This fajeto recipe is the classic Gujarati style of making mango kadhi. You should make this ras no fajeto at least once during the ripe mango season.
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❤️About This Recipe
Taste: Fajeto is aromatic, medium spicy with a balance of sweet and tangy flavor.
Serving fajeto with plain rice is such a hearty meal. It is usually a part of lunch thali that contains phulka roti, stuffed okra, methia keri (pickle), aamras, fajeto and rice.
Super easy to make: the method is the same as Gujarati kadhi with the addition of ripe mango pulp.
My GrandMother’s Method: Whenever she makes aamras, she also makes this mango kadhi (fajeto). After making keri no ras, there are some mango seeds (guthliya) left with some mango pulp on them. So she adds these seeds into the fajeto while it is simmering to get the maximum juice out of those seeds.
This classic Gujarati dish fajeto is more popular in Jain families. If you want to make this fajeto Jain then skip the ginger in the recipe.
🧾Ingredient Notes
Yogurt (Dahi):
- Always use sour yogurt to make this mango kadhi delicious.
- How to make yogurt sour? just keep it on the countertop for a few hours. For example, if you are making kadhi for dinner then take out your yogurt from a fridge in the morning and keep it outside until you make the recipe.
- Full fat vs low fat/nonfat yogurt: To get the best, rich, creamy texture, I would use the full fat.
- Because of hubby’s health issue, recently he eliminated full-fat dairy. So for the past year, I am making kadhi with nonfat yogurt. Here’s the one change needed in the recipe if using low-fat or nonfat yogurt. Increase the amount of besan (chickpea flour) to get a creamy consistency. *see the exact amount details in the notes section below in the recipe card or Tips section.
Ripe Mango: usually while making other mango recipes, sometimes a mango or two might not be sweet to eat as such or to make aamras. Meaning some mangoes can be a mix of sweet and sour tastes and not fully ripe. The pulp of these kinds of semi-ripe mangoes is used to make fajeto.
If your mangoes are super sweet or too sour then decrease the amount of pulp in the fajeto recipe.
Green chilies: Don’t want to bite into chili pieces then slit the chilies in half and add, discard at the time of eating.
Ghee: Adds such a nice flavor to the dish. You can use a combination of ghee and oil. Or only oil. But I highly recommend using ghee.
👩🍳Step By Step Photo Instructions
1) Take yogurt in a saucepan along with besan, green chili, ginger, turmeric powder, salt and red chili powder.
2) Whisk it really well until yogurt is smooth and no more lumps of besan.
3) Now add mango pulp, mango seeds (if using) and water in that and mix really well.
4) Turn the heat on medium and let it come to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes. Do stir constantly while it is getting heated up, so yogurt will not curdle. As it starts simmering, turmeric powder and mango pulp will impart its color.
5) For tadka, heat ghee in a small tempering pan on medium heat. Once hot add cumin seeds and let them sizzle a bit.
6) Add cloves, cinnamon stick and dried red chili and cook for 30-40 seconds.
7) Add curry leaves and hing.
8) Immediately add this tadka to the simmering fajeto. Remove and discard the mango seed if used.
💭Expert Tips
Besan amount as per fat content of yogurt.
- If using full-fat yogurt - use 2 tablespoons
- If using low-fat yogurt - use 3 tablespoons
- If using nonfat yogurt - use 3 ½ - 4 tablespoons
In short, more the watery yogurt you have, you will need to increase the amount of besan.
- The consistency of the fajeto should be thin and just like Gujarati kadhi.
- Taste the fajeto and if it tastes too sweet then add a few drops of lemon or lime juice at the end. If it tastes too sour then add some sugar or jaggery to balance the flavors.
Check Out Other Kadhi Recipes
Did you try this fajeto recipe? I’d love to hear about it! Click here to leave a review.
📋 Recipe Card
Fajeto Recipe (Mango Kadhi)
Ingredients
- ¾-1 cup Mango pulp or puree
- 3 ½ cups Water
- 1 cup Plain yogurt (dahi or curd)
- 2 tablespoon Besan (gram flour)
- Salt to taste
- ¼ teaspoon Turmeric powder
- 1 teaspoon Red chili powder
- 1 teaspoon Ginger paste or freshly grated or crushed
- 1 small Green chili finely chopped
For Tempering:
- 2 tablespoons Ghee (clarified butter) or Oil
- 1 teaspoon Cumin seeds
- 3 Cloves
- 1 inch Cinnamon stick
- 1 Dried red chilies
- 6-8 Curry leaves
- ¼ teaspoon Hing (Asafoetida)
Instructions
- Take yogurt in a saucepan along with besan, green chili, ginger, turmeric powder, salt and red chili powder. Whisk it really well until yogurt is smooth and no more lumps of besan.
- Now add mango pulp, mango seeds (if using) and water in that and mix really well.
- Turn the heat on medium and let it come to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes. Do stir constantly while it is getting heated up, so yogurt will not curdle. As it starts simmering, turmeric powder and mango pulp will impart its color.
- For tadka, heat ghee in a small tempering pan on medium heat. Once hot add cumin seeds and let them sizzle a bit.
- Add cloves, cinnamon stick and dried red chili and cook for 30-40 seconds.
- Add curry leaves and hing.
- Immediately add this tadka to the simmering mixture. Remove and discard the mango seed if used.
Notes
- If using full-fat yogurt - use 2 tablespoons
- If using low-fat yogurt - use 3 tablespoons
- If using nonfat yogurt - use 3 ½ - 4 tablespoons
- In short, more the watery yogurt you have, you will need to increase the amount of besan.
Sujata Chavda
Loved the fajeto recipe. My surti dadi used to take a small piece of raw Hing, wrap it in some cotton and heat it directly on flame for a second. The Hing would puff up and she'd then crush it in her hand and add it to the fajeto. She did this only for fajeto and no other dish. Not a very easy technique. Needed skill. She passed away in 1977. God Bless her soul.
Kanan
happy to learn something new from your grandmom via you, Sujata. Never heard this before.
Nupur Mehra
Hmm.. that quite an interesting dish and I have never heard of it before. The mango season is almost gone here but I am tempted to make this using Canned Mango pulp. Not sure if that would taste the same, what do you say?
Kanan
Yes it would taste good.
But canned mango pulp usually sweetened, so I would use less quantity. Otherwise dish may become sweet
Sujata Chavda
Actually our ancestors were master cooks. The whole idea of such recipes is to ensure that no part of any food is wasted. Hence the left over Mango seeds were used to make fajeto. The seeds were then roasted on coal or in the wood fire used to heat water. The kernels of the roasted Mango seeds were removed and jullienned. Then sprinkled with black salt and eaten as mukhwaas. No waste and all nutritious parts were enjoyed.
Kanan
You are right. Nothing should be wasted, that's what my mom/grandmom always says.
My mom dries the mango seeds in the sunlight and then break up and collect the inside meat which we call 'gotli'. She cut into small pieces, again sun dry, sprinkle some spices to make mukhvas.
This is little similar to what you have mentioned. This is very fascination to learn the methods from different household. Thank you Sujata for sharing with me.