Savoury The beauty of cooking is that there are no rules – the cyclone played havoc on the trees and countless mangoes, ripe and unripe, littered the ground, cut short of their life span. And if you know me, I cannot see waste of any sort. I had a big bag of them sent across, and most of it turned into Mango Chutney which sits well in the fridge for weeks. But a small portion I set aside to experiment with. This rice recipe is an amalgamation of various other recipes, and adapted to my tastes – I cannot put a label on it and call it Gujarati, from southern India or just from air – you will have to take your own meaning! This recipe is adaptable to your pantry and of course tastes. I use urad dal in the rice, but you can use sesame seeds, channa dal – anything that gives it it’s crunch! The Recipe Serves 2 Ingredients ½ cup uncooked rice 1 spoon sesame oil 1 large raw mango 2 red dry chillies 2 tsp white urad dal (or white sesame seeds, channa dal) 2 tbsp ghee 5-8 curry leaves 1 tsp salt Dry masala: 2 red chillies ¼ tsp turmeric powder ½ tsp mustard seeds pinch of hing ½ tsp sugar or jaggery – optional if the mango is too sour for your taste Instructions Cook the rice in boiling salted water till tender but not mushy. Drain the excess water and stir in some oil lightly with a fork to keep the grains separate. Make the dry masala by putting all together in a mortar and pestle and ground Peel and grate the mango. Mix the dry masala and the mango into the cooked rice. Heat the ghee in a pan and brown the dal lightly. Add chillies and curry leaves and fry a little. Put the rice in and stir well. Cover with a well-fitting led and allow to rest over very low heat till ready to serve.