Mango Rice Recipe
Updated: August 19, 2023, By Swasthi
Mango Rice is a South Indian dish made with precooked rice, raw green mangoes, tempering spices and curry leaves. This Mango Rice is simple to make and is similar to the way we make Lemon Rice and Coconut Rice. It tastes tangy, slightly hot and flavorsome. It’s delicious on its own and you won’t need any sides at all. If you prefer something on the side, serve it with crispy papads, chips, Pakora or Masala Vada. Also a bowl of fresh yogurt or a Vegetable Salad makes your meal complete & more filling.
Indians make plenty of dishes with raw green mangoes when they are in season. Apart from this mango rice, Mango Pickle, Mango Dal, Mango Chutney, Aam panna are some of the many ways to use green unripe mangoes.
Mango Rice
Mango Rice is a popular summer dish commonly made in the Southern Indian states – Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. It is a dish made primarily with rice, green unripe sour mangoes, herbs and spices. In Telugu it is Known ad Mamidikaya pulihora and in Karnataka it is known as Mavinakayi Chitranna.
As with many other dishes, Mango Rice is also made in numerous ways and every region and household may have a different way to make it. The recipe shared here is the way my Mom would make and you will surely love this for its simplicity.
Remember the lovely flavors of South Indian tempering? Fresh curry leaves, ginger, green chilies, lentils and mustard seeds together fried in oil releases plenty of flavors. This dish has exactly the same flavors with an extra punch from the mangoes.
For this we first cook the rice to a grainy texture but fully cooked like it is done for lemon rice or any variety rice dishes. We temper the spices and then cook the mangoes in the tempering.
It is then later mixed with the precooked rice. You can also make this mixture ahead, cool and store in a glass jar in the refrigerator for few weeks. Use it when required to mix with your precooked rice.
Basically any kind of sour mangoes that are unripe are best to use in this recipe. On occasions I have also made this with about to ripen mangoes and it tastes just good as long as the mango is still sour.
You may check this post for more Rice Recipes.
Photo Guide
How to Make Mango Rice (Stepwise Photos)
Preparation
1. This recipe makes about 4 servings, you can scale down as needed. But the amount of mango to use depends on the variety or sourness of the mango. Wash, soak and cook 2 cups rice the way you would cook your rice regularly. The cooked rice must be grainy, yet fully cooked and not mushy. Cool it down.
2. Wash, peel and grate a mango. If you have a food processer you can also just add the mango pieces and grate them. Update: Lately I have started to make this rice with cooked mango. I just peel, chop and add the pieces to a bowl. Cover and place it in the pressure cooker over the rice bowl (PIP). Once cooked I mash it and use below.
Tempering
3. Heat about 1 tbsp oil in a pan. Fry peanuts on a medium heat until golden and aromatic. Remove them to a plate for garnishing later.
4. Pour another 2 tablespoons oil. Add chana dal, urad dal, mustard seeds and red chilies.
5. Add thinly sliced ginger (optional), chopped green chilies and curry leaves. Saute everything until the curry leaves turn crisp. Add hing. I usually set aside some of the fried green chilies to add at a later stage if needed.
6. Lower the heat completely and add mango (grated or cooked), salt and turmeric.
7. Mix and saute for 2 to 3 minutes.
8. Skip this step if using pressure cooked mangoes. Lower the flame completely and cook covered. Stir in between. Mango must be cooked completely, turn soft & begin to leave the sides of the pan. If your mango is very dry with no moisture to cook, you may sprinkle a tbsp of water. Stir and cook covered.
9. At this step you can also add a generous pinch of mustard powder. It is optional. If you like to save it for later use, Once cooled completely you can store it in a glass jar and refrigerate.
To make Karnataka style mavinakayi chitranna, add 1 cup grated coconut and handful of finely chopped coriander leaves towards the end of sautéing the mango.
Make Mango Rice
10. Add this little by little to the cooled rice and mix well. Taste test and adjust salt and oil. Do not use less oil, the rice will turn out very dry.
12. Add more mango & mix as required until it comes to your liking. Mix it up gently. I used up the entire cooked mango mix here. You may be left with more mango mixture if your mango is too sour, you can bottle that and refrigerate. Use within few weeks.
Garnish with roasted peanuts. Serve mango rice with papad or veg salad.
Related Recipes
Recipe Card
Mango Rice Recipe
For best results follow the step-by-step photos above the recipe card
Ingredients (US cup = 240ml )
- 2 cups rice
- 1 raw unripe green mango (Sour, medium sized)
- 1 to 2 sprigs curry leaves
- 3 to 4 green chilies slit or chopped
- 1 to 2 dried red chilies broken
- ⅖ to 1 teaspoon salt (adjust to taste)
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric (prefer organic)
- ¼ cup peanuts or cashewnuts
- 1 tablespoon chana dal (bengal gram)
- 1 tablespoon urad dal (skinned split black gram)
- 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
- 1 inch ginger chopped, sliced, grated
- 3 tablespoons oil
- 1 pinch hing (⅛ teaspoon asafetida)
Instructions
Preparation
- Cook rice to grainy texture: Add rice to a bowl & rinse it a few times. Pour 4 cups water & place the bowl in a pressure cooker. Cover the bowl & pressure cook for 3 whistles.
- When the pressure drops, remove the rice & cool completely.
- Wash, peel and grate or chop the mango. You can also grate in a processor. Update: Lately I have started to make this with cooked mango. I just peel, cut and add them to a bowl. Cover and place it in the pressure cooker over the rice bowl (PIP). Once cooked I mash it and use as mentioned below.
How to Make Mango Rice
- Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a pan and fry the peanuts on a medium heat until aromatic and golden. Remove them to a plate for later.
- Pour 2 tablespoons more oil and heat it. Add chana dal, urad dal, mustard seeds and dried red chilli.
- When the lentils turn light golden, add ginger, green chilies & curry leaves. Fry till the curry leaves become crisp, then add hing.
- Add mango, salt and turmeric. Saute for 2 to 3 minutes. Cook covered until the mango turns mushy, completely soft & pulpy. (skip this with cooked mango.)
- Add this to the cooked rice little by little and begin to mix. Taste test and add more mango mixture as required. Adjust salt and oil at this stage.
- Transfer mango rice to serving plates and garnish with roasted peanuts.
Video
NUTRITION INFO (estimation only)
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About Swasthi
I’m Swasthi Shreekanth, the recipe developer, food photographer & food writer behind Swasthi’s Recipes. My aim is to help you cook great Indian food with my time-tested recipes. After 2 decades of experience in practical Indian cooking I started this blog to help people cook better & more often at home. Whether you are a novice or an experienced cook I am sure Swasthi’s Recipes will assist you to enhance your cooking skills. More about me
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Comments
Lately I have cooked a number of West African recipes and had 1/2 a green mango and cooked rice left in my fridge. An internet search brought me to your delicious MANGO RICE. It is superb. Will make it again and again. Still swooning – just thinking about it. Thanks Swasthi.
Please send variety of mango receipts, it would do world of good
Hi,
Please use the search on the menu bar to find more mango recipes
Yummy! Came out so good.
Hi Swasthi. I have 2 small unripe mangoes just recently fallen from the tree. Can I use them in this recipe?
Hi Tanecia,
Wow! That’s really good. Yes use them
Hi Swasthi, how long the mango spice mixture (without adding rice) can be stored in the refrigerator? I would like to make some and keep it in the refrigerator and occasionally mixing a little bit with rice for consumption. I am afraid that the mango spice mixture might grow fungus if it is stored too long. Wondering if you have any knowledge on how long this can be stored without any spoilage. Thanks. Keep up the great work. Rom
Hi Rom Garu,
I have stored it successfully for 2 months in the refrigerator. If you wish to keep it longer than 2 weeks, double the quantity of oil & cook the mangoes with the tempering. Also skip adding peanuts. Instead keep them separately to add when you serve. You can also pressure cook the whole green mangoes and freeze the pulp in ice trays. This lasts 6 months in the freezer. You can thaw them and temper when required. Hope this helps.
Swasthi, thanks very much. Those are very good tips. I will follow them.
Awesome recipe.. simple too
Thank you
Simple & perfect ,!!!!! Thank u!”
Welcome Madhavi
Hello Swati. Thanks for posting the recipe. I will definitely try this recipe tomorrow for lunch box..
Welcome and thanks. Yes do give it a try
Hi Swasthi! Thank you for your wonderful recipes. I just have a few questions –
What is “hing” ?
And, when you say “sour raw mango”, is this a certain type of mango, or just any unripe mango?
Here (the Caribbean) we have a few different varieties of mango, some are more fibrous than others, does it matter which one I use?
Thank you! I love your instructions and photos!
Hi Nicole,
You are welcome. Hing is known as asafoetida in english. It is a common tempering ingredient with medicinal values. It aids in digestion and prevents stomach gas. You can skip it if you do not have, it also adds a mild flavor which is close to garlic. Raw sour mango is just any unripe mango that is sour. Some varieties are mildly sweet or have the sweet flavors even though they are unripe, we usually avoid them as they make the rice sweet. This rice is made hot and is a savory version so we avoid sweet mangoes. Also choose the one that does’t have much fiber. Thanks for the compliments. Hope you will enjoy the rice
Love to try all your recipes ,so simple,so yummyyy.thanku
Welcome Dr. Reshma
Thank you
Great recipe for Summer. I’m definitely trying them in the weekend 🙂
Thanks Puja
Yes do try
super taste of ur recipes swathi
Thanks Meena.
Happy to know you like the recipes