Every Father leaves a legacy..

Well , as the Google doodle was a Cactus Daddy like the Cactus Mom on Mother’s day and to honour our Dads as much as our Mums..I decided to honour my father with a post as I had, my Mum.

My Dad is a foodie and when he comes down to feeding you, you better have an appetite.

Mango season in India , would bring cartons and cartons of Mangoes to our home as my Dad would pay his weekly visits to the wholesale market. As soon as the cartons would be stacked up, half would be given away to friends and family and the other would reach our table.

One particular Mango variety that I couldn’t ever forget was the Totapuri. Forget the Alphonsos, the Langdas, the Badamis, Dasheri, Chausa...move in the TOTAPURI . We have no idea why this graced our table day in and day out. We would be given 2-3 mangoes to eat every meal as my Dad sliced these for us and forced them onto our plate. We would sneak into the kitchen to count how many were left and pray the Mango season would go away as fast as it came! After that summer, we vowed we would never eat a Totapuri again!

Till today ....

It’s known for not being too sweet, and has many names: Bangalora, Collector, Kallamai, Kili Mooku, Gilli, Mukku, Sandersha, and Thevadiyamuthi. It gets its name from its shape, which is like a parrot’s beak. When ripe, it is greenish in colour, with tinges of red. It is also popular for being the parent variety to Anderson and Brooks cultivars, when it was exported to Florida in 1901. It makes great pickles, salads and mango juice drinks.

So I decided to grace my table today with an Indian dessert that my Dad loves, Phirni. It is a North Indian creamy milk based dessert that is generally savoured cold ,in clay pots made on special occasions . My grandmother would make the most delicious Phirni and I have yet to eat a Phirni as tasty as hers. She would not wait for an occasion to prepare this delicious dessert and would have numerous bowls of phirni in the fridge ready for us to eat whenever we liked. She knew my Dad loved it and would especially prepare it for him and me .

So whenever I see Totapuri in the aisles of the Supermarket here, I never ever pick them up. Today ,as I passed the aisle, I smiled and graced my trolley with these beauties. So here is the recipe of Mango Phirni ...Dad, this is for you!

Mango Phirni

Ingredients: 500 ml Fresh Milk 2 Ripe Mangoes ½ cup sugar ½ can Condensed milk 3-4 tblsp Rice powder ½ tsp Cardamom powder Pinch of saffron in water A few slice pistachios Rose petals and silver Varq for garnish

To prepare: 1. Take 50 ml of milk and mix the rice powder in it . 2. Boil the rest of the milk . 3. When it comes to a boil, put it on a medium low flame , add the rice powder mixture in it . 4. Let it thicken. Peel the mangoes and pulp the flesh. Keep some

whole pieces aside for garnish.

5. Add the condensed milk and sugar and let it mix thoroughly. 6. Add the cardamom powder and saffron. 7. Remove from the flame and let it cool to room temperature. 8. Add the mango pulp and mix well.