Mahanandi

Baingan Chole with Chapatis

Hummus and baba ghanoush got together and baingan chole is born. In plain language, chickpeas and eggplant are cooked together with super fabulous results for a Punjabi style chole. Recipe is simple and almost same as chole preparation.

Recipe:
Soak, Cook and Puree:
– Soak 2 cups of chickpeas in water, overnight.
– At morning, pressure-cook chickpeas in enough water until the chickpeas are tender, but not mushy.
– Drain Water. Separate half cup of chickpeas and puree them into smooth paste. Keep the remaining aside.

Jumbo (Italian) Eggplant

Cut, Chop and Prepare Masala:
– Wash and cut big eggplant into bite sized cubes.
– Chop 1 onion and 2 tomatoes into small pieces.
– Make a smooth paste of 2 garlic, few springs of fresh cilantro and small piece of ginger.(GGC Paste)
– Prepare one tablespoon of cloves-cinnamon-cumin-coriander seed powder. (CCCC Powder)

Saute, Stir-in and Cook:
– Heat one teaspoon of peanut oil in a big pan. Do the popu or tadka.
– Add and saute onion, tomatoes, GGC paste, CCCC powder and eggplant cubes, in that order.
– Add the pureed chickpea paste and pressure-cooked chickpeas.
– Stir in 2 cups of water, one teaspoon of each – salt, red chilli powder, amchur powder and turmeric.
– Close the lid and cook on medium heat for about 20 to 30 minutes, stirring in-between.
– Serve warm with chapatis or with rice.

Lunch Scene at Singari’s Home

“Salsa is a combination of raw, cooked, or partially cooked ingredients that are blended but not cooked together,” says Mark Miller, author of “The Great Salsa Book.” The ideal salsa is balanced, he adds. “Salsa ingredients are like notes you can hear distinctly…. Nothing should dominate too much; accents are fine, but avoid extreme accents.”

Inspired by Cinco de Mayo festival celebrations last weekend, I’ve prepared a Mexican mango salsa following the traditional mango salsa recipe. But I’ve replaced the black beans with grilled fresh corn. Striking colors and exotic flavor blends of mango, corn, chillies make this salsa a dramatic dish to behold and to taste.

Recipe:

1 ripe mango – peeled and finely cubed
1 fresh corn – grilled and the kernels sliced
1 medium red onion or shallot – finely chopped (and washed in water)
2 to 4 green chillies – minced
Few sprigs of cilantro – finely chopped
1 lime – juice squeezed and
¼ teaspoon of salt or to taste

Toss them together and serve with tortilla (corn flour) chips.

Mango Salsa, Corn Chips and Cumin-Salt Flavored Lemon Soda
A Refreshing Snack for Stephanie’s Garden Party

Salsa quote: Source

Mango Juice – One of the Popular Readymade Drinks of India

Swami Kittaya playing hide and seek with us.

Atrios Kitti – Taking a break after ‘hard work’.

Checkout cute Kiri kung fu pose and all other cute kitties of food blogging world at Clare’s Eat Stuff.

Did you see Stephen Colbert on C-span’s televised Correspondents’ Dinner, last Sunday night? His comedy skit was breathtaking in its boldness. Charming, clear and ironically straightforward – his comic delivery was a sight to behold. Finally it took a pretend journalist to state the obvious – the little emperor has no clothes and of course that made the ‘real’ journalists and the guest of honor spitting mad. If you enjoy political satire or like Colbert style, don’t miss out his stellar performance and checkout this site for transcript and video link. One has to admire his chutzpah.

Coming back to cooking, here is a traditional recipe where plantain and moong beans are cooked together in water and seasoned with green chilli-coconut paste. Rural in origin and often served with sorghum roti, this favorite curry of mine is a hearty, flavorful and filling meal, also one of the ways that I cook plantains aka green bananas.

Presoaked Whole Moong Beans, Green Chilli-Coconut Paste and Plantain cubes

Recipe:

1 plantain (green banana), peeled and cubed
2 cups of presoaked whole moong beans (soaked in water overnight)
6-8 green chillies
1 tablespoon of finely sliced fresh coconut
¼ teaspoon of turmeric
½ to 1 teaspoon of salt
For popu
1 tsp of mustard seeds, cumin, few pieces of dried red chilli and curry leaves

Take the presoaked whole moong beans, about 2 cups in a big vessel. Add 4 cups of water, quarter teaspoon of salt and cook them covered on medium-high heat for about 15 minutes undisturbed. Presoaked moong beans cook easily and can be done without using the pressure-cooker. It tastes somuch better cooked in this old style. Meanwhile do the prep work. Peel and cut plantain and make a smooth paste of green chillies-coconut.

After 15 minutes of cooking, check the moong beans. They must be tender by now. Add plantain cubes, turmeric and also water if needed. Cover and cook them on medium heat again for another 10 minutes. Plantains cook fast unlike potatoes and by the end 10 to 15 minutes of cooking, plantain cubes will be tender and the moong beans will be falling apart. That’s what we want. At this stage, stir in green chilli-coconut paste and cook for another 5 minutes.

Just before turning off the heat, heat a teaspoon of peanut oil in small vessel, add and toast the popu or tadka ingredients. Add this to the curry and stir. Turn off the heat. Serve and enjoy the best tasting curry, the kind you’d find in a humble Indian home (never in a restaurant). Usually served with chapati, sorghum roti or with rice.

Moong Bean-Plantain Curry with Chapatis ~ Our Simple Lunch

Kitchen Notes:
Prepare the curry little bit on the watery side.
The gravy of this curry comes from watery, overcooked moong beans and the greenchilli-coconut paste.
I’ve also added one banana pepper to this curry.

Pancake ponganalu or Ebleskivers is one of the recipes that I prepared last weekend for JFI-Mango event. By the way, event hosting is a very time consuming thing one can do, I can tell you that. I have more respect for the bloggers who host this type of events month after month. They must really love doing this.

How did you do it Indira? Enquired few future hosts of JFI. The way I did it was gathering all entries in one place, arranging them in neat piles and then did the write-up. Adobe photoshop/picasa(free) helped a lot with image resizing. Instead of following the traditional roundup style filled with adjectives and superlatives, I chose a different, practical approach for my recap. Also in a proper Indian way, I returned the courtesy by thanking all my participants individually. If you ever plan to host or have already committed to host this kind of event, expect to dedicate one full day to do the roundup. Of course, it all depends on the number of responses the event generates; still it takes minimum one day. So, plan ahead my peeps. 🙂

Few weeks ago, when I posted ponganalu– a unique south Indian breakfast preparation, the post generated interesting comments with links to almost similar type of Danish breakfast preparation called danish pancakes or Ebleskivers. In Danish version, they mix the pancake flour with eggs and milk and prepare the rounds and serve them with fruit jam or sauce. I am a big fan of fluffy pancakes so thought to try this version; also I already have the well-seasoned special type of iron skillet that’s needed to prepare them.

Recipe is simple to follow. Mix pancake flour with milk and I went with mashed ripe banana instead of eggs. Prepare the Danish pancakes, ponganalu style and serve them with homemade or storebought type of mango sauce. Delicious! They were like fluffy round pillows; delicate crust outside and insides are like biting into a warm cloud. You want to float forever in these clouds. I loved and had them dunked in Nirav mango pulp/sauce whereas Vijay went with the classic, the maple syrup. Anyway you prefer they are worth a try.

Pancake Ponganalu (Ebleskivers, Danish Pancakes) With Mango Sauce

Recipe:
1 cup of pancake flour (I used Aunt Jemima brand mix)
Peeled and smoothly mashed, half banana
1 to 1½ cups of milk
Ponganala Skillet and
Mango Sauce
Take the flour, milk and mashed banana in a vessel, whisk them thoroughly without any lumps. Consistency of batter must be like condensed milk (store bought), little bit tighter than the batter for regular pancakes. Heat a ‘ponganala‘ skillet and follow the photo-steps outlined here in my previous post about “ponganalu‘. Serve them hot with mango sauce.

No other fruit is as delicious and magnificent as mango. Now is the mango season in India and I thought mango would be the right ingredient to start the JFI. I was little bit nervous and was not sure how the response is going to be, since this is the first time I am hosting an event in my blog. The responses I received showed how dear this fruit is to all of us. Mango is not just a delicious fruit; most of us also have very fond memories related with it. That might be the mango tree in the back yard, or might be one of those summer vacations at grand parents’ house where we enjoyed the fruits, or might be the avakaaya preparation that we did with mother… so many precious mango memories!

I would like to thank all the participants, fellow bloggers and readers for your exhilarating enthusiasm, participation and interest. I am humbled to receive such a vivid variety of recipes for this event. Each one of these entries is excellent and I enjoyed them all and am sure you’d do too.

Following are the entries that I received for the JFI ~ Mango event.

Recipes with Green, Unripe Mango

Ambe Dal By Nupur of One Hot Stove Grated Mango, Chana Dal, Coconut, Cilantro and Tadka

Mango-Spinach Dal By Mythili of Vindu Mango, Spinach, Toor dal, Chilli Powder and Tadka

Mamidikaaya Chutney By Lakshmi of Flavors of Indian Rasoi Unripe Mango, Ginger, Chilli Powder

Mango Tokku By Menu Today Grated Mango, Gingelly Oil, Jaggery

Raw Mango Raita By Shilpi of Memoirs From My Kitchen Unripe Mango, Yogurt and Tadka

Vadu Maanga Pickle By Srikala of Mango Mirattals Whole Tender Mangoes, Mustard and Red Chillies

Uddamethi By Ashwini of Food For Thought Unripe Mangoes, Black Gram, Fenugreek

Mango Thokku (Grated Mango Pickle) By Karthi Kannan of Kitchenmate Grated Mango, Gingely Oil, Chilli Powder

Mamidikaya Pachi Pulusu By Love2Cook of Cooking Medley Unripe Mango, Onion and cilantro

Methamba – Sweet & Savoury Mango Relish By Vaishali of Happy Burp Mango Cubes, Jaggery, Chilli Powder

Mamidikaya Putnalu Pachadi By Santhi of Me and My Kitchen Mango, Dalia, Red Chillies and Jaggery

Aamer Chatni (Green Mango Chutney) By Sury of Lima Beans and Delhi Chaat Mango, Sugar, Ginger and Panch Phoron

Vendhaya Manga By Menu Today Unripe Mango Pieces, Red Chilli Powder, Hing

Green Mango in Jaggery Syrup By Anthony of Anthony’s Kitchen Green Mango Pieces, Jaggery

Raw Mango – Methi Chutney By Padma of Vantalu Unripe Mango, Methi seeds, red chilli powder

Mango Pickle (Aavakaaya) By Tanuja of Kodalis Kitchen Unripe Mango, Fenugreek, Mustard and Red chilli powder

Mango Curry By Bilbo of Smorgasbord Unripe Mango, Green Chillies and Tadka

Cut Mango Pickle By Smitha of Andhra Food Network Unripe Mango, Tamarind and Tadka

Recipes with Ripe Mango

Mango Sago By Rokh of Tham Jiak Mango, Sago Pearls and Milk

Mango, Coconut and Ricotta Tartlets By Haalo of Cook (Almost) Anything Atleast Once Mango cubes and Puff Pastry

Mango Gazpacho By Mika of The Green Jackfruit Mango, Orange Juice, Evoo and Peppers

Mango-Pineapple Salsa by Barbara of Tigers and Strawberries Mango, Pineapple, Shallot and Bell Pepper

Mango Cake By Revathi of En Ulagam Mango, All Purpose Flour, Egg Whites and Raisins

Mini Mango Cheesecake By Saffron of Saffron Hut Mango, Cheesecake Mix, Walnuts and Milk

Maampazha Pulisseri By RP of My Workshop Mango, Yogurt, Coconut and Tadka

Mango-Ginger Chutney Rosie –What’s The Recipe Today Jim? Mango, Onion, Ginger and Garlic

Simple Mango Mousse By Ilva of Lucullian Delights Mango, Fresh Cream and Gelatin

Johnny Cake with Mango-Rhubarb Sauce By Linda of Out Of The Garden Mango, Rhubarb Stalks and Cornmeal

Mango Chaat By Gini of Salt and Pepper Mango, Grapes, Peanuts and Chaat Masala

Mamuang Kao By Susan of Porcini Chronicles Mango, Thai rice, Coconut milk, Sugar

Mambazha Kutan with Soy By Vidya of Today’s Menu Mango, Coconut, Soy, Buttermilk and Spices

Mango, Corn, Jicama Salad By Gabriella of Reluctant Housewife Mango, Corn, Jicama and Vinaigrette

Mango Pancakes By Nandita of Saffron Trail Fresh Grated Mango, All purpose flour, ginger, all spice and buttermilk

Mango Cupcakes By Marie-Laure of Ô Délices Mango, Millet, Milk and Coconut

Mango Tofu Curry By Mandira of Ahaar Ripe Mango, Tofu and Veggies

Recipes with Mango Puree/Pulp

Rice Pudding with Mango By Santhi of Me and My Kitchen Mango, Basmati Rice, Milk and Cardamom

Mango Creme Brulee By Yum of Record of What I’m Eating Mango, Heavy Cream, Egg Yolks and Chilli Powder

Mango Mousse By Archana of Spicyana Mangoes, condensed milk, Eggs and Whipped Cream

Spiral Mango Pastries By Gattina of Gattina Mango Puree, Macadamia Nut and Ricotta Cheese

Mango & Glutinious Rice Kuih By Puspha of Pusiva’s Culinary Studio Mango, Glutinious Rice, Coconut Milk

Mango Payasam By Ramya of Cooking Within My Grasp Mango, Milk, Sugar

Aam Ki Lassi (Mango Lassi) By Priya of Sugar and Spice Mango, Yogurt, Sugar and Orange Juice

Mango Crème Brulee By RP of My Workshop Mango Puree, Egg Yolks, Heavy Cream

Mango Pie By Vee of Past, Present and Me Mangoes, Creamcheese, Gelatin

Mango – Cracked Wheat Cake By Arjuna of Krishna&Arjuna’s World Mango Pulp, Cracked Wheat, Butter

Mango Pudding with Coconut Sago By Sam of Sweet Pleasure Mango Puree, Milk, Heavy Cream, Gelatin, Coconut Milk, Tapioca Pearls

Mango Pudding By Nandita of Saffron Trail Mango Puree, Evaporated Milk, Sugar and Gelatin

Kesar Mango Cheesecake By Rainee of la_pgal Mango Pulp, Tofu, Green Tea Fresh Mango and Cherry Topping

Sweet Mango Bobbatlu By Vineela of Vineela’s Cuisine Mango Pulp, Jaggery, All Purpose Flour and Ghee

Mango Payasam By Sailaja of Sailu’s Food Mango, Milk, Rice and Cardamom

Mango Shrikhand (Aamras) By Manasa of Sanjose, CA Mango Pulp, Yogurt, Sourcream and Sugar

Recipes with Dried Mango

Mango-Almond Oatmeal Cookies By Baking Fairy Dried Mango, Oatmeal, Almond

Some of My Recipes with Mango

Mango Pulihora (Mango Rice) By Indira of Mahanandi Grated Unripe Mango, Rice and Seasoning

Mango Dal By Indira of Mahanandi Unripe Mango, Toordal, Chilli Powder and Tadka

Mango Halwa By Indira of Mahanandi Mango Cubes, Semolina, Sugar and Cardamom

Fruit Tart with Mangoes By Indira of Mahanandi Fresh Mangoes, Strawberries, Cherries, Tartshell and Walnuts

Yogurt Rice with Mangoes By Indira of Mahanandi Mango cubes, Rice, Milk and Yogurt Culture

Homemade Mango Jam by Indira of Mahanandi Mango, Sugar and Lemon Juice

Mango Memoirs – Short Essays

‘‘Every summer in Madras was filled with the sumptuous, succulent, luscious king of fruits, the intricate and sweet mango,’’ Maitri remembers. ‘‘How I love thee… How many white T-shirts I have stained with your inimitable juice,’’ she asks in mock humour.”
– Mango Fool by Tilotamma of “Apropos of Nothing“.

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‘‘On the courtyard of my mother’s house in a quiet sunny seaside town of Cherthala (Kerala), stood a large, shady mango tree, on which, as kids, we used to have swings for Onam, and other celebrations. Come April- May, that blessed tree is all drooping down with a heavy load of mangoes, with the finest form and color.”
–In a Mango Mood by Archana of Spicyana

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‘‘When I was a kid, we had 4 different kinds of mango trees in our compound. We never had to buy a mango. Baby mangoes, sour mangoes, unripe, ripe, sweet mangoes were all lavishly available during the season. We, the kids, loved to eat baby mangoes with salt. I remember taking baby mangoes in my schoolbag to distribute among my friends.”
– Mango Adventures by RP of My Workshop

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‘‘The story goes like this … Sage Naradha once brought a Mango Fruit as an offering to Lord Shiva and there was a fight between Lord Ganesha and Lord Muruga as to who would get the fruit. Lord Shiva told them they have to go around the world thrice and whoever comes first would get the mango . Lord Muruga at one flew in his peacock around the world. Lord Ganesha cleverly went around his parents thrice indicating that they were his universe. So he won the Mango Fruit.”
– Food of Gods by Priya of Sugar and Spice

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‘‘We will replace our full-fat buffalo milk, that we grew up on, with 2%. We will melt unsalted butter and pretend that it is asli desi ghee. Heck, we will even pretend that tofu is a vegetable. Eventually, we will get used to all of that and stop craving for the original. One thing we will never be able to replace or stop missing is the indian mango.”
– For Jihva by Vee of Past, Present and Me

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‘‘I remember how those mangoes tasted: rich and ripe, filled with honied juice and a heady flavor that was unlike any other fruit in the world. Grandpa would liken them to bananas mixed with peaches and cantelope melons, but I never thought he was right. There was nothing that tasted like them, nothing. They were sweet, like the scent of honeysuckle in high summer, and they were smoother and butterier than a peach. They were so good, I always thought that people who said that the fruit Eve tempted Adam with was an apple were dead wrong. “
– It Had to Have Been a Mango – By Barbara of Tigers and Strawberries.

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Thank you for participating and see you all again on June 1st at Baking Fairy’s “JFI-Strawberries” event.

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So, what are your favorites? If you try any recipes from this JFI-Mango roundup, let me know how you like them. Thanks.

Yogurt rice with mango is a nostalgic meal for me. Usually, after dinner, the leftover rice is mixed with warm milk, a spoon of yogurt culture is added, mixed and kept covered overnight in a tiffin box. By next morning, milk would turn into yogurt and is already mixed with rice – school lunch box would be ready. My mother used to prepare yogurt rice in this way and would also add small cubes of mango for mid-day meal, during our hot summer school days.

The quote, ‘Looks can be deceiving’ applies to this one. Even though, the whole thing looks homely and common, the taste is simply unique and very satisfying. Rice soaks up milk and when milk turns into yogurt, the rice also changes. It looses its biting kind of inner resistance, turns into soft, supple kind of grain. Addition of fruit, like mango, as a topping makes it even better. The meal is not only nutritional, also follows the ayurvedic principle of balancing the food ingredients, hot ones with cold one. Mango is famous for its heat generation where as yogurt is known for its cooling properties on human body. Combination of them together, makes this, a well-balanced, simple meal/dessert kind of food.

Adding yogurt culture to warm rice-milk mixture

Recipe:
1 cup of cooked rice
2 cups of warm milk
¼ teaspoon of salt or to taste
Fruit Topping
I ripe mango – peeled and cut into small cubes
Mix the rice with milk. Add a tablespoon of yogurt culture and mix lightly; cover the vessel with lid and keep it in a warm area overnight. By next morning, the milk will be turned into yogurt. Stir in salt to taste. Sprinkle the mango cubes on top. With each spoon, take a small portion of yogurt rice and one cube of mango. Enjoy the sweet mango with creamy rich yogurt rice.

This is my contribution to the event “Jihvā For Mangoes”. I am very excited to host this event and thank you all for your enthusiastic participation with wonderful mango recipes. I am planning to do a recap of all the entries that I received, by tomorrow.