Mango Rice

Mango is frequently appearing in the dishes for sometime now, at my place. I have had Panha, Mango sherbet, Mango chutney, Aamras, Kulfi and what not! In addition to my mangakkari, my MIL brought me two big bottle full of mango pickle. That will hardly survive for three months at my place, given that I have pickle with everything!

My cousin suggested I try this Mango rice, since its a little bit different from the usual mango dishes. I made this immediately since any idea to shorten the cooking process in summer is welcome. So here is the recipe.

Ingredients:

• Cooked rice                     :         2 cups

To Grind:

• Mango                                :          1/2 of a medium sized one, peeled
• Coconut                             :         1/4 cup
• Ginger                                :         1″
• Curry leaves                    :        1 sprig
• Coriander leaves           :         a handful
• Hing                                    :        two pinches
• Jeera                                  :         1/2 tsp
• Green Chilies                 :          4-5, per taste

Tempering

• Oil                                      :            1 tsp
• Mustard seeds              :            1 tsp
• Urad dal                          :            1/2 tsp
• Peanuts                           :            a handful
• Chana dal                       :             1/2 tsp
• Curry leaves                 :              1 sprig
• Red chilies                     :             1-2

Method:

1. Peel the mango, halve it and grind it into a coarse state with the other ingredients. It should NOT be a paste and should resemble the mixture in the below picture. Running in the mixie for 2-3 short pulses is enough.
2. Heat oil in a kadai. Add the mustard seeds and red chilies. Once the mustard seeds crack, add the rest of the ingredients. When everything is brown, add the ground mango mix and cook for a minute. Take off the heat and add the cooked rice and serve hot with papaddam.

Linked to :

• Blogging Marathon 16, under Pick One Cook All theme : Mangoes
• Mango Mania
• Let’s Cook : With Fruits
• Bon Vivant : Fruit Recipes

 

Bengali Thali

I was standing there, watching the waves dance. Hubby and kiddo were playing hide and seek with the waves. Teasing the water to come and touch their feet.

At the horizon, the anchored ships had switched the lights on, they were now twinkling like little stars far far away.

I decided to let the waves kiss my feet. I wanted to feel the salty, chilling water wash away all my worries. I looked down to watch them come and bury my feet in the sand.

Only I couldn’t. My paunch was coming in between.

Not one to take a hint easily, I stretched a bit further to see the waves bury my feet. I could still not see my feet, only my paunch was visible.

OK, I get the message. Time for some serious measures to watch my weight. No more fatty food.

While I ponder over the point, you guys enjoy this great thali, dishes prepared from the state of Bengal. Just like dieting sounds alien to me, Bengali cuisine is also foreign for me. So thanks a ton, Vaishali, for your insight into Bengali food and for helping me design the menu. Without your help, I would have been totally lost!

Like Kerala Sadya, Bengali food too has some rules when it comes to the food. I read about Bengali Cuisine here, written by Sandeepa of Bong Mom’s Cookbook.

Rice is the main cereal there, just like in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The first course has bitter gourd or neem leaves (something bitter) in it, this is supposed to have cleansing properties.

It is followed by rice and dal, with a fried bhaja or any other seasonal vegetable as a side dish. Fish and meat courses follow, but for vegetarian meals, paneer is a common substitute.

Then comes the chutney round. I tried getting pineapples, but I was out of luck that day. Went in for a raw mango chutney, and boy! it tasted so good.

The last round is yogurt and then some sweet. I made misti doi. I cooked the milk in the pressure cooker and I don’t know what I did wrong, the texture didn’t come out right. The taste was yum, but the texture didn’t come close to even my usual thick yogurt. Just bad luck, I guess.

The menu:

• Vegetarian Dishes/ Curries
  • Ucche Bhaja : Bittergourd cooked and fried in oil
  • Begun Bhaja : Deep fried eggplant
  • Aloo Poshto : Potato in Poppy seeds (I was not able to grind the seeds properly!)
  • Cholar Dal : Dal made with chana dal, made on festivals and special occasions.
  • Chanar Dalna : Paneer and green peas curry
• Rice
• Sides
  • Raw Mango Chutney (I couldn’t get pineapple that day!)
  • Aam pora Shorbot : Drink made from roasted raw mango
  • Misti Doi : Sweetened yogurt
• Sweet
  • Rasgolla : Paneer balls, cooked in sugar syrup

Ingredients for Eggplant fry:

• Eggplant , big variety              : 1
• Turmeric powder                     :  1/2 tsp
• Salt
• Oil for deep frying

Method:

1. Wash and pat the brinjal dry. Cut into 1/2″ thick round slices.
2. Apply salt and turmeric powder.
3. Heat oil in a pan. Deep fry brinjal until crisp and brown on both sides.
4. Drain on a paper towel and serve hot.
5. I have cut mine too thin. It should be a little more thick.

Except for the rasgolla and the dal, I am making everything for the first time. I hope I have done it right. This is a first time Bengali thali for me and I really loved the food. Who thought eggplants would be so tasty when fried with salt and a pinch of turmeric?!

Linked to:

• Blogging Marathon #15, under Thali theme
• Indian Thali Mela

Qabooli Pulao

I have no idea where to start this post. The mind is still in a frozen state, not sure whether to be happy about our apartment or just go on worrying about it. The thing is, we received the raw end of the deal – a deal which should have been exciting and fantastic for us.

I think its time to actually leave all the thoughts – positive, negative and neutral, behind and just move on with the flow. The flow of life, that takes decisions for us, when we are unable to do so. That makes life easy for us. That brings back the smile to our face, even when things look really forlorn.

That teaches us to be grateful for what we have, and not to forget about those people, whose struggle in life is a hundred times harder than ours.

Yes, I am grateful. For everything about my life.

Time for Blogging Marathon again and this time I have chosen the theme – Cook by Alphabets. Instead of choosing an easy series from ‘A to G’, I have chosen to start with a dish with ‘Q’ and end with ‘W’, the sole reason behind this weird choice is that I had a recipe draft which started with ‘W’!

I came across this Qabooli Pulao in a recipe book by Sanjeev Kapoor. I saw this at a friend’s place and just noted the measurements and the method.

Ingredients:

• Rice                                  :   1 1/2 cups
• Bengal gram                  :   1/2 cup
• Salt
• Green Cardamoms     :   4-5
• Cinnamon sticks         :  two 1″pieces
• cloves                              :  4-5
• Turmeric Powder      : 1/2 tsp
• Oil                                     : 1 tbsp
• Ginger garlic paste    : 1/2 tbsp
• Green chilies                : 2-3, chopped
• Onions                            : 4 -5
• Coriander                      : 1 tbsp, chopped
• Yogurt                            : 1 cup
• Mint                                 : about 10 leaves
• Lemon Juice                 : 2 tbsp

Method:

1. Soak rice for half an hour. Boil in 3 cups of water with salt and 2 green cardamoms, cinnamon sticks, and cloves, until done. Drain and keep aside.
2. Soak Bengal gram for half an hour and cook in one cup of water with salt and 1/4 tsp turmeric powder. The dal shouldn’t be over cooked.
3. Slice the onions. Heat oil in a pan, add the onions and saute till brown. Remove half the amount and then add the cardamoms, cloves, cinnamon, green chilies and ginger garlic paste. Saute for 2-3 minutes.
4. Add the cooked dal, turmeric powder, coriander leaves and mix thoroughly. Remove from heat, add yogurt and mix.
5. To assemble: Layer the serving dish with half of the dal mix. Layer half of the rice on top of it and top it with sauteed onions, mint, saffron and lemon juice.
6. Top this again with the dal mix, followed by another layer of rice, onions and other toppings. As you can see, I started with the rice layer and so ended up with a dal layer!
7. Cover and cook for 20 minutes and serve hot.

Linked to

• Blogging Marathon #15, Cooking by Alphabets – Starting with ‘Q’
• My Legume Love Affair #46

Ammini Kozhukkattai

 

Fifteen mails in my inbox, including ones that scream ‘We are going to steal all your money’, and yet I go and open the one titled ‘Lose your Belly Fat’ first. Our builder is already stealing all our money, so I wouldn’t worry about such mails.

I remember kiddo telling me that there was a teacher in his school who had a ‘biiiiiiiiigg’ tummy. He stretched his hands to his front and arched himself to show how big the tummy was. I told him that I think there is a baby inside her tummy.

Worried, he asked ‘Did she eat the baby?’

Oh, it was so tempting to say yes. It would have been fun to see his reaction. But better sense prevailed and I explained to him in simple words about babies coming from tummies.

I was ready to answer his questions, I wasn’t prepared for this one : ‘Is there a baby in your tummy? Is that why its so big?’

That was the most embarassing reply of my life! No, there is nothing in my tummy, except tons of fat. So as a result, I have started drinking copious amount of green tea and reading mails that say ‘Lose your belly fat’ first.

And while I am fighting with my tummy, I allow myself these steamed low fat quick snack, that won’t do much harm to your tummy.

Ingredients:

• Rice Flour            :       1/2 cup
• Boiling Water     :       1 cup
• Salt

Tempering

• Oil                          :   1 tsp
• Mustard seeds  :   1/2 tsp
• Urad dal              :   1/2 tsp
• Curry Leaves    :   4-5
• Red Chilies        :   1-2

Method: 

1. Boil one cup of water with about half a tsp of salt. Take half cup of rice flour in a bowl. Add the boiled water to this, little by little and mixing it with a spoon. Donot add all the water in one go, because you may not need the entire quantity.
2. Stop once the rice flour reaches a semi solid consistency – a little bit watery than chapati dough. Wait until the dough is cool enough to handle, but don’t let it become ice cold or it will become tough. Take a pinch of the dough, roll it into a marble sized ball.
3. Form about 15-20 small balls and steam them for 10 minutes, till they are cooked and glossy.  Make sure that they don’t overlap or touch each other when they are steamed, as they will fuse together and you will have to break them apart. 
4. Heat one tsp of oil. Add mustard seeds and red chilies. Once they splutter, add the urad dal and curry leaves. Add the steamed kozhukattai and mix carefully, without breaking them.
5. Serve hot with coconut chutney or tomato ketch up. 

Linked to:

• Blogging Marathon #14, under ‘Kids Snacks’ theme (Combination of 3 themes)
• Kid’s Delight, for this month’s theme Snacks under 30 mins 
• Only - South Indian

Aval (Poha) Dosa

We had been to the beach this weekend.

Hubby loves to look at the ocean, let go of all the worries, relax and take a deep inhale of that salty breeze. He loves to let the waves bury his feet in the sand. He likes to ease kiddo into enjoying these little beauties of life. He loves to hold kiddo’s hand and stand next to him proudly, waiting for the next wave to come.

They stand in front of me, at the edge of the waves – a perfect picture of love and being at peace with oneself.

Hubby goes there to find serenity. And I go there to find of the best bajji sold from the beach side bajji stalls. And the chaats too from the near by stalls, while on the quest.

So, hubby came back home with his mind relaxed and I came back with my stomach full.

Talking about stomach getting full, aval dosa is a simple and yummy recipe, that is very filling. One dosa for breakfast is enough to keep you going for a long time.

You can check out the original recipe here.

Ingredients:

• Raw rice                                          :         2 cups
• Aval/Rice Flakes                         :         1 cup
• Curd                                                  :         1 cup
• Onion                                                :         1 small
• Green Chilies                                 :         1-2, seeded
• Ginger                                              :          1″ piece, grated
• Curry leaves                                  :         1 sprig
• Oil, to make dosas

Method:

1. Wash the raw rice till clean and soak for 3 hours minimum or overnight. Wash and clean the aval/rice flakes and soak them in curd for an hour at least.
2. Grind the rice and the soaked aval together with salt to get a smooth batter. Add water if the consistency is too thick.
3. Leave for fermentation – overnight or for about 6-8 hours.
4. When you are about to make the dosas, chop an onion and a couple of seeded green chilies and add to the dosa batter. You can add roughly chopped curry leaves, grated ginger, grated carrots too, if you wish to.Tempering with mustard seeds, ural dal and red chilies will also give the batter an excellent flavor.
5. Make thick dosas with the batter. I made these in an appa chatti.
6. Serve hot with green tomato chutney.

Linked to:

• Blogging Marathon #14, under ‘Seven Days of Dosas’ theme

Mushroom Biryani

There are times when you totally forget about the great things you have had in the past. This recipe is one of those.

This absolutely yummy biryani was devoured without a single spoon being left over, yet it is sitting in the drafts folder all forgotten for a really long time.

You can cap this one pot meal well with in 30 minutes. Serve it with plain yogurt and chips (like I did) or with a simple raita.

Source: Edible Garden

Serves : 2

Ingredients:

• Basmati rice           :       1 cup
• Mushrooms            :       1 cup, chopped
• Tomatoes                :       2, pureed
• Onion                         :      1. sliced
• Peas and Corn        :      handful, frozen variety
• Tomato ketchup  :      1 tsp
• Turmeric Powder : 1.2 tsp
• Chilli Powder          : 1/2 tsp
• Chole Masala/Biryani Masala/Garam Masala  : 1.5 tsp
• Salt
• Ghee                          : 1 tbsp

To Grind:

• Onion               :          1
• Ginger              :          1″ piece
• Garlic               :          4-5
• Green Chilies  :         3, or per taste

Method:

1. Wash and soak the rice for 10 minutes. Microwave for 15 minutes (or till done) and keep aside.
2. Wash the mushrooms thoroughly and chop the onions and prep the other vegetables. Grind the onion, ginger, garlic and chilies together. Feel free to add an inch long cinnamon stick, a couple of cloves and cardamom pods as well. I just don’t add these. Puree the tomatoes.
3. Heat ghee in a pan, add the sliced onions and brown them. Once they change color, add the ground masala and saute until the raw smell goes off. Add the mushrooms and cook for 3-4 minutes. Add the pureed tomatoes, ketch up, spices and salt. Once they are done, take off the heat and mix gently with the cooked rice.
4. Serve with yogurt or a simple raita.

Linked to :

• Blogging Marathon 19, under 30 minute meals
• 30 Minute Mela

Paal Pidi

I have (actually – I had!) an obsession for keeping the house organized and clutter free. Nothing was to be left outside, everything was to be pushed inside the already bulging almarahs. Only the dining table and the sofa set is tolerated in the hall. That too because these cannot be shoved inside a wardrobe, else I might have tried!

The news paper left in the table for a moment, the car my son was playing with or the towel left in the chair for a second – everything goes inside the minute I see it.

But the wardrobes are messy. Really messy! I am fine as long as the mess is inside and cleaned periodically.

Like my messy wardrobe, my bookmarks folder too has grown really long and messy. I was cleaning up the list, when I came across this Paal Pidi recipe from Ramya’s space. It fitted perfectly into the ‘Something Sweet’ theme for this week’s Blogging Marathon and so here it is.

One link off the bookmark list and only a thousand more to go!

Ingredients:

• Rice flour                                   :        1 cup (Idiyappam flour/ Puttu Podi)
• Boiling Water, as required
• Coconut milk                           :        1 cup (can be replaced with milk)
• Milk                                             :        1 cup
• Sugar                                          :        1/4 – 1/2 cup, per taste

Method:

1. Boil water with a pinch of salt. Pour it into the rice flour little by little, mixing with a spoon as you go.
2. Once it all comes together, kneed for a minute to get a soft dough. Its the same as the one for Ela Ada.
3. Take a small pinch of this dough, no more big than the size of a cherry, and roll into a small ball. Repeat until the rice flour dough is used up.
4. Steam these pidi in an idli cooker for 10 – 15 minutes, till they are cooked through. If the balls are big, it may not cook in the middle, so keep the size of the pidi small.
5. In a wide thick bottomed pan, mix coconut milk, sugar and whole milk together and bring to a boil. Add the steamed pidi into it and and let it boil for 10-15 minutes till it thickens a bit. Taste in between and add more sugar if required.
6. Add half a tsp of cardamom powder, if desired and serve hot or cold, decorated with nuts.
7. You can make this with coconut milk or whole milk alone or use a combination of both.

Linked to:

• Blogging Marathon, under the theme ‘Something Sweet’
• Let’s Cook : Rice
• Kid’s Delight : for the theme ‘Something Sweet’

Ela Ada

I made this the day before and when I served it to my kid, he asked me ‘Mommy, Did you make this?’. I smiled and said, yes.

Hubby came later and again the same question was repeated. ‘Did you make this, dear?’ I frowned a bit but still I said, Yes!  Half an hour later, the same question came from my friend, who is currently staying with us.

Now that’s too much! Why does every one assume that I cannot make something nice like this? Looking at my fuming face, she rephrased the question ‘Did someone else help you make this?’

Ahh…she caught me there! My cousin, seven years my senior and a good cook, lives close by. I bug her every now and then to cook some or the other thing for me.

But when she was making these, I was also there – standing next to her, handing over the ingredients and touching the pots and pans now and then. So I can also claim partial ownership here :D.

I made the mistake of buying bananas beforehand for this recipe. No, overripe bananas weren’t the problem. They got over before I started this recipe!

I stocked up everything and called my cousin and her first question was ‘Did you buy the ela (banana leaves) ? Imagine making ela ada and forgetting the ela? But she rescued me again by buying them for me.

Ingredients:

• Idiyappam Flour (Raw rice flour)                 :             2 cups
• Ripe Nendran Bananas                                       :             4
• Grated Coconut                                                     :             1/2 cup
• Jaggery                                                                     :             1 cup
• Water

Method:

1. Boil 3-4 cups of water with a pinch of salt. Add this water, little by little, to the rice flour and mix with a spoon. Later when you can touch with your hands kneed to get a smooth dough, which is slightly softer than chapati dough. You may not end up using all the water.
2. Cut the banana into round pieces or mash them. Heat jaggery till it melts in a pan and filter it to remove dirt. Bring it back to a boil and add mashed or cut bananas into it. Cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the grated coconut and cook further. Try a taste test and add sugar if it is not sweet enough.
3. Cut the banana leaves into rectangles. Keep a bowl of water to dip your fingers while handling the dough.
4. Take a small ball of rice flour dough. Dip your finger in water and flatten the dough on the banana leaf.
5. Add a ladle of banana filling in the center and fold the leaf. Once the dough is finished, steam this in an idli steamer for 10 – 15 minutes until the leaf changes color.
6. Cool for sometime and serve as a healthy snack.
7. You can check out here for step-by-step pictures.

Linked to:

• Blogging Marathon, under the theme ‘Something Sweet’
• Kid’s Delights : for this month’s theme ‘Something Sweet’
• Let’s cook : Rice
• Hearth and Soul Hop

Handvo

I was wondering whether ‘Blogging Block’ or ‘Blogging Break’ camouflages the word ‘laziness’ better. We have entered 2012 and when the entire world is taking new resolutions to get more things done, I prefer to pull the blanket over my head and ask my husband to keep the milk inside the fridge and go when he leaves for work.

I tried blaming my thyroid glands for my laziness (and my bulk too). Didn’t work, thyroid is good, in fact a bit too fine. So now I have only my laziness to blame. Hubby suggested working out.

Now, the very mention of the word ‘exercise’ does to me things that’s supposed to happen after an hour of exercising – my heart beat raises, my body breaks into a sweat and I feel tired!

So this year, my friend has taken the New Year Resolution for me. A leaner, meaner me is the target. Armed with work out DVDs, we have started the exercise routine, which is telling each other every night ‘From tomorrow morning, we are going to workout’.

Ten days have gone by into 2012, but I am happy to announce that we are strictly following this routine. Now doing the actual work out, lets talk about that in 2013!

Its time for Radhika’s Blog Hop Wednesday again and this time I am paired with the talented Pradnya of  The Pumpkin Farm. Her blog is a repository of interesting recipes and I found myself picking and choosing a lot of recipes before landing on the Handvo recipe. Since it sounded interesting, I tried it out and loved the result. It tasted very similar to adai dosa that we make in the South.

Ingredients:

• Idli Rice                         :     2 cups
• Toor Dal                         :    1 cup
• Bottle gourd                 :    2 cups, peeled and  grated
• Sour Curd                      :    1 cup, beaten
• Green Chillies              :     2-3, per taste
• Ginger                             :    1 ½ inch
• Sesame Seeds               :    2 tsp (optional)
• Eno  Fruit Salt              :    1 tsp (Eno 1 packet)
• Turmeric Powder       :    1 tsp
• Salt to taste

Tempering

• White Sesame seeds   :   1 tsp
• Mustard Seeds              :   1 tsp
• Curry Leaves                 :   2 sprigs
• Asafoetida                      :  a pinch o
• Oil                                       :   1 tbsp

Method:

1. Soak the rice and dal together for 4-5 hours or overnight. Drain the water off, add the chillies and ginger to the rice. Grind to an idli batter consistency adding the sour curd.
2. Add the grated bottle gourd, salt, turmeric powder, sesame seeds and let it sit in the fridge overnight or until required.
3. Once the batter is fermented, heat a thick, flat bottomed kadai that is not very deep (I used a non stick pan with lid). Heat oil and add the mustard seeds, sesame seeds, asafoetida and curry leaves.
4. Add eno fruit salt to the batter ( I used only half the batter, since my pan was small), mix well and pour the batter in the pan. Cover and cook for 8-10 minutes.
5. Once the bottom is cooked (thick brown layer) and the top is kind of set, flip over using a wooden spoon or even take a plate, if required. This is a step that needs attention, else you will end up serving your handvo on the floor!
6. Once you have flipped it over. cover and cook for another 8-10 minutes or until its cooked.
7. Serve with coriander chutney, ketch up or curd.
8. I made some dosas too, with the rest of the batter (morning emergency!). They tasted good with chutney and sambar. This tastes very similar to our Adai Dosa.

Linked to:

• Blog Hop Wednesdays
• Let’s Cook : Rice
• Veggie/Fruit a Month, for this month’s veggie Bottle Gourd
• New You!

I have posted some Black and White photos with the theme Street Vendors here. Please check them out, if you are interested.

Veg Rice

I remember the first time I packed my son’s lunch box. I had packed rice with sambar, a vegetable side dish and a little bit of curd rice. A junior version of what I pack for my hubby’s lunch every(single)day.

In the evening, the lunch box came back exactly as I had packed in the morning. Even the spoon was spotlessly clean – he hadn’t even eaten a single mouthful!

‘I don’t like the smell’ he declared. Hmph..

In the next few days I found out that given a choice, he would happily go to school without taking any lunch or snacks. School was all about friends and playing, not about food, was his mantra.

Finally, a deal was made. Our breakfast now gets packed as his lunch. So Tiffin items like idly, dosa and chapati are tolerated with grace in his lunch box now. But when it comes to rice, its a war!

‘No rice, its smelly and it keeps falling down’, argues the kid. (Hmph…..! It was a ‘Hmph… time’ for about a month before he started finishing his lunch)

So finally, the recipe here is the only way rice is allowed in his lunch box. A dry mix of rice and vegetables (I skip tomatoes), packed with his favorite dip – tomato ketchup!

Now we have a happy mommy and a happy kid, like they show in the ads!

Ingredients:

• Rice                                   :             1/2 cup, cooked
• Onion                                :             1 small, chopped
• Carrot                               :             1 small, chopped or grated
• Sweet corn/peas          :             a handful
• Capsicum/Cabbage     :             1-2 handfuls, chopped
• Oil                                       :            1 tsp
• Salt and Pepper

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a pan, add the onions and carrots and saute till it changes color. Add the cabbage, capsicum and cook for another 3 minutes till its soft. Add frozen sweet corn and frozen peas. Saute till everything is cooked properly.
2. Add salt and pepper, mix the rice in and take off the heat.
3. Pack in a lunch box, serve with tomato ketch up.

Linked to:

• Blogging Marathon, Lunch Box theme