generous cup to nearly a cup and a half in quantity to get full flavour of mango in the dal.
- Place the cubed and scraped mango flesh, coconut, green chillis in the small mixer jar and grind to a paste.
- In a pan / kadai, heat the ghee.
- Add the asafoetida, cumin seeds - letting the seeds splutter.
- Add grated ginger, cinnamon stick, curry leaves, turmeric powder. Saute for 30 seconds and then pour in the mango-coconut-chilli puree.
- On a medium flame, stir this for 1-2 minutes.
- Add pressure cooked dal, salt and up to 1/2 cup water to get the desired consistency of dal.
Sounds absolutely luscious. Too bad Iv been stuffing my face with mangoes at such a crazy speed they have no time to get over ripe and sour 🙁 But I must try and do this..On another note though, would you be willing to quickly jot down the recipe for the bhindi and parathas as well?:) Im a SUCKER for both!
Married to a Telugu, so this features on our summer menus! 🙂
Isn’t Mango Dal made with Green mangoes.?? Hearing first time about mangoes like Banginapalli and Alphonso being used for Dal..Interesting..!!!
I remember my grandmother making me mango dal growing up. I’ve never had the courage to try and recreate it, but this recipe looks easy enough. I never realized how many nutrients were in this delicious dish. I looked up several of the ingredients on the Natural Standard database. I learned that mangoes can help with obesity as well as diabetes! Who knew? Health benefits as well as other information for almost all the ingredients in this recipe are available on the Natural Standard database. I can’t wait to try this!
looks delicious… on of my frnd do the same
I still remember your mango paneer cake from last summer! Boy its been a year already?!
Superb recipe! love this dal.. make it often too
Lovely recipe!
What a recipe its looking awesome and if it ate……….OMG i can’t believe this. nice onekeep writing on………..valuemart.co.in
deliciously delicious….. saadepunjab.com Â
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Just what I was looking for! Bought a few mangoes thinking they were ripe and sweet, only to find them ripe and sour! Going to try this over the weekend! Thanks for the recipe!