Mango Rice / Kairi Rice

We would always wait for the kairi's to arrive in the market in the summer season. My favorite memories are going to the kariwalla-bhiya who used to sit on his cycle outside my college serving masala kairis. He would slice up the kairis, add a dash of his secret spice powder the kairi pieces and serve them with papdis made from flour. Me and my friends would visit him every day after college to taste his chatpata kairis. There would be a lot of activity going on in my home when the kairi season would start. My mom would make a fresh batch of Chunda or sweet mango pickle, Manglorean mango pickle, Punjabi achaar to last for the year ahead. She would als make panna and also clean and preserve many raw mangoes in boiled and salted water. We would then use these preserved mangoes to make chutney's in the winter and rainy season. We get kairis all year round at our local indian store and I make this rice very often. It is a great main course and also a great low calorie tiffin recipe.

Ingredients
1 raw mango or kairi
1 cup rice
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/2 teaspoon chana dal or bengal gram
1/2 teaspoon urad dal
1 tablespoon oil
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
2 green chilies
2 tablespoon grated coconut (optional)
salt for taste

Method
Cook the rice and cool it down. Salt the rice and keep it aside. Skin the raw mango and grate it. Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds. Once they splutter add the dals and roast till they are light brown. Add turmeric powder and slit green chillies. Fry for a minute and add grated raw mango. Cook for 5-8 minutes till the mango is soft. Once the mango cools down mix the rice well with the mango. Season with grated coconut.

French Fries

As the winter starts to set here and it gets colder and colder day by day, I look back at wintery days of my childhood. We stayed in Bhopal for quite some time and the temperature would drop to around 3-4 degrees. The sun would set early- at around 4 or 5 pm in the noon. Cold wintery evenings would call for lot of hot, spicy and fried stuff. My mom would cook winter-special food like different bhajiyas (vegetable fritters fried with a coating of Bengal Gram flour), cutlets, omelets along with the regular traditional stuff like dosas and idlis. In these modern age, fried food means a lot of fat and extra calories! So I try to bake food rather than fry it. I make baked bhajiyas, tava-fried cutlets and french fries. Tava-frying takes only 2 tablespoon oil as compared to the cupfuls of oil needed for frying. I have never been a great fan of potato as it makes me feel sleepy and lazy. But my husband Atul loves every dish made of potato and hence I make these tava-fried- french fries very often during the weekends. Season the fries with garlic powder, pepper, salt and chili powder and you have a batch of restaurant quality french fries made right at home. I took the photo of this dish as we were both holding the plate as Atul said " It will take you 5 more minutes to click the photo" and did not let go of the plate!

Ingredients
2-3 potatoes
2 tablespoon oil
pepper
salt for taste

Method
Cut the potatoes into long stripes. Grease the tava with oil and heat it on low-medium heat. Put the potato stripes on the tava. When the are light brown on one side flip them over to the other side. Follow this step so that the stripes are light brown on all sides. Cook on low-medium heat and take care not to burn the fries. Remove from tava when cooked and lay on a kitchen paper to drain the extra oil (if any!). Sprinkle salt and pepper and serve with tomato ketchup and mustard.

Awards From Dear Blogger Friends

Supriya Nair of Cook In a Blog World has shared this award with a meme. Thanks Supriya. The following is my meme

The following is my meme:

1. Where is ur cell phone: purse


2. Ur hair: long


3. ur mother: Loving


4. Ur father: Cool


5. Ur fav food: Anything which is healthy (Though I am always tempted by sweets n fried savories)
   


6. Ur dream last night: Don't remember..will check out what's in store for today ;)
   


7. Ur fav drink: Kasaya (Konkani Tea)
   


8. Ur dream/goal: enjoy every moment of life
   


9. Wat room u r in: Living room
   


10. Ur hobby: Blogging/reading


11. Ur fear: Insects


12. Where do u want to be in 6 yrs: Enjoying with family
    


13. Where were u last night: Home


14. Where did u grow up: Mumbai/Bhopal/Pune/Bangalore


15. Last thing u did: Watch TV
    


16. Ur t.v: Off


17. Ur pets: None, but plan to have one I can afford to take responsibility.
    


18. Ur friends: Beautiful at heart
    


19. Ur life: Memorable
    


20. Ur mood: Always thinking
    


21. Missing some one: Mom


22. Vehicle: Accord
    


23. Something u r not wearing: frown


24. Ur fav store: Macy's


25. Ur fav colour: Mauve


26. When was the last time u laughed: Minutes ago
    


27. Last time u cried: this morning when I stepped out from home into the darn, freezing col weather outside.
    


28. Ur best friend: Husband
    


29. One place i go over and over: Beautiful memories
    


30. One person who emails me regularly: N
    


31. Fav place to eat: Yana's Pune
    

Bitter Gourd Sabzi / Karela Sabzi

When I came to US, I was longing for home cooked meals for a few days. Everything about this place was very new to me. One of my husband's cousin had invited us over for dinner and his wife had prepared this karela sabzi. I took the recipe from her and as both I and my husband love karela, this dish features at least once a week in our menu. It is unique dish as a mixture of hot- bitter-sweet and spicy flavor can be found in this one dish. It is not a very time consuming recipe and goes fabulously with dal-chawal or kadhi-chawal.

Ingredients
2-3 bitter gourds
oil
1/2 cup jaggery
1 teaspoon mustard
1 teaspoon white sesame or til
2 teaspoon poppy seeds or khus-khus
1 tablespoon raisins or kishmish
1 tablespoon broken cashew nuts
salt for taste
pinch of asafoetida
pinch of turmeric powder
3-4 fenugreek seeds
chili powder for taste

Method
Scrape the skin off the bitter gourd and cut it into thin round circles. Apply 1 teaspoon salt and keep aside for 20 minutes. Squeeze the juice from the bitter gourds. If you want a crispier version, deep-fry the bitter gourds in oil till brown. For a healthier version, oil a pan and saute the bitter gourds on a medium flame till brown on both sides.

In another pan, heat 2 tablespoon oil and add mustard seeds. When the seeds splutter, add asafoetida and fenugreek seeds. Add the cashew nuts and saute till brown. Add sesame seeds and fry till brown. Add poppy seed, raisins and saute for a moment and mix in jaggery. Add 1/4 cup water and turmeric powser and chili powder. Get the jaggery mixture to a boil. Add the bitter gourds and mix well. Serve hot with rice.

Preparation time:40 minutes
Serves: 2

Egg Omelet

Eggs make a great breakfast and snack item. I have fond memories of childhood when my mom would return from office at around 6 PM the evening and serve delicious egg omelets with bread as evening snacks. The tangy tomatoes, the crunchy onions in the egg omelet and the spicy Maggi tomato ketchup applied on the bread slices would make a delicious sandwich. Earlier my husband was not very fond of having eggs regularly for breakfast. Thanks to our visit to the beautiful Requa Inn and experiencing their wonderful breakfast egg preparations, scrambled eggs and omelets have become all time breakfast favorite at my home. Recently we even tried the brown organic eggs available in Costco and found them to be better than the regular white eggs.

Vani of Mysorean sent me the information about the Show me your Omelet event and I am sending this recipe for the event hosted by Divya.

Ingredients
3 large eggs
4 tablespoon chopped onion
3 tablespoon chopped tomato
other optional vegetables (sauteed mushrooms, peas, spinach, corn, beans)
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon chili powder or as desired
1 chopped green chili (optional)
4 tablespoons of chopped coriander leaves or cilantro or chopped parsley or chives (whatever is available on hand)
butter or oil
salt for taste

Method
Wash and break the eggs in a bowl. Beat it with a fork, spoon or a whisk for 3-4 minutes or till they are frothy. Add rest of the ingredients except the chives(if used) and the butter. Heat a pan on medium or low heat and coat it well with butter or oil. Spread half of the omelet mixture in the pan and let it cook for 2-3 minutes till it is light brown on the bottom. Flip the omelet and let it cook on the other side till light brown spots appear. Remove the omelet on to a plate and garnish with chives. Powdered parmesan cheese can also be used as a garnish. Serve hot with toasted bread, tomato ketchup and mustard.

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Serves: 2

Baked Handvo / Spicy Lentil Pancake / Indian Vegetable Loaf

The activity-filled long days of the summer season can make one very hungry during the early evenings. Instead of opting for the oily and spicy farsans (which everyone loves to eat !) Handvo can be a tasty snack . It can be also stored for a day or two in the refrigerator. So this has been a summer treat at my home during many good summer days. Also it is a great accomplice with Chai on cold rainy and winter days.

When I think about Handvo, I fondly remember my college friend R's mother who used to prepare this dish very often and give it to my friend in her tiffin. I loved Handvo as much as she relished my mom's dosas and idlis.My Handvo recipe includes a variety of lentils and a variety of seasonal vegetables can be added to this dish. Apart from the lentils I have also tried adding a handful of whole wheat while soaking the lentils and it has turned out very tasty. Because it is baked and not steamed it has a crispy and crunchy texture from outside and a soft flavorful texture on the inside. I am sending this recipe to the event "My Love affair with Legumes-Fifteenth Helping" hosted by Sia and Susan.

Ingredients
For soaking and fermentation:
1/2 cup urad dal or split and husked black gram
1/2 cup toor dal split pigeon pea
3/4 cup chana dal or split Bengal gram
1/2 cup moong dal or split and husked green gram
3 cups rice
1/2 cup ragi or black millet flour (optional)
1 teaspoon methi or fenugreek seeds
1 1/2 cup curd or 1 cup sour butter milk

Spices:
3 green chilies or as per taste
1 tablespoon chopped ginger
1/2 teaspoon haldi or turmeric powder
1/2 teaspoon red chili powder or as per taste

Vegetables:
2-3 cups of grated vegetables (mostly bottle gourd is used, but one can be as creative as possible ..I use which ever vegetables are on hand- cabbage, cucumber, carrot, zucchini, pumpkin, peas, spinach and fenugreek leaves. If you are using fenugreek leaves, then omit the fenugreek seeds)
1/4 cup grated or chopped coconut (optional)
1/2 bunch coriander leaves


salt for taste
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 tablespoon lemon juice

For seasoning:

pinch of asafoetida or heeng
2 tablespoon white til or white sesame seeds
1 tablespoon mustard seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
10-12 curry leaves or kadipatta
3 tablespoon oil

Method
Soak the dals and rice (and wheat if using it) and methi seeds for 6-8 hours. Grind it together into a coarse paste. The batter is much coarser than the regular dosa or idli batter. Add curd or buttermilk and 1 teaspoon salt and mix well. Keep the batter aside to ferment for 6-8 hours or overnight. The batter should be kept in a warmer place to ferment. In winters, I warm the oven to around 100 degrees and keep it overnight in the warm oven.

After fermentation, mix in the vegetables, coconut, chopped coriander leaves, sugar and salt for taste. Mix in all the spices and adjust the chili and salt as per taste. Heat oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds. When they start to splutter add the asafoetida, cumin seeds. Then add the sesame seeds and curry leaves. Add the seasoning to the batter and mix well. Add the lemon juice to the baking soda and stir immediately into the batter.

Grease a baking tray and pour the batter evenly into it. Bake the handvo for 50 min to 1 hour at 350 degrees. I like a crisper version, so I bake the handvo till it is all brown on the bottom. Serve hot with coriander-mint chutney.