19 May 2008

Aamras

Every summer, we visit a small, family-run Gujarati restaurant in Dubai, to tuck into their weekend thali. The menu is the same every week - puris, undhiyo, chhole, potato curry, gujarati kadhi, dhoklas and aamras. While we don't care too much for most of the items in the thali, the undhiyo and aamras are outstanding. Everytime we scoop off a few spoons of aamras, the cup is promptly refilled. After downing atleast five cups of aamras, and the food, the staff will still insist on "some more aamras". Any refusal on our part, and the old cook appears at the table, lovingly serving the aamras himself and gently coaxing us into relenting - "the mango season is so short, have all you can now". Now we can't refuse, can we?

I tried making aamras at home without any extra flavouring and loved it. Then I saw a recipe which mentioned adding elaichi/cardamom to it and tried that. We hated it. Elaichi takes away the true mango flavour - it is a distraction in the the taste!! Going back to the original way, this is how I made it.


You'll need:

2 ripe mangoes - I used the Alphonso variety
a tbsp milk
a little water
sugar, if needed

Soak the mangoes in water for 2 hours - this takes the heat out of the mangoes. Then peel the mangoes and chop of the pulp. Reserve the seeds in the water - this is said to retain the flavour. Blend the pulp with milk till smooth. Check for sweetness and add sugar if needed. Add a little water (in which the seeds were retained) to make it a little thin and blend again. Serve chilled with puris or palak puris.
The original way of making aamras is by squishing the soaked mango with fingers and extracting the pulp. Blending it does not make a difference to the taste and is less time consuming.

15 comments:

sra said...

It was such a culture shock to me when I first ate rotis with aamras! But a nice one, when I could finally bring myself to dip a bit of the roti into this juice - your post makes me want some!

Sagari said...

Aamras looks deleciousssss jyosthna

FH said...

Slurp! What a treat! Yummy! I made your Saibhaji, will link. It was delicious and nutritious!:))

Aparna Balasubramanian said...

There's a small gujrathi restaurant here too. They serve only a thali and their menu is pretty static. Its a nice change once in a while, but they have neverserved aamras.:(

Vanamala Hebbar said...

very refreshing Aamras. This i have post in my blog last month :)
ur version is nice.

Anonymous said...

hey love aamras...with puris for breakfast....when this was served, i thought my mother was the best in the world!! great entry and thanks a lot....see you at the round up!! cheers!!

Anonymous said...

I am going mad about mangoes. I am really really missin those mangoes here. Love the pic jyotsana its very refreshing and inviting. Nice post and entry .

TBC said...

I love eating this with pooris.:-)

notyet100 said...

nice post...after 10 days of blog break,,,really feel good to read so many delicious mouthwatering posts...

Nanditha Prabhu said...

i am absolutely going to love this....

J said...


Thanks everyone, the mango madness will continue :)

Red Chillies said...

All i can say is aah! I love this cold and yours looks wonderful!

Suganya said...

Hi.... This mango drink looks so good. Great click!....Delish!... Love mango in any form.

J said...


Red chillies and Sukanya - Thanks for the visit and enjoy the mango season!

Jans said...

My fav fruit....nvr tried it with roti b4, but i absolutely loved it....