Manga Inji Thokku / White Turmeric Thokku

White Turmeric is colloquially called Mango Ginger (Manga Inji, in tamil) because it smells like raw mango! It is sometimes slightly sour, but not much. Does it taste like ginger? No, it just looks a little like ginger root. White turmeric is often peeled, diced and mixed with diced raw mango, and seasoned with oil, mustard seeds, green chillies and salt. It makes a simple savory pickle for yogurt rice. It is also made into a full-blown pickle with red chillies and other pickling spices.

Manga Inji

Thokku is a class of pickles in which the pickled vegetable/fruit/root is grated or ground, and then spiced with red chilli powder, salt, turmeric, sesame oil, etc.

My mom found white turmeric at our Indian store recently and was quite excited. Although she felt the roots were thinner than those in India and tasted a little bitter, she was eager to make some thokku with it.

So, here's the general procedure that's easy and straightforward.

Ingredients:

1. 1.25 cups white turmeric / mango ginger / manga inji, peeled and cut into small pieces
2. 3 tablespoons + 1/4 cup sesame oil
3. 1.5 tablespoons chilli powder (add more for a spicier version)
4. 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
5. 2.5 teaspoons salt
6. 1/4 teaspoon hing / asafoetida
7. 1 tablespoon grated jaggery / brown sugar

Preparation:

1. Grind the white turmeric to a paste by sprinkling just a little water, or as little as possible to get your blender going.
2. Heat 3 tablespoons of sesame oil in a pan. Add the ground paste and fry on medium heat until the mixture thickens and leaves the sides of the pan (refer to the picture collage above: specifically, the top right picture). Make sure there is no water. If there is a little more oil, the oil will separate from the mixture. 
3. Heat 1/4 cup sesame oil in another pan. When hot, add chilli powder, hing and turmeric powder and fry for a couple of seconds. 
4. Add the cooked white turmeric paste and mix well with the spices. Add salt and fry the paste on low-medium heat for about 10 minutes. Again, fry until the mixture begins to release oil (refer to the bottom left picture on the picture collage above). Finally, add jaggery and mix well in the heat. 
5. Remove from heat and let it completely cool. When cool, store in a clean, dry air tight jar. Store in the fridge to extend shelf life. 

Serve as a spicy side to rotis, rice, upma etc. This goes especially well with plain old yogurt rice.