Jamming with mango

After relishing and taxing your tummy with mangoes through the season, most definitely you would want to try out other dishes using mangoes. Lovely it will be if we can make some mango-based dishes that can be preserved for at least some time. Among the many types of tasty mango dishes, one easy to do & preserve dish is mango jam. 

Ingredients:

• 1-2 ripe mangoes (you can pick any variety but ensure they are not very tangy)
• 1-2 cups of sugar
• 1 cup of water

Method:

1. Boil the mangoes until they become real soft (can boil the whole mango or the pieces)
2. Cool and peel the skin. Strain any excess water
3. Mash the pulp and keep it aside
4. In a pan, add the water and the sugar. Over a low flame, allow the sugar to dissolve by constant stirring. Then bring it to boil over medium flame until the sugar syrup gets formed as thin threads. 
5. When this consistency is reached, add the mashed mango pulp and boil it till it thcikens into a semi-solid state
6. Allow it to cool and store it in an air tight container. Preferably refrigerate it.

Pan Pizzzzzaaa @ Home

Pizza, though not my most-desired food, I don't mind it once a while; especially with my all-time-favorite Jalapeno topping. But I've my close ones who love to have pizza any time and this has been a long-pending request from my little princess Aman:) So, having decided to make some pizza at home, I wanted to make it from the scratch instead of using the readily available pizza bases. While browsing, I accidentally got the recipe to make pizza using a non-stick tava instead of an OTG / Microwave.

Thanks to the lady who shared this recipe, it surely worked out to be an easy-to-make method and with very minimal and easily available ingredients. Along with one of my partners in crime, @ Sangeeta, ventured into making these yummy pizzas and have succeeded twice so far...It's been  vanishing into people's tummy :)

Ingredients:

Base:
All purpose flour (maida): 2 medium-sized serving spoons 
Yeast (dry / instant): 1-1.5 tspn [Note: If its dry yeast, soak it in warm water with sugar; allow it for 5 mts & then use it]
Salt : as per taste

Oil : 2-3 tspn (we used refined oil but recommended by many is olive)

Topping: (that we used)

Capsicum - 1 medium sized : Green
Baby corn - 1 small
Mozirela cheese - Grated
Amul cheese - Grated or sliced
Mixed herbs - for flavor
Olive - as many numbers as you like
Onion - 1 small sized
Tomato - 1 small sized
Panneer (Cottage cheese) - grated

Sauce:
Onion : 1 big or 2 medium sized; cut into small pieces (would suffice for 2 small pizzas)
Tomato: 2-4 medium sized; 2 cut into pieces & 2 ground as tomato pure
Garlic  : 2-4 pods; cut into small pieces
Salt: to taste
Sugar: 1/2 tspn (depending on the sweetness of the tomato)

Method
Steps to prepare the base:

1. Mix the flour with yeast, salt, sugar, oil and make a dough. Use warm water to make the dough as smooth as for rotis
2. Apply a bit oil on the dough and cover it with a cloth
3. Allow it to soak for 1 hour

Steps to prepare the sauce:

1. Cut onion, tomatoes (half the number), and garlic into tiny pieces
2. Pure the remaining tomatoes
3. In a pan, add a spoon of oil (refined), followed by garlic, onion, salt and saute it till they become golden brown
4. To this mix, add the sliced tomatoes and saute it for a minute. Then add the pure, followed by sugar
5. Stir till the water is absorbed and the sauce consistency is obtained
6. Remove from fire & allow it to cool

 Steps to prepare the topping:

1. Cut the capsicum, baby corn, onion, tomato into small pieces
2. Saute capsicum, baby corn, and onion separately for a minute or two (to ensure they are slightly cooked before adding to the pizza; don't add any salt to this)

  Steps to prepare the pizzas:

1. Keep a non-stick pan, close it with a lid and heat it up for a minute or two. It's similar to pre-heating the OTG or microwave but should be medium hot. 
2. Meanwhile, portion the dough into sizes that you would like for making a small or medium pizza
3. Spread it and make a base similar to rotis but should be a little thicker
4. Place this in the pre-heated pan, close it and allow one side to cook till its golden brown
5. Reverse the pizza and slow the fire
6. Now, on the top of the cooked side, first apply the sauce evenly. On top of it, you can do the dressing in the desired manner - we applied cheese, then each vegetable, cottage cheese, then topped it with more amul cheese.
7. Close the pan and allow the cheese to melt. 
8. After a minute, when the bottom-side of the pizza is brownish, and the cheese has begun to melt, you can remove it from fire
9. Allow it to cool and then slice it
10. Spray some oregano, mixed herbs, and chillie flakes

Yummy home-made pizzas are now ready for your tummy! Can be relished without / with any sauces / chutneys that you prefer.

 

1 hour of soaking time for the base flour is the maximum time. In the next 10-15 mts, you can start having your hot-pan-pizzas. Try it out!

Chivda : A quick evening snack

At the onset of kids' vacations or even during daily tea time, we feel the need for some interesting snacks. While the market these days are flooded with varieties of snacks, at times you might feel the need or like to have something home-made. Ofcourse, none so complex to prepare but something that you can put together in a few minutes.

One such irresistible snack is the famous 'Chivda'. It has variations to it and can be made based on your creativity. This is a healthy and interesting snack which might attract the kids as well.

Here am sharing a very simple 'chivda' made out of puffed rice and flattened rice (poha).

 Ingredients:

  

1. Flattened Rice (white / red) : 2 cups
2. Puffed Rice (pori) : 2 cups
3. Peanuts / Ground nuts(raw or fried) : 1/4 - 1/2 cup (remove the skin)
4. Roasted Gram Dhal : 1/4 cup (or lesser as preferred)
5. Green Chillies : 2-4 slit vertically (as per your spice preference)
6. Curry leaves : 6-10 (as per your taste)
7. Dry Fruits: Add desired dry fruits in balance quantity
8. Turmeric powder : 2 pinch
9. Salt : Per Taste
10. Mustard seeds: Optional (just a tspn)
11. Oil : 2 tbspn (doesn't require much oil as per the quantity you are making)
12. Asafoetida: a pinch
13. Dried coconut : Thin slices - 5-10 numbers

Method:

Chivda is just a mix of all the above ingredients fried till crunchy/crispy and mixed together with salt.

1. In a kadai (cooking vessel), add oil. When the oil is little warm, add mustard seeds. 
2. As they crackle, add curry leaves, chillies, turmeric powder. Fry them till they become crispy. 
3. Add the roasted gram dhal and saute it for a few minutes
4. Add the flattened rice and fry them till they become crispy. 
5. Add the puffed rice and saute for a minute
6. Finally, add the fried ground nuts [If raw ground nuts, then fry them first with some salt. If you are using the readily fried/salted peanuts then you can use them as is (ensure they are crunchy). Remove the skin once cooled. Then, add it to the other fried ingredients in the kadai]
7. Fry the coconut pieces and add them to the kadai
8. Add the dry fruits you like (I added only dried grapes)
9. Remove from fire and sprinkle salt. Mix well
10. Remove it to a broader plate or bowl and allow it to cool for sometime
11. Place it in a air-tight container

Note:

1. You can make chivda out of Oats / Sabudhana
2. Use Red Chillies as an alternative for Green chillies
3. Next time, I plan to sprinkle some Chaat masala as well :)
4. Ensure its cooled completely before you store else it might become soggy

Yummy and crunchy tea-time snack is now ready. Try & share your feedback and more suggestions. Happy snacking :)

Anaheim Pepper / Italian Pepper Pickle

Anaheim / Italian pepper, is popularly known as "Bajji milagai" down south. As the name indicates, this is most used to make stuffed green chilli bajji. For want of variety, I attempted at making a pickle of these amazing looking chillis. Wow, my experiment clicked. So, here it is, my recipe for chilli pickle.

Ingredients:

• Italian Pepper / bajji milagai   : 250 gms / ~ 25 numbers

• Tamarind   / Imli / Puli           : Small Lemon size soaked in water

• Coriander / Dhaniya powder    : 1 tspn

• Turmeric Powder                    : 1/2 tspn

• Red Chillie powder                  : 2 tspn

• Jaggery / Gud / Vellam           : 1 tspn

• Salt                                       : Per taste

• Mustard / Rai / Kadugu          : 1 tspn powdered (Dry fry it and powder)

• Feenugreek / Methi /Vendhayam: 1.5 tspn powdered (Dry fry it and powder)

• Gingely Oil / Nallenai / til oil  : 2-4 serving spoon (small sized) 

Procedure:

1. Wash, dry and slit the chillis, remove the seeds and cut into small pieces 
2. In a kadai (pan), add enough oil. As soon as it warms, add the turmeric powder, coriander powder, and chilli powder 
3. Immediately, add the diced chilli. Just fry it for a few seconds. Keep checking if the oil level is enough to cook the pickle. The chillis will start shrinking as they get cooked
4. At this point, add the tamarind juice (just enough to add a tangy taste and balance the chilli's spice)
5. To this mix, add salt
6. Keep stirring from time to time. Cook it till the chilli shrinks and starts leaving out oil
7. Before removing from fire, add the jaggery powder and stir it a few seconds 
8. Remove from fire, and add the Mustard and Feenugreek powder
9. Cool it and store it 
10. Server it with rice, idli, dosas, or any other snacks / breakfast menus including Upmas / Pohas etc

Tips: 

• The powders will lose its raw smell easily if added to the warm oil; also, the chilli powder in the warm oil will give a good red color.

• Adding jaggery powder will balance the tangy and spicy tastes in the pickle.

• Use of oil is your choice. If limited oil is used, then its best to refrigerate it. 

• If refrigerated and used with proper care (away from water etc), this can be stored for weeks

Cabbage and Potato Gravy

Years ago, at NIIT, one of my students had invited me for lunch. She was treating me to some north-indian style dishes. Of those, the taste and preparation of this dish is still afresh in my mind and taste budz...

This can be prepared either as a dry sabji or curry depending on your needs and taste.

Ingredients:

Vegetables:

Cabbage (Patha ghobi / Mutakose) : 1 cup - chopped into thin slices
Potato :  2-4 medium sized, peeled, and cut into cubes
Onion:    2 medium sized, cut into thin slices
Tomato:  2 medium sized, cut into thin slices
Garlic:     5-6 pods (per your taste)
Ginger:    A piece finely chopped
Green Chille: 3-4 slit at the center
Curry Leaves : 3-4
Coriander Leaves: Chopped for garnishing



Spices and others:
Jeera: 2 tspn
Refined Oil  : 3-4 tbspn (as per your usage)
Turmeric Powder: 1 tspn
Dhaniya Powder (Coriander): 3-4 tspn (2 tbspn)
Red Chillie Powder : 2-2.5 tspn (1-1.5 tbspn - as per the spice levels; balance it with the green chilies used)
Mango Powder (Aamchur): 1 tspn
Salt : to taste
Asafoetida - a pinch

Method:

1. In a pan (kadai), add oil and as it becomes warm, add jeera.
2. Allow the jeera to splutter, and add chillies, ginger, and garlic
3. Fry them till the garlic turns golden brown
4. Then add onion and fry till it turns golden brown (Tip: You can add a pinch of salt to quicken the process)
5. To this mix, add tomatoes and cook them for a mt or two
6. Now add the spices in the order of : turmeric powder, coriander powder, red chillie powder, and mango powder
7. Mix them well and leave for 1 mt (if rqd, you can add a few drops of oil when adding chillie powder)
8. To this mix, add hing and salt
9. At this point, add the curry leaves, chopped cabbage (I added a few pieces of chopped capsicum) and allow it to cook for 2 mts by sprinkling some water
10. Allow it for 2 mts, and then add the fried and sauteed potatoes (Refer to 'Preparation of potato' section below).
11. Add enough water to create the gravy consistency (or you can make it as a dry sabji by just sprinkling water to cook)
12. Add the coriander leaves before removing from fire.

      Preparation of potato

1. In parallel to Steps 3 to 6, in another tava, add oil to fry the diced potatoes
2. When the oil turns a bit warm, add the diced potatoes and fry them till golden brown
3. Saute them with a bit of salt and pepper or alternatively chaat masala
4. Keep them ready to add to the gravy

You can serve this as a side dish for Rotis, Paranthas, Dosas, Aapam, or even bread. When made as a curry, you can also have it with rice. 

Variations:

1) Instead of frying the potatoes, you can also boil, peel and cut them into dices

2) You can make similar preparations with Brinjal and Potatoes