Mango pickle (aam ka achar)
Preparation Time
15 minutes
Cooking Time
16 minutes
Difficulty Level
easy
Meal Type
Lunch
Serves 50
Key Ingredients
- Mustard oil (kachi ghani, cold pressed)
About This Recipe
Aam ka achar is raw mango pickled in mustard oil with salt and ground spices, eaten a spoonful at a time with dal, paratha or curd rice. Kachi ghani mustard oil is pressed slowly, without heat or chemicals, and its natural pungency carries through in the jar.
Two rounds of sun do the work. First, the salted mango pieces dry on a cloth for one afternoon, which draws the water out of them; then the filled jar stands in the sun for three days so the oil and masala soak into every piece. The pieces stay firm at first and soften over those days, and each spoonful is sharp, hot and salty.
The nigella can be left out. Do not skip the sun-drying. Any cold pressed mustard oil works; heat it once, to its smoke point, and cool it fully before it meets the mango. The mustard oil purity guide shows how to check the oil you have.
Ingredient List
Serving Size:
1x
2x
3x
For the mango
- Raw green mangoes (kairi), firm — 500 g
- Salt — 50 g
Masala
- Mustard seeds (rai) — 2 tbsp
- Turmeric Powder — 2 tsp
- Dried red chillies — 12 pieces
- Fenugreek seeds (methi) — 1 tsp
- Nigella seeds (kalonji) — 1 tsp
- Hing (asafoetida) powder — 1/4 tsp
For the pickle
- Mustard oil (kachi ghani, cold pressed) — 250 ml
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Serving Suggestions
Serve a spoonful with dal-rice, rajma chawal, stuffed parathas or curd rice; its sharp, salty hit cuts through plain khichdi too. A little of the pickle oil spooned over dal also works. Keep the jar in a cool, dry place and always dip in with a clean, dry spoon. The mustard oil purity guide helps when buying oil for the next jar.
Tips for Cooking Mango pickle (aam ka achar)
Dry the mangoes completely before cutting; a single wet piece can spoil the whole jar. Heat the oil only once, to its smoke point, and cool it fully before mixing. Keep the masala coarse rather than powdered, and taste it before the oil goes in: it should be clearly salty. Everything that touches the pickle, from the bowl to the spoon, must be bone dry.
Chef’s Note
Kachi ghani oil and sun-dried mango are the whole trick: the salt and sun draw water out of the fruit, and the cooled oil carries the spices into every piece. A tablespoon (about 15 g) of this pickle comes to about 48 kcal and 5.2 g of fat, nearly all of it from the oil. The mango pieces are not counted in these numbers.
Per serving (approx.): 48 kcal, protein 0.2 g, carbs 0.3 g, fat 5.2 g, fibre 0.2 g. Computed from IFCT 2017 / USDA values for the listed quantities. Measures: 1 cup = 240 ml, 1 tbsp = 15 ml, 1 tsp = 5 ml.
Happy Cooking
!!
ByCOWBERRY
Aug 17, 2026
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