Fifteen Mangoes

I love Indian food. Three is no other food that makes me quite as happy as Indian food. Consequently, I cook a lot of it. I am vegetarian, and the variety of vegetables used in Indian cooking is positively astounding. Unfortunately, Indian vegetables are not easy to come by. Anyway, I was at the local international grocery store yesterday since it was vegetable-restocking day and I wanted to be in early so I could get my pick of veggies. I bought fresh Indian chillies, tapioca, plantains and colocasia taro (which I have not eaten in four long years, and so was very excited to see them at the store). I had come early in the hopes that I would find raw mangoes with which I planned on making spicy and savory mango-coconut chutney. Raw mangoes are practically unavailable in the US - even mangoes that look green have slightly ripe insides - the sharply sour Indian mangoes are nowhere to be found. However, I was ready to make do with even the reddish green ones if they appeared firm and raw. But there were none. The owner of the international store was very apologetic. He said that he still had almost a whole box left over from the week before because no one wanted them. I didn't either, and so he said he'd throw the lot away. I asked him not to - horrified at the thought of all those mangoes going to waste. And then he offered them to me. For free.

Needless to say, I took them. I brought the lot home, peeled, sliced and cubed the lot and packed the pieces into individual Ziploc bags and stored them all in my freezer. Over the next few months, they will be cooked - with lentils, yogurt, coconut milk and other yummy foods. And although I hadn't planned on spending the money on buying so many mangoes, I estimate I saved about $15 on them. :-)