Aam Kheer (Mango Pudding)

My love story with the ‘king of fruits’ goes back to my summer holidays during my childhood, which would be incomplete without a visit to my grandparents house. Besides being sprinkled with stardust of love and undivided attention, another attraction was the lingering taste of the home-grown mangoes.

The house was dotted with trees – had about a dozen mangoes, few lychees, guavas, coconut, jackfruit, pomegranate, water apple, bael fruit, elephant apple, pomelo, Indian jujube, star fruit among many others. But for me, the smell of fresh sweet mangoes were always intoxicating and undoubtedly took away the crown!

Some of my cherished memories from those days are centred around following the house-help while he would pluck the ripe mangoes in a big basket or watching my grandmother make pickle on a sunny afternoon – mangoes doused in spices and mustard oil in a muslin-covered jar, sunbathing on the terrace while she would tell me some incredible folktales from ‘Thakumar Jhuli’.

During the mango season, my grandfather would prefer a dessert with mangoes after dinner and one such dessert was ‘Aam Kheer’ (mango pudding) – quite common in Bengali households during the hot summer months. For the past few years, my mom had been making this special dessert for her beloved son-in-law every time we would visit home.

Considering we haven’t been home for some time, Mr. Husband had been craving for ‘Aam Kheer’, so when we bought mangoes the other day, I decided to try my hands at my mom’s recipe. This is a must-try if you are a mango lover like me!