Mango Soup (Aamras)

It seems like every time I post, I am explaining my long absence. This time I have none. I have lazed around, reading, traveling, making the most of the last few weeks of summer before the semester starts and our life goes back to the busy routine.

When I was at my sister-in-law's place, she made this delicious Aamras from Madhur Jaffrey's recipe book "From Curries to Kebabs" and it was absolutely fantastic! We had it with pooris and it made my day. Since then, I have already made it a couple of times for friends and it's been a success each time.

When you take the first bite, you taste the sweetness of the mango. Next, you get the tartness of yogurt and then the spices hit you subtly at the base of the throat. It's so delicious you can't wait to take the next bite and taste it all over again!

In my preparation, I increased the yogurt to one cup and omitted the curry leaves and green chillies.

Ingredients:
(From Curries to Kebabs by Madhur Jaffrey)

2 tbspoons chickpea flour
1/8 tspoon ground turmeric
3/4 tspoon cumin powder
3/4 tspoon coriander powder
1 cup plain yogurt
3 cups mango pulp (sweetened) from a can
1 1/4 to 1 1/2 tspoons salt
1/2 tspoon sugar, or to taste
1 tbspoon oil
A generous pinch of ground asafetida
1/2 tspoon whole brown mustard seeds
1/2 tspoon whole cumin seeds
2 whole hot dried red chilies
1/8 tspoon whole fenugreek seeds

Method:
Mix chickpea flour, turmeric, cumin, and coriander in a medium bowl. Then add very slowly, 1/2 cup of water, mixing with vigorously till there are no lumps left. Add yogurt, mixing it in with a whisk. Pour in the mango pulp and an additional 1-2 cups of water. Add the salt and sugar. Mix well.

Heat the oil in a thick, lidded pan and temper it with asafetida first and then, in quick succession, the mustard seeds, the cumin seeds, the chilies, and the fenugreek seeds. Take the pan off the heat.

Stir the mango mixture and quickly pour it into the pan. Stir. Put the pan over low heat and simmer over very low heat for 5-6 minutes, stirring regularly with a whisk or spoon as you do so. Take the pan off the heat, cover, and leave for at least 30 minutes to allow the spices to release all their flavors.

Strain it through a coarse strainer. Spoon out some of the smaller seeds — the mustard and cumin — from the strainer and stir them back into the soup to add some colorful flecks.

Serve it heated or chilled. I have been serving it chilled.