Slurp up some of these homemade mango dishes from Goa

With all the waiting over, it’s finally that time of the year, when Goan markets turn yellow and the smell of mangoes wafts through the air, tempting everyone from a mile away.

It’s that familiar scent that swiftly takes you right back to those childhood summers when mangoes took over a room, solely dedicated to lay these seasonal fruits in rows and under hay to ripen. 

Hidden under the straw, it was a hunt to scour through the stack and find the ones that had, as though by magic, turned yellow. Relished for breakfast, lunch and even dinner, there wasn’t anything like ‘that’s too many mangoes’ as these were consumed in varied preparations.

Clecy Fernandes reminisces such summers, that have always been synonymous with the sweet fragrance of mangoes wafting through her house.

Hailing from Panjim, since her mango tree blooms every alternate year, mangoes are a special affair.

“Summers have always been spent plucking over a thousand Mankurad mangoes, meticulously storing them and checking them every day to separate the ones gone bad,” she says, adding that as much as she loves a chilled mango milkshake, or mango cakes and puddings, her favourite has to be the mangaad.

Made from a mango variety, Monserrate (Musarad), the Goan mangaad is a sweet and delicious mango jam that’s prepared in almost every Goan home during the summer months.

“My mai (grandmother) made it when we were young, and as my siblings and I grew older, we began participating in the vicious battle of making the mangaad,” she adds.

They all took turns, continuously stirring the large kail (vessel) for hours, simultaneously dodging the onslaught of the sputtering hot mango pulp escaping from the vessel and trying to save their skin.

Once ready, while storing the jam, she reminisces how they’d often end up comparing their blisters (battle wounds).

But, like it’s said nothing comes easy, and spreading that brownish golden mangaad on the Goan bread or adding it to that dessert, is definitely worth the trouble.

“The best thing about mangaad is that even whilst I'm dressed in a sweater, a spoonful of this jam could take me back in time, in the arms of a golden summer!” she smiles.

Apart from the flavourful jam, mangoes are pickled and relished with hot rice during the rainy days that follow the summer.

From mango solam that are used for Goan curries, amchur powder used as spice, sweet-spicy mango chutney, water pickle with raw mangoes (stored in glass jars in brine), to the mouth-watering masala pickles, mangoes are integral to Goan households.

And Lou Renita Barneto from Loutolim loves making most of these at home.

“I learnt quite a bit of my cooking simply watching my mother-in-law, Franie Barneto, cook,” she says, adding that she now uses the ghontam (sucking mangos) to prepare the stuffed mango pickle she noticed her mother-in-law making.

Borlolem thoram or stuffed mango pickle are usually made from mangoes that are plucked directly from the tree. Local rock salt is usually used for layering these, which are kept under a weight for a couple of days, occasionally changing the position of the mangoes.

“Each mango is then removed, and an insertion, a small cross, is made to remove the seed. Thereafter the masala (made of red chilli powder, hing, haldi powder, jeera, mustard and methi seeds) is stuffed into the insertion,” informs Lou, who places these in a barni in oil that prevents it from growing fungus.

Another mango preparation made from half ripe, half raw mangoes is chunda, that’s sweet-sour spicy and eaten with rice or chapatti.

“I scrape the mangoes, salt them, and cook with jaggery, chilli powder, haldi, two cloves and cinnamon on a slow fire,” says Lou who won accolades for her mango delights at the recent Konkan Fest.

While mango season is eagerly anticipated, a reminder of home, Goans carry their love for mangoes with them everywhere they go, and continue to relish flavourful recipes passed down through generations.