Vadu mango pickle is baby mangoes in a brine of salt, chilli and mustard. This is my way of making small batch of vadu manga at home.

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Maavadu / vadu manga/ vadu mago is nothing but baby mangoes. A specific variety of this tender mango is made pickle, the ever popular “vadu mango pickle”.
Mom makes more like the neer nellikai, which is also my most favourite.
I like the water more than the nellikai/mango. It tastes great with more sadam/ thayir sadam. I can live with it!
But this way of authentic maa vadu pickle I learnt from my MIL. She has this recipe in her handwritten cookbook, which she shared me over the phone and I tried it successfully for the first ever time in my life.
And every day when I open the jar of this pickle the whole space is full of the pleasant mango flavour along with the spices! Wow! Too much!😀.
I know there are many other recipes and methods. This is how I learnt and want to share with you all.
I clicked these pictures just after one day I prepared, coz the baby mangoes where photogenic and actually I was too much enthusiastic to click it, cant wait until it gets soaked.
However the picture below has been shot only after one week, just to show the looks of the shrunken, well soaked maavadu.
Anybody remembering any tamil song now as you read this post?😉
Storage
Vadu manga pickle usually do not need refrigeration. The amount of salt, oil and spices will preserve it from spoiling.
But since I add water, I keep it refrigerated for safer side. Even in the updated method I do not add water but yet keep it inside.
Make sure to refrigerate only atleast after couple of days or until the mangoes are shrunken and leaves out water.
This way it gets pickled easily. If you put inside fridge earlier, it will take long time to leave out water and absorb the salt and spices.
But make sure to toss well couple of times. I also keep in sun until it is well soaked.
My suggestion and what I do - First couple of days I leave it outside. Shake 2-3 times a day.
After that, day time - I keep it in sun and toss well couple of times. After sun goes down, I refrigerate.
Repeat this until my baby mangoes are shrunk and leave out lots of water.
After that, I transfer to another container and keep refrigerated always.
Alternate method
Here's another method I followed recently. Clean maavadu without moisture and coat with sesame oil.
- Firstly, add rock salt. I added as such, but for the baby mangoes to quickly release water, please powder and add.
- Secondly, add ½ teaspoon mustard seeds powder (Indian black mustard, powdered in mixie), ¼ teaspoon roasted and powdered fenugreek seeds powder (vendaya podi), ¼ teaspoon Turmeric and 2 tablespoon red chilli powder to it.
- Adjust spice according to your spice level and the variety/ brand. Mine is mild spice and bright red in color. So added more.
- Shake well to coat all. Do this 2-3 times a day.
- After ten days it will be ready to consume. See above for storage instructions.
Instructions
- Choose fresh, roughly same size of baby mangoes/ vadu manga.
- Wash firstly and remove the stalks if any.
- Pat dry completely in a clean kitchen towel and dry in the shade for making sure it has no water.
- In a porcelain bowl or glass bottle, big enough to hold the manoges, transfer the mangoes and pour oil.
- Mix well so that the oil coats all the mangoes completely.
- Meanwhile, roast the items given under ‘To roast and grind table’. Add asafoetida powder towards the end. (I used the solid ones).
- No need to roast the turmeric. Roast until the mustard starts cracking. Do it in medium flame. Cool down and powder everything along with salt.
- Then add ¼ cup boiled & COOLED water and grind it to a paste. Add it to the greased baby mangoes.
- Mix well with a spoon or if the jar has lid, shake it well so that the spicy sauce coats every mango.
- Toss 3-4 times a day so that it gets soaked evenly. For first few days, the salt makes the mango ooze out water and the mangoes will shrink little by little and the water quantity also increases.
- The below picture shows 2 days old soaked mangoes. But it takes atleast 1 week to get completely shrunken.
Serve with sambar/ rasam sadam ( I don’t do this, but have heard it will be good) or classically with the thayir sadam, my personal fav😍. Spicy and flavourful, simply a treat every single time you eat/lick it!
Recipe card
Vadu mango pickle
Ingredients
- 2 cups Vadu manga maavadu/ baby mangoes, *The baby mangoes should be round variety
- Salt rock salt preferred (2-3 tbsp)
- 2 tablespoon Castor oil or sesame oil
To Roast and grind
- 20 Red chillies Long variety, medium spice
- ½ teaspoon Vendhayam fenugreek seeds/ methi seeds
- ¾ teaspoon Mustard
- A small piece of turmeric Or turmeric powder ¼ tsp
- ¼ teaspoon Asafoetida
Instructions
- Choose fresh, roughly same size of baby mangoes/ vadu manga. Wash firstly and remove the stalks if any.
- Pat dry completely in a clean kitchen towel and dry in the shade for making sure it has no water. In a porcelain bowl or glass bottle, big enough to hold the manoges, transfer the mangoes and pour oil.
- Mix well so that the oil coats all the mangoes completely.
- Meanwhile, roast the items given under ‘To roast and grind table’. Add asafoetida powder towards the end. (I used the solid ones). No need to roast the turmeric.
- Roast until the mustard starts cracking. Do it in medium flame. Cool down and powder everything along with salt.
- Then add ¼ cup boiled & COOLED water and grind it to a paste. Add it to the greased baby mangoes.
- Mix well with a spoon or if the jar has lid, shake it well so that the spicy sauce coats every mango.
- Toss 3-4 times a day so that it gets soaked evenly. For first few days, the salt makes the mango ooze out water and the mangoes will shrink little by little and the water quantity also increases.
- The below picture shows 2 days old soaked mangoes. But it takes atleast 1 week to get completely shrunken.
Notes
- As always told for pickles, always use clean spoons while handling the pickle.
- This pickle can stay good for months even when kept outside. But for safer side I keep always refrigerated once soaked.
- Use only peengan or glass bottles as others may not withstand the salt content in the pickle.
- Using kal uppu / rock salt is recommended.
- Do not forget to toss the mangoes everyday atleast 2-3 times for a week.
- By end of a week, the mangoes will get smaller and the spicy water will cover the mangoes – the way it is supposed to be.
Akila
Mouthwatering pickle.. Saw some vadu mangai in shop opp to mustafa.. But didn't buy it... Now I feel I should have bought it....
Ruchi Indu
wow nice clicks. This is my favourite, but a different recipe than what my mom follows. Need to try both..
AparnaRajeshkumar
i had a this plan 🙂 some how u posted it ! nice pictures !
Revathi
My all time fav...i remember my grandma she make this pickle often...tastes awesome with sambar
JEYASHRI SURESH
Though i am not a big fan of this vadu manga i love the water with curd rice.But my sister and mom love vadumanga with sambar sadam too.Vadumanga oorathungo ....
Finla
Pleaaaaaaaaaaassse bottle me a huge bottle and parcel this side. Love love them.
CHITRA
I second jeyashri , ennathaa solrathungo , super ponga 😉 Its my most favourite pickle. iam telling aunty to buy in salem but couldn't get it 🙂
Priya Suresh
Dont kill me like this..seriously this is tooo tempting, even i love to get bottle full of this pickle from you.
Sharmilee! :)
Slurrp...no one can resist...yummy pickle
Sowmya Sundararajan
Ahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. Good job Raji. My Vadus are half shrunken now. Can t wait to get my hands on it. Ennaaaatha Solvenungo!! Vadumaaaanga OOOruthungo........ Thayir Saadham ready pannungo
Shama Nagarajan
inviting and a lovely treat
Veena Theagarajan
I used to live on this during my college days.. Looks good
dishesfrommykitchen
No one can resist these babies... Is it available in singapore ??? I am way too tempted. My MIL and mom make them and keep it ready so that I can bring when I come to US.
Sayantani
one of my friend from Kerala used to bring this for us and we loved having this with big plateful of teheri...love the colour
Gayathri Ramanan
really tempting...love to eat with curd rice...
anusha praveen
i eat vadu mangai with coconut rice Raji. I must say i m envious of you making the pickle because i never get these beauties where i live!
Shabitha Karthikeyan
Looks super tempting !! I wish I could get baby mangoes here !!
Ms.Chitchat
Mmmmmmmmmm, tongue tickling maavadu, can have it any time with any combo.
Sanoli Ghosh
Stunning pickle. yummy.
Priti S
Am not really fan of maavadu but your pics making me drool...liked that jar
Dr Hema
This comment has been removed by the author.
Divya Pramil
What stunning pics..Love vadumanga pickle so much with curd rice..Looks finger-licking good 🙂
divya
looks so awesome,nice tempting clicks.
Sireesha Puppala
yummilicious and nice pics..they look stunning..cant take my eyes off..amazing
ibrahim ali
what is asafoetida ?
Raks anand
Hing
Prabhavathi A
Hi .. did u used oil in this ..
Raks anand
In the first step
Asha Mohan
Can i place the jar under sunlight for the mangoes to get shrink with masala
sudha prakash
Hi raji, Madevadumanga pickle.I jva e added salt as per my requirement I want to know if I can add salt or chillies after tasteing after I gets soaked for 2 days.also can you mention the salt quanyity
Raks anand
Sure you can adjust. Salt quantity varies from person to person's requirements. Also from the type of salt 🙂
supriya mohan
Is vadumanga available in singapore?if so pls let me know !!!
Raks anand
I got from murugan stores next to saravana bhavan. You can also find in little india vegetable shops.