A sweet, sour, spicy, fresh combination is perfect for a great-tasting sauce. This mango sauce is quite simple to make, it can last for weeks in the fridge and it will make many foods taste way better! You can use whole ripe mangoes for this recipe, or frozen mango pieces instead.
Deep frozen mango cubes are used in this recipe as an example. This is usually the fastest way to cook the sauce.
The principle of this sauce is in combining sweetness, sourness, spiciness, freshness and aroma. The sweetness comes from the mangoes and optional sugar. The sourness comes mostly from vinegar and lemon juice. Spiciness comes from garlic and chili pepper. Freshness comes from herbs like dill and cilantro (coriander). The additional aroma comes from herbs and Khmeli-suneli spice. This spice is very much recommended for this sauce, it has a unique flavor and taste. Chances are, your neighbors will be asking you what you are cooking. Coriander is also one of the crucial ingredients here. It is also a very healthy herb being highly efficient at flushing out heavy metals from the body.
You will need:
- 2 lbs of mango cubes or 3-4 lbs of whole mangos
- Coriander (baby coriander), parsley and dill leaves, about 1 cup each
- 1 garlic head
- 2-3 chili peppers
- 1 tablespoon Khmeli-suneli spice
- 1 tablespoon Himalayan salt (to taste)
- Sugar to taste, optional
- Fenugreek powder to taste
- 1-2 tablespoon olive oil
- Juice of 5-10 lemons
- Vinegar to taste
- Ground black and white pepper to taste
Spices should be added once the sauce is almost ready, this will preserve the flavors. Salt, sugar and vinegar are to be added at this point as well. The sauce will boil down to some extent, so it is better to fine tune the sweetness and saltiness in the end.
Let the mango cubes thaw in a warm place. Avoid using a microwave, it makes food less healthy. Transfer the cubes into a saucepan and add about 1 cup of water.
Set to a medium heat and bring to a boil. Simmer for about 30 minutes on a low heat setting with the lid closed. Then remove from the heat and let it cool down just a bit. The cubes then need to be pureed. You can do this using an immersion (handheld) blender, this is the easiest way. A regular blender can also be used, but it is better to let the cubes cool down to a reasonable temperature first. So, blend the mango pieces into a uniform paste. After that you can put it back to low heat, the rest of the ingredients will follow in a bit.
If you are using whole mangoes, then cut each into four pieces. Remove the skin before cooking or after. Many people enjoy scraping the mango flesh from the skin pieces with their teeth. This recipe is a good opportunity to do this. Simmer the mango pieces with a cup of water in a pan with the lid closed, and let it cool down. The seeds and skin should come off easily. Then blend the pieces into a puree as described previously.
While the puree is simmering, start preparing the other ingredients. Peel the garlic, remove the seeds from the chili peppers, separate the stalks from the parsley, dill and coriander leaves. Set the stalks aside, they are not needed for this recipe. You can actually use them to prep a veggie stock for a soup. Blend all together, but not to a completely liquid paste. The mix should be very finely chopped and slightly chunky. If you are using a handheld blender, you can also blend the sauce as fine as you like later on. Add the mix to the mango puree and bring to a boil on a medium heat.
Make sure to stir often with a soft silicone spoon. Add olive oil and the juice of 5-10 lemons depending on the desired taste.
The sauce should be slightly sour at this point. Later the sourness can be increased with the vinegar. Simmer for a minimum of 10 minutes. This is necessary for the sauce to be able to stay longer in the fridge. You can also simmer a bit longer in order to evaporate the excessive liquid. However, once cooled down in the fridge, the sauce will set. So you can stop simmering even if it is still a bit liquidy. Add all the remaining spices (Khmeli-suneli is a must) and mix well. Add sugar, salt and vinegar to taste. There should be a balance between the three tastes: sweet, sour and salty.
Cool the sauce down, keep it in a clean container in the fridge. This mango sauce is good with literally anything or even as a snack on its own. It makes a great dip as well and can even be added to soups.
Enjoy!
