Mango Pachadi / Maanga Pachadi

Mango pachadi is my fav, esp with curd rice....the combination is so so tasty. This is the method amma follows, so the recipe is from her.The tanginess in the mangoes, sweetness from the jaggery, the spiceness from the chillies...all blended together...yummmm!!

Maanga Pachadi Recipe:

Serves 3

Ingredients:

• Raw mango - 1 medium sized
• Jaggery - 1/2 cup
• Salt - as required
• Rice flour - 1 tbsp
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

To Temper:

• Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
• Urad dal - 1 tsp
• Green chilliies - 2 slitted into half
• Curry leaves - few
• Hing(perungayam) - a pinch
• Oil - 2 tsp

Method:

1. Wash the mangoes and chop them into small cubes roughly, keep aside.
2. In a pressure cooker add the mangoes and water till mangoes immersing level and pressure cook mango with salt and turmeric powder until soft.
3. By now the mango must have turned mushy, add powdered jaggery mix well in low flame. Then add 1/4 cup water and allow it to boil till it becomes jam consistency.Add required salt and 1 tbsp of rice flour to make it thick.
4. Meanwhile in a pan heat oil, add mustard seeds, urad dal allow it to splutter. Add greenchillies and curry leaves, saute for a minute. Add hing, give a quick stir.
5. Then add the tempered items to the mango mixture. Give a quick stir and switch off.

My Notes:

• Adding rice flour will thicken the mixture. So adjust the quantity of rice flour accordingly.
• We add the mango pieces as such in the pachadi. You can peel the skin and slice the pieces too and make it totally like a jam
• This will surely keep well for 2 days when refrigerated.
• Do not add more rice flour , it will change the taste of the pachadi.

This is more like jam so luv it with bread and chapathis too. But the ultimate combination is with curd rice, try once and see and am sure you will thank me for it :)

You can skip rice flour if your pachadi is thick enough. I have seen few adding coconut paste too, it will sure give a rich taste but the shell life is less.

Choose a mango that is slightly ripe, which is apt for this pachadi. The color of the pachadi totally depends on the amount of turmeric powder and the jaggery variety.

Maanga Thokku / Raw Mango Pickle

After 6 months of unplanned break, I am joining back work tomorrow. I have the same feeling of a kid going to school reopening for the first day. New people, environment, duties am kind of excited at the same time tensed too. I have enjoyed this 6months completely and have done all those things which I've loved to do. Especially for sharmis passions I have stocked up with drafts so guess that will keep this space occupied for the months to come:)

Since the mango season has started, I am experimenting on them...Will you believe this space has no mango recipes so far?! So more mango recipes to come......Maanga thooku is hubys fav as he says for thokku homemade tastes best...Now to the maanga thokku recipe:

Ingredients:

• Raw Mango - 2
• Chilli powder - 2 tsp
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
• Fenugreek seeds (Venthayam) - 1/4 tsp
• Powdered Jaggery -1/2 tsp (optional)
• Salt - to taste
• Oil - 1 tbsp

To temper:

• Oil - 2 tbsp
• Mustard seeds - 1tsp
• Curry leaves - 6
• Hing- a generous pinch

Method:

1. Peel of the skin of mangoes and grate them finely and keep aside.
2. Dry roast fenugreek, powder it and keep aside.
3. First heat oil in a pan and add grated mango and saute until the moisture leaves completely It may take 7-10mins. Then add chilli powder, turmeric powder, salt and mix well.
4. Keep in low flame and fry for 5-7mins. Add fenugreek powder and powdered jaggery and mix well.
5. Meanwhile in another kadai heat oil and temper the items listed one by one mustard seeds, hing followed by curry leaves and then transfer this tempered items to the mango thokku in the pan and mix well.
6. Fry for 2mins, by now oil will start oozing out at this stage, switch off.
7. Cool down completely and then transfer to airtight container. Keep refrigerated and use clean spoon everytime.

My Notes:

• You can add the tempering items in the beginning itself and then add raw mango to it.
• Sauting and frying well in low flame is very important for the mango thokku to keep well for long else it will get spoiled soon.
• Adding jaggery is purely optional, you can skip that if you dont like ur thokku to be sweet.

Being mango season you can make this and store this for a month(refrigerated). This tastes yummy with curd rice or even chapathis. It has the tangy flavour from the raw mango and the sweetness from jaggery apt to lick as such too :)

If you feel grating difficult, you can cut the raw mango into tiny cut pieces and use the same recipe for thokku.

Raw mango with salt and chilli powder is my favourite and brings back school childhood memories. Add required salt and chilli powder to eat the raw mangoes as such yum!!

Raw maangoes in sambar or any curry gives a very nice flavour to the curry with the tangy taste. Maanga pachadi is my fav too, am waiting to make it next time to post it here....

Poondu Thokku (Garlic Pickle)

This pickle/thokku with tangy taste of tamarind is the best combination for curd rice. It is easy to make, you can add in onions too with this thokku.

Ingredients:

• Garlic - 1/2 cup
• Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
• Red Chillies - 1
• Tamarind - 1 small sized ball
• Powdered Jaggery - 1.5 tsp
• Oil - 1 tbsp

Method:

1. Peel the garlic skin and grind it with red chillies to a coarse paste and keep aside. Dont make it to a fine paste, the bits of garlic in the pickle tastes best.



2. Add tamarind to 1/4 cup water and extract thick pulp from it and keep aside



3. Heat oil, add mustard seeds allow it to crackle then add the garlic paste and saute till raw smell leaves and it starts turning light brown.



4. Now add tamarind pulp, powdered jaggery and mix well. Keep sauting till the mixture turns brown color as in the pic. Switch off and store in a airtight container.

I like this thooku with almost anything idli, dosa, roti or rice. Sometimes I have this as such too :)

Homemade Creamy Peanut Butter

The first time I tasted peanut butter was at my friends place and I totally disliked the taste. Then once during one chat session with my cousin sis, she mentioned about the taste and health benefits of peanut butter, so thought I should give a try once again and bought a small pack of peanut butter. It comes in 2 varieties crunchy(bits of peanuts here and there) and creamy(no bits very creamy). To my surprise my lil one luved it, whenever she sees the container even after it got finished she would identify and ask for it. So this urged me to try peanut butter at home. This can be done in a jiffy if roasted peanuts are ready. It was so creamy and tasty sure better than the store bought ones as it was minus added preservatives and loaded flavors.

The texture totally depends on your taste, as I made this specifically for my lil one I made it as a creamy version. The crunchy version tastes too gud too.So no more store bought peanut butter :)

Ingredients:

• Peanuts(unsalted) - 1 cup
• Sugar - 1 tsp
• Honey - 2 tsp
• Oil - 1 tbsp
• Salt - a pinch

Method:

1. Dry roast the peanuts in a tawa till the skin tends to be crispy and nice aroma comes.



2. Cool it and then peel of the skin. I usually take a handful of peanuts, rub it with both the hands and blow off the skin...repeat the process for the 1 cup, this way its easy to peel off the skin.



3. Now add the peanuts, honey, sugar, salt and oil in a mixie/food processor and grind them for few minutes till they turn into a paste like consistency.



4. Transfer to a clean container, use clean spoon everytime. Enjoy as a spread for bread or eat it as such :)

Facts and health benefits about Peanut Butter: [Source : Google]

• One of the health benefits of peanut butter is the amount of fiber found in each serving.



• In addition to being every kid's (and many grownup kid's) favorite sandwich filling, peanuts pack a serious nutritional punch and offer a variety of health benefits.



• Peanut butter contains fairly high quantities of dietary fiber, amounting to about 8%, which again helps in regulating both blood cholesterol and blood sugar levels.



• While the nutritional content of various brands will differ slightly, the bottom line is that there are a number of benefits of peanut butter. In order to get the most benefit, you may want to consider making your own peanut butter at home. This will provide a boost in the nutritional value you derive from the product.



• Many reasons some avoid peanut butter is due to it being high in calories with a fat content of many calories and several grams of fat per two tablespoon serving. You will be happy to know that the majority of the fat in peanut butter is monounsaturated a type of fat that lowers the risk of heart disease.



• One of the benefits of peanut butter that many people are unaware of is the presence of resveratrol; this agent has anti-microbial properties that help the body to effectively deal with bacteria and various types of fungi.

My Notes :

• The consistency and texture totally depends on our taste. You can make it even more thick by reducing oil to 1/2 tbsp.



• Once it is grinded to a paste just use the whip option if u are using mixie and whip it 2-3 times to bring everything together easily.



• Dont add more oil, once u start grinding the peanuts will leave oil too.



• For the crunchy version just grind it such that its a paste with bits of peanuts, ie in a coarse form.

Isnt it easy?! Even ur lil ones will be happy to help u in making this.....It is indeed a childs play so give them a chance!

Hummus - A healthy bread spread!

Hummus is a healthy bread spread alternate to butter, With channa it tastes gud too....This time wheat bread was not available so had to go with white...whatever hummus was quick and with a additional tag of healthy I just luved it.

Ingredients:

• Chickpeas/Channa - 1/2 cup
• Garlic - 1 tsp minced
• Tahini - 4 tbsp [The recipe calls for tahini which I found was sesame paste so I used grinded sesame seeds]
• Lemon juice - 1/2 tbsp
• Cumin seeds/ jeera - 1/2 tsp
• Salt - to taste
• Oil - 1 tbsp

Method:

1. Wash and soak channa in water for minimum 8 hours. Then pressure cook channa until soft with sufficient water.



2. Drain the water and keep aside. Blend boiled channa in mixie until smooth, adding little water .



3. Now add remaining list of ingredients (except oil) and continue to blend until you get a smooth, creamy paste that is of spreading consistency.



4. Dont forget to mix the paste with oil before serving!

If you feel its too thick then add little of the strained water.I felt mine was too thick while spreading so added water later. I am sure this is a better alternative to butter, the creamy texture with garlic sesame flavour was tasty.

Garlic Yogurt Sauce (Beluli Thambli)

Wanted to clear some of bookmarked recipes and this came to me at first sight. I had bookmarked SJ's garlic yogurt sauce long back and had totally forgotten abt it. I tried and it was a nice combo even for plain rice - a mix of chutney and raita it is...totally luved the taste!

Ingredients:

Curd/yogurt - 1 cup

Grated coconut - 2 tbsp

Garlic cloves -2

Jeera - 1 tsp

Red Chillies - 1

Salt to taste

Oil - 2 tsp

Method:

1.Heat oil in a tawa. Add garlic and saute till it turns light brown.

2.Now add the red chillies and jeera saute it for 3mins.Roast coconut for 2mins and allow it to cool.

3.Blend the above with 1/2 cup of yogurt to a fine paste. Add the remaining yogurt to the paste, salt to taste. Mix well.

4.Serve with hot rice. This will go well even with rotis and pulav's!

But I cudnt resist myself so drank half of it myself before I served them with rice :)

Corn in Onion Sauce

Either its sweet corn or normal corn, amma likes it soo much and that was the main reason for me to try Nags recipe soo soon. Another reason being coincidentally 2 corn cobs were lying on the table that caught my sight soon after reading her recipe.

It was 4PM and here goes the conversation between amma & me:

Amma - [Just got up from a small nap] You said u'l make something with corn and give me, you even showed me the pic yest?!

Me - Yes ofcourse!

Amma - So when are u planning to make it?

Me - Its already done!

Amma - What?! So why didnt you give me, I m waiting for it....

Me - Wait ma, I am waiting for the sun to shine bright meanwhile am arranging things for clicking the pics. I've to do it before mittu wakes up no?

Amma - Hayoo u'l do all gymnastics, jump here and there to click the pics and that will take another 30mins or even more...?

Me - Dont worry I'l finish it up fast for ur sake.

Amma - Hmm lets see.....

At 4:45PM : Me - Here you have the corn onion sauce , handing over the plate to her.

Amma - Worth the wait......supera iruku but the quantity is very less.

Me - **Beaming with pride and smile** Next time I'll make in a large quantity ok?

Amma - Okay :)

I've impressed amma with many dishes but am very happy to have cooked her most fav corn today & having got her appreciation for it!!

I have tried so many times to blur the background using the camera itself but it was not upto the mark, so end up in blurring using photoshop. Finally 2day the blur came out so well(hope so....) guess now I learnt the technique of blurring using camera itself though not intentional ;)

Now coming to the recipe:

Ingredients:

Corn cobs - 1

Onion - 1 medium sized

Ginger garlic paste - 2 tsp

Curry leaves - 3 to 4

Jaggery Syrup - 2 tsp or as per taste[Dissolve jaggery in water to form a thick syrup]

Turmeric powder - a pinch

Chilli powder - 2 tsp

Jeera - 1/2 tsp

Yogurt/Curd - 3 tbsp

Oil - 3tsp

Salt to taste

Method:

1.Boil the corn for 5 vessles in cooker - I did this as I didnt want to deep fry them. I usually feel very guilty to pour more oil for frying.......exception for vadais and few other items :)

2.Slice the corn into 1 inch pieces. I used normal corn, not sweet corn so it was a very tough time to cut them so I cut only 1 slice for pic sake others I shaved them into pieces like below:

3. Grind onions to a fine paste. Now add ginger garlic paste, turmeric, chilli powder, jeera, curry leaves and jaggery syrup to the onion paste. Mix well and keep aside.

4.Saute the corn in 1.5 tsp oil for 5mins and keep aside.

5.Now add the remaining oil and fry onion paste mixture till oil seperates, it may take some 10 mins.

6.Lower heat and add curd/yogurt. Simmer only for 2-3 mins to avoid curd from curdling. Add salt and remove from fire.

The hot and sweet juicy corns were soo tasty and different! Even we had it as such :)

I usually click so many pics when I make a dish but end up picking up only 1 or 2 to post it here. But this time I liked many of my clicks than usual but restricted myself & posted only 4 of them .... So that means I've finally started liking my clicks! :)

And I'm linking this to :