If you've ever searched for fajeto and ended up on a mango kadhi recipe, you're not alone — and you deserve better. This is the real thing. Fajeto is an authentic Gujarati summer drink made with ripe mango pulp, yogurt and a hot, fragrant tempering with dried red chillies and curry leaves. It's served at the end of a meal and makes the most of every last drop of mango.

This recipe comes from my Mum. She learnt it the traditional way from the Gujarati women around her who used every part of the mango and wasted nothing.

Note – This recipe has been updated from our recipe archives, first published on 18th July 2018. Now with new content and pictures, the recipe remains the same.

Jasi Baa's Authentic Gujarati Fajeto

This is a recipe that’s truly been passed down the generations. My mum learnt how to make fajeto from an older Gujarati lady called Jasi Baa, who would sit outside in the sun preparing a fresh bounty of mangoes. She would watch, ask questions, and pick up all the little details.

This is the exact version we still make decades later.

Fajeto is often mistaken for mango kadhi, but it’s completely its own thing. It's actually an after meal drink and has a different ingredients and cooking techniques. This needs to be said clearly, because there is a lot of misinformation circulating online that treats fajeto and mango kadhi as interchangeable names for the same recipe.

We serve it at room temperature after a meal of shaak and rotli or a full Gujarati thali.

It's one of those recipes I feel a responsibility to share properly because it deserves to be known exactly for what it is.

Hayley x

Difference Between Fajeto & Mango Kadhi

Mango kadhi is made with yogurt and gram flour (besan), just like a traditional Gujarati kadhi, with ripe mango pulp added for sweetness and flavour.

Fajeto contains no gram flour whatsoever. It is yogurt thinned with water, blended with mango pulp, lightly sweetened, spiced with green chilli and ginger, and finished with a tempering. It's a drink. You sip it from a glass after your meal, not from a bowl during it.

	Fajeto	Mango Kadhi
What it is	spiced mango drink	savoury yogurt curry/soup
Base	mango pulp & yogurt	yogurt & besan
Contains besan?	no	yes
Consistency	thin, drinkable	thick, soup like
When it's served	after a meal	during a meal, with rice
Flavour profile	sweet, tangy, mildly spiced	savoury, tangy

The confusion likely comes from the fact that both dishes are Gujarati, both feature mango and yogurt, and both use a tempering. But the ingredients, the method, the consistency, and the role they play in a meal are completely different. If a recipe calls itself fajeto but contains besan — it's mango kadhi.

Fajeto is a seasonal recipe, made during mango season when ripe, fragrant mangoes are at their best. In Gujarati households, it would traditionally be made using the mango skins and seeds left over after making aam ras. Water would be used to rinse every last bit of fruit from them, and that flavourful mango water became the base of the fajeto.

Ingredients notes

Be sure to check out the full recipe and exact ingredient list below in the recipe card.

Mango pulp — I always use homemade ripe mango pulp. I find that Kesar mango pulp gives the best flavour, especially as these mangoes are native to Gujarat but alphonso works beautifully too. Canned pulp works well out of mango season.
Yogurt — I use a mild, plain yogurt and beat it well before adding so it blends smoothly.
Green chilli and ginger — finely crushed together. These give fajeto its gentle warmth without overpowering the mango.
Jaggery or sugar — adjust to taste depending on how sweet your mango pulp already is.
Spices - Hing (asafoetida) — this is a key flavour in the tempering. Dried ginger powder is a beautiful complementary flavour to mango. This combination is also found in authentic Gujarati keri no ras.
The tempering — mustard seeds, curry leaves, dried red chilli and hing in a little oil. Don't skip this — it's what makes fajeto distinctly fajeto and not just a mango lassi.

fajeto served in a glass and topped with indian tadka. Placed on a wooden chopping board.

As always if you make this recipe, be sure to leave me a comment, rate this recipe and tag me on Instagram @jcookingodyssey or #jcookingodyssey. I love seeing all your photos of my recipe recreations!

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