A Katra, Prayagraj family recipe — unchanged since 1857. Raw mango and black chickpeas in wood pressed mustard oil, 12 spices, no preservatives, Sun-cured 21 days in our Delhi NCR kitchen. 500 jars a month, made to order, ships across India.
| Weight | 150g in Glass Jar, 300g in Glass Jar |
Our family has made this achaar in Katra, Prayagraj since 1857. The proportions have not changed in five generations.
Mustard oil cold-pressed in a wooden kohlu. Black chickpeas cured inside the jar — a combination commercial mango achaar leaves out.
Cured in traditional chini mitti (porcelain) barni jars at room temperature. Three weeks of sunlight does what no factory shortcut can.
Two hands fill every jar. Sun-cure space is finite. The cap is permanent — not a marketing scarcity tactic.
"Tailam" means oil. "Aamra" means mango. Tailam Aamra is a mango achaar (pickle) from the 1857 Katra, Prayagraj family recipe, made in the Maatru Rasah Delhi NCR kitchen®. Raw kairi is slow-cured for 21 days in wood-pressed (kachi ghani) mustard oil with kala chana (black chickpeas) and a 12-spice masala. Production is capped at 500 jars per month. No artificial preservatives. India delivery.
Every ingredient earns its place. The list, as it goes into each jar:
- Raw mango (kairi) — desi cultivars from Uttar Pradesh orchards, picked at the right tartness
- Kala chana (black chickpeas) — slow-cured in the mustard oil alongside the mango; a signature of this recipe since 1857
- Wood-pressed (kachi ghani) mustard oil — cold-pressed in a traditional wooden kohlu - Whole red chilli - Red chilli powder — ground in-house
- Fenugreek seeds (methi dana)
- Black cumin seeds (kala jeera)
- Coriander powder (dhania)
- Fennel seeds (saunf)
- Rock salt
- Asafoetida (hing)
No artificial preservatives. No synthetic colours. No stabilisers. The oil, salt, sun, and spices do the preservation work that they have always done.
Why kala chana?
Kala chana (black chickpeas) absorbs the spiced mustard oil slowly during the 21-day sun-cure — becoming dense, chewy, and deeply seasoned. In Prayagraj's achaar tradition, black chickpeas are cured alongside raw mango to balance how masala distributes through the jar. No commercial mango pickle replicates this. The combination comes from the family recipe, unchanged since 1857.
Customers searching for kala chana wala aam ka achar or mango achar with black chickpeas will not find this combination in any mass-market product — it requires the family recipe, not just the ingredient list.
Why wood-pressed mustard oil?
Mustard oil pressed in a traditional wooden kohlu (kachi ghani method) retains the compounds that give the oil its pungency and its characteristic nose. Refined mustard oil — pressed at high heat — is milder, more uniform, and longer-shelf, but flat. Traditional mango achaar relies on the sharpness of kachi ghani oil to carry the masala through the mango. Customers who grew up eating sarson ka tel ka achar will recognise the difference in the first spoonful. When the jar is first opened, the oil should smell of mustard and sun. That is not an accident — it is the oil doing its job.
Read why wood-pressed mustard oil matters →
Why 21 days of sun?
After kairi is salted, packed with spices, and filled into glass jars, the jars sit in open sunlight for 21 days. Sunlight drives the second stage of fermentation — mellowing the raw tartness of the mango while the oil draws deeper into the fruit and the kala chana integrates with the masala. Twenty-one days is the threshold at which the masala stops tasting separate and starts tasting like a single thing. The Prayagraj kitchen has been getting this window right since 1857.
1. Select kairi: Raw mango — desi cultivars from Uttar Pradesh orchards — is sourced at peak tartness each season. Totapuri and cold-storage mangoes are ruled out.
2. Cut and salt: Kairi is cut bone-in and coated with rock salt. The salt begins drawing out moisture and starts the first stage of preservation.
3. Dry in sun: Salted kairi sits on sun-drying mats for 1–3 days, removing excess moisture before the masala is added.
4. Mix the masala: Twelve spices — fenugreek, kala jeera, saunf, dhania, red chilli, Lakadong turmeric, hing, and others — are combined with the kala chana and measured by hand, following the family recipe.
5. Pack and fill: Kairi, kala chana, and masala are packed by hand into glass jars. Wood-pressed mustard oil — cold-pressed in a traditional kohlu — is poured over, fully submerging the mango. Uma seasons and approves each batch before sealing.
6. Sun-cure 21 days: Sealed jars sit in open sunlight for 21 days. The oil draws in, the masala integrates, and the achaar reaches its finished character. The batch is then checked, labelled, and shipped.
Table A — Wood-pressed vs Refined Mustard Oil Mango Achaar
|
Aspect |
Wood-pressed (Tailam Aamra) |
Refined oil (commercial mass-market) |
|
Oil extraction |
Cold-pressed in a wooden kohlu — no heat, no chemical solvents |
High-heat extraction with hexane solvent + chemical refining |
|
Pungent compound |
Allyl isothiocyanate intact — the sharp, sinus-clearing bite |
Allyl isothiocyanate stripped in refining — flat |
|
Flavour |
Builds, then fades |
Muted; the oil disappears |
|
Process time |
15–21 day sun-cure in chini mitti (porcelain) barni |
Hours to a few days, factory-paced |
|
Shelf-life mechanism |
Salt + oil pungency + sun-cure + natural fermentation |
Vinegar, sodium benzoate, citric acid, or artificial colour |
Table B — Indian Achaar vs Western Pickle: Different Foods
|
Aspect |
Indian Achaar |
Western Pickle |
|
Preservation |
Salt + spiced oil + sun-cure + slow fermentation |
Vinegar (acetic acid) brine |
|
Origin of sourness |
Lacto-fermentation builds it over weeks |
Acid added on day one |
|
Probiotic content |
Live cultures from fermentation |
None — vinegar kills the bacteria |
|
Spice count |
8–12 in heritage recipes |
3–5 (dill, peppercorn, garlic, salt) |
|
Eaten as |
Concentrated condiment with rice / roti |
Topping or snack, larger quantities |
Kala chana — black chickpeas — sit inside the jar during the 21-day sun-cure. They absorb the spiced oil slowly, soften from inside, and thicken the oil with their starch. The texture they add is nutty and chewy. No commercial mango achaar includes them. The reason is time: factories cannot wait three weeks.
|
Unopened |
12 months from batch date. Cool, dry, no direct sunlight. |
|
After opening |
6 months. Keep mango and kala chana submerged under oil. Use a dry, clean spoon every time. |
|
Refrigeration |
Not required. Slows curing and mutes the wood pressed mustard flavour. |
|
Normal signs |
Cloudy oil = normal curing. Darkened oil = normal oxidation. Soft kala chana = fully cured. All normal. |
|
Spoilage sign |
White mould on the oil surface = discard the batch. |
Dal-chawal, roti, paratha, curd rice. The obvious pairings. One piece per meal — the flavour is concentrated.
The oil is equally useful. After the mango and kala chana are gone, the spiced wood pressed oil that remains is a cooking ingredient. Use it to temper lentils, drizzle over poha, mix into mashed potato. The kala chana softens enough to eat whole — mash it into the oil for a finishing paste.
The kala chana itself can be
eaten alongside rice — it absorbs spice differently from the mango, making it
almost a separate element in the same jar.
Made with love
Homemade Handcrafted
Here are some common questions about our premium Tailam Aamra Achaar (Indian Mango Pickle).
Tailam Aamra includes black chickpeas (kala chana) — unusual in mango pickle. Most commercial aam ka achar has 4–5 spices; Tailam Aamra uses 12, including Lakadong turmeric and asafoetida. The oil is wood pressed mustard oil (a form of kachi ghani), which retains the pungency refined oils lose. The recipe comes from a Katra, Prayagraj family kitchen and has not been adjusted for commercial scale.
Wood pressed means the mustard seeds are extracted using a traditional wooden kohlu press with no external heat — preserving allyl isothiocyanate, the compound that gives mustard oil its characteristic sharp bite. Wood pressed is a type of kachi ghani. Refined mustard oil, used in most commercial pickles, loses this compound during processing and tastes comparatively flat.
No. The full ingredient list is: raw mango, black chickpeas, red chilli, wood pressed mustard oil, fenugreek, black cumin seeds, coriander powder, fennel seeds, red chilli powder, Lakadong turmeric, salt, asafoetida. No vinegar, no citric acid, no sodium benzoate, no artificial colour.
Kala chana is part of the 1857 Katra, Prayagraj family recipe. During the 21-day curing period, the chickpeas slowly absorb the spiced oil, soften, and thicken the oil. They add a nutty, slightly earthy body that balances the sharp mustard heat. They can be eaten whole alongside the mango or mashed into the oil.
6 months at room temperature. Keep the mango and kala chana pieces covered with oil at all times. Use a dry, clean spoon every time. Refrigeration is not required — it mutes the wood pressed mustard flavour.
Yes. Maatru Rasah ships Tailam Aamra across India in small batches of 12–15 kg. If the product shows out of stock, the batch is currently curing (15–21 days). Sign up for restock notification on the product page.
Lakadong is a turmeric variety from the Jaintia Hills of Meghalaya with 7–12% curcumin content, compared to 2–3% in standard commercial turmeric. In Tailam Aamra, it adds deeper colour and a sharper, more complex flavour than haldi typically does in achar. It is the same single-origin Lakadong turmeric sold separately by Maatru Rasah.
The recipe originates from our family's kitchen in Katra, Prayagraj — traceable to 1857. Katra is Prayagraj's oldest market. The recipe was not developed for commercial sale; it was a household recipe passed through generations. Maatru Rasah was founded in 2013 to bring it outside the family kitchen. The proportions have not changed.
| Weight | 150g in Glass Jar, 300g in Glass Jar |
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