Fajeto (Mango Kadhi/Mango Rasam)

Recipe contributed by: Dhara Balwa

A lot of mango recipes will be coming from my kitchen with summer here. I have already tried a few mango recipes and tomorrow is mango ice cream's turn. But let me not get ahead of myself and talk about Fajeto. Fajeto is a Gujarati recipe which was created to get the most out of mango. That is after you get the pulp or the fruit, the seed of the mango with whatever pulp and juices are left on it is boiled with water and tempered with spices, kind of like rasam. Then it evolved in kadhi. Gujarati kadhi is sweet, tangy and spicy at the same time so may be some mango lover like me would have thought, "How about adding mango to it?" And let me tell you, it tastes amazing! Whoever thought of it needs a round of applause. And apart from the flavor, the color is appealing to the eyes too. My son pronounced his verdict today that Fajeto is his favorite among dals/kadhis. I am not surprised! Try this refreshing recipe that you can have as soup too.

Photo by Dhara Balwa

Serves: 6
Prep time: 12 min Cook time: 30 min
Difficulty level: Easy



Ingredients:

1 cup Yogurt
1 1/2 tbsp Besan/Gram Flour
4 cups Water
2 Mango Seeds with some pulp and juices on it (Optional)
1/8 tsp. Turmeric
1/4 tsp. Red Chili Powder (You can add more more adding spiciness)
1/2 tsp. Ginger paste
1 1/4 cups Mango Pulp
2 nos. Cloves
2 nos. small Cinnamon Sticks
2 Dried Whole Red Chilies
1/4 tsp. Cumin Seeds
1 tsp. Ghee/Clarified Butter
1/8 tsp. Hing/Asafoetida
Few Curry Leaves
Jaggery as per taste
Dried Ginger powder (Optional)
Salt to taste

Method:

1) In a deep cooking pot, add yogurt, besan and water and mix with blender till there are no lumps of the besan and everything is mixed well.

2) Add the mango seeds and heat the mixture on medium heat stirring frequently to make sure the besan doesn't settle down and stick and burn on the bottom.

3) Once the mixture heats up but is not boiling yet, add turmeric, red chili powder and ginger paste.

4) After one boil, lower the heat and add the mango pulp to the yogurt mixture stirring continuously till mixed well. Add salt as per taste. Let it heat up.

5) Meanwhile, in a tempering pot, heat the ghee. Once hot, temper with cumin seeds, cloves, cinnamon, whole red chilies. Roast them till fragrant and then add asafoetida and curry leaves and add the tempered ghee to the Fajeto that is heating up.

6) Please be careful not to let the mixture come to boil once you have added the pulp. Just heat it at low temperature. Once tempered, taste the fajeto and adjust salt and sweetness as per your liking. I had to add 2 small cubes of jaggery to make it a little sweet.

7) Serve the Fajeto sprinkled with dried ginger powder (I did not use it) once the jaggery is dissolved.