Yes! It is the time of the year when the king of fruits - Mango is proudly displayed in fruit basket of each and every home in India. It all starts somewhere in March after Holi when market is flooded with Kachhi Kairi (raw mango), aroma of mango pickle fill up the neighborhood air and the terraces are full of sun dried raw mango slices Spotlight.
But what we all wait eagerly is the sweet ripened mangoes, in India we are blessed with hundreds of variety of Mango, each state has it's own special Mangoes but all of them are equally tasty. Though India is quite a famous worldwide for it's quality Alphonso Mangoes but sadly most of the batches are either exported and the few left are sold at gold like prices.
This year Mango season came so early in my kitchen because I was trying and testing Mango Recipes for CaLDRON April 2014 issue, though it is not so easy to procure ripened mangoes in the early March but still I managed to get a batch of sweet ripened mangoes, which was enough for the trials. I tried some 10 different recipes including drink, salads, curries and deserts and condiments using raw and ripe mangoes, each dish surprised me with the distinct flavor of mango unsecured loan low interest.
Finally after so many trials, clicks and not to miss the kitchen full of mangoes my three mango recipes were published in the CaLDRON April Issue and my click of Mango Shrikhand made it to the cover page, it seems all that mango mess was worth.
To congratulate myself for all the hard work I made Mango Cranberry Mock-o-lada, which is combination of Mocktail+Lada, lada is a Russian word meaning beauty goddess, and surely Mango Lada is a famous mocktail that has all the divine goodness of mangoes.
I have used beautiful Sindoori Mangoes for this mocktail, they resemble very much to Alphonso in looks, with that hint of red in the skin and the small shape, it has a sweet taste with less of pulp perfect for relishing just like that after dinner electric ac motor.