How To Plant Mango From Seed

Most people nowadays prefer grafted fruit trees as it saves them from a lot of troubles and heartache, and takes less time to start 

yielding fruit. That makes sense since some fruit seeds call for a special pre-planting process, such as stratification process on berries or grapes, and they can take as long as 3-15 years before it sets fruit.

However, if you are a-curious-type of person, you may want to experiment with planting fruit by seeds. You may also do it just for the sake of gaining knowledge or just for fun. 

So, go ahead and check out the steps below! This may be a good school experiment for children too.

Steps to plant mango from seed:

1. First of all choose a mature mango fruit of any kind. After you eat the flesh, Clean the seed from the flesh adhering to the seed, wash it with running water and dry it with a napkin. Let the seed sits near the windowsill or a warm area of the house to dry for around 
2 weeks.

2. After the seed is dry, crack open the seed carefully 

to make a big enough crevice or opening. 

3. Then, soak the seed along with the outer skin that 

you have cracked open or you may release the kernel 

from the outer skin and soak it overnight.

4. You may plant the seed that you've soaked overnight in a soil mix directly or you may release the kernel from the outer skin first before you plant the kernel.

5. And within a week or two, the seedling may come out.

6. After it has set several leaves or as high as 15-20 cm, you can transplant it to it's permanent home. 

Mango Pickles

Hey, I remember my promise to share my recipe of mango pickle. 

As I have shared in my previous post, I had more than 12 Nam Dok Mai mangoes, dropped due to over-stimulation from liquid fertilizer I applied after fruiting. The application of the liquid fertilizer stimulated new growth of branches and and flowers, and caused the pollinated fruits to compete for food and had to finally succumb. Only 4 remain in tact and still growing.

Most of the dropped mangoes is this size or around 8 cm long. In case you have immature fruit drop like these, don't toss them away to your compost pile, instead, recycle them into a delicious simple pickle!

All you have to do is :

1. Wash and peel the rinds.

2. Slice thinly like the picture below. 

3. After that, rub the mango slices with 1-2 Tbs salt. Refrigerate for 30 minutes until the fluid drains and the mango flesh shrink in size. Then, wash the salt away. 

 4. Now you are ready to season it with 2-3 Tbs vinegar/apple cider vinegar, 3-4 Tbs sugar, 3 red chili (sliced). Mix it well. Refrigerate it half to one day before serving. It's yummy and crunchy! 

Arsik—A Traditional Batak Dish

I'd like to share with you a recipe from ethnic Batak—the largest ethnic group in Sumatra Island. I have grown to fond of this special traditional dish and even enjoy making it myself for years.

But first of of let me introduce to you the two special spices compulsory for this recipe as they create a distinct flavor to the dish . Two of these most important spices are Andaliman (a kind of Sichuan Pepper) and Asam Cekala (the seed pod of Torch Ginger)
(you can click the italics to go to the specific article about 
these spices.

Andaliman is used for it's distinct citrus flavor and the tongue-tingling sensation it creates and Asam Cekala is also used for its distinct and acidic flavor. 

The halves bud below are also part of the Etlingera Elatior plant which is often used in South East Asian dishes. It's famous in Thai and Indonesian cuisine.

So, today I will teach you how to make Fish Arsik.

The ingredients you need :
2 medium size of Gold fish/Tilapia/Carp/Snapper (slice the bodies into 4 pieces each and halve the heads)
5 cloves of red onion
3 cloves of garlic
50 gram of red chili
10 whole chili paddy (optional)
1 small piece of galangal (crushed)
1 stalk of lemongrass (take only 10 cm long from the head, crushed)
a knuckle of turmeric (about 2 cm)
3 candle nuts
1 tsp Andaliman
5 Asam Cekala/Torch Ginger seed pods (crushed)
a handful of Batak Chives (Bawang Batak)
1 Torch Ginger bud (halves, optional)
8-10 Kaffir lime leaves
100 gram of long bean/eggplant (optional)
1 lime
2 liters of water

How to:
1. Clean the fish, slice the meat and halve the heads. Sprinkle lime juice on the fish. Refrigerate it while preparing the spices.

2. Clean the chives and trim the tip of the leaves, and clean other spices and veggies. set asside.

3. Grind together red onion, garlic, red chili, Andaliman, turmeric, and the candle nuts in the blender.

4. Pour the ground spices into an alumunium skillet (or any skillet you like), Arrange the long beans/eggplant on the skillet. Pour the water on top of it. Insert crushed galangal and lemongrass, torch ginger seed pods and the kaffir lime leaves.

5. Cook it and let it simmer for 10 minutes. The objective is to allow the Torch Ginger seeds pods to render the acidic juice which will prevent the fish meat to disintegrate from a long processing time. Then, insert the fish and add more water to cover the fish as needed.


6. Turn down the fire, insert the chili paddy, put a lid to cover the skillet and let it brews with low heat until the sauce is about to dry. (about 45 mins - 1 hour).

7. After it's done, let it sit for several hours for better flavor (as the spices saturated in the meat). I usually cook it at night and eat it the next day, or cook it early morning and have it for lunch.

8. Serve it with steamed rice.

9. You can also substitute fish with pork (shoulder, tenderloin or the belly meat).If you don't like it too greasy, make sure to trim the fat if you're using the belly meat. 

Pork Arsik (Belly Meat)

Asam Cekala

Photo Credit here

Kincung or Kecombrang or Honje comes from Etlingera Elatior plant or known as Torch Ginger, a perennial plant, which flowers(flower buds), stem and seeds pod are used as spices in cooking. 

In Batak cuisine, all parts of this plant can be used. The one in the picture above is the seeds pod. As in Indonesian, the word 'asam' means sour, thus, the pods are slightly crushed before cooking in order to make crevices so that the seeds can render its distinct flavor and sour taste to the dish.

It is perfect for fish dishes as it reduces the fishy smell of the fish and enhances the taste.

Andaliman

Andaliman or Zanthoxylum Acanthopodium is a species of flowering plant from the citrus family, Rutaceae. Similar to its cousin, Z.Piperitum or widely known as Sichuan Pepper or Chinese Corriander, the whole peppercorn of Andaliman are used as spices in cooking. Beside the lemon-like flavor and tartness, it also has another distinct characteristics, which is the 'biting' pungency that gives tongue a numbing sensation. This is caused by hydroxy-alpha-sanshool, a bio-active components contained in it.

There are about 250 species of the genus which can be found in the highlands of China, Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, Thailand and Toba of Sumatra.

As for Andaliman, it's distinctively a native plant we only found int the Toba highlands, thus, widely used in Batak cuisine only. No wonder people from other islands in Indonesia call it 

"Batak Pepper".