COCONUT CHUTNEY

Once again I'm sharing with you all, my mother in law's easy & yummy coconut chutney. This is a simple chutney that tastes well as accompaniment to idli, dosa, vada.
My mother in law uses only the white part of coconut as she grates it by this hand grater that is available but I'm not able to use it so I make small pieces of the coconut & put it in the grinder. So if you don't prefer to have the brown part you can remove it and use only the white part. It tastes good both ways so it is upto your personal choice.

This is what my mother-in-law uses for grating coconut but I'm not able to use it so I use a mixer-grinder.

INGREDIENTS

for chutney

1 cup grated coconut

1 inch piece of ginger (adrak) cut into small pieces

1-2  fresh green chillies (hari mirch)

1-2 table spoons curd (dahi)

salt to taste

water to adjust consistency

for tempering/tadka

1/2 tea spoon mustard seeds (rai or sarson)

1/4 tea spoon split husked black gram (urad dhuli dal)

10-12 curry leaves

1-2 whole dry red chillies (sookhi lal mirch)

METHOD

1. Take all the ingredients mentioned under chutney except salt & water & grind them. Add a little water to get a smooth paste like consistency. 

2. Take oil in a small pan, heat it and add mustard seeds to it. Once the mustard seeds splutter, add the urad dal, let it brown a bit then add dry red chillies to the pan. Finally add curry leaves & add the chutney that we have prepared to the pan.

3. Mix it well. If you find it a bit thick you can add a little bit of water to it. Once you see small bubbles coming up, switch off the gas.

4. Serve it along with idli, dosa, vada and enjoy. 

PICTORIAL GUIDE

1. Take all the ingredients mentioned under chutney except salt & water & grind them. Add a little water to get a smooth paste like consistency. 

2. Take oil in a small pan, heat it and add mustard seeds to it. Once the mustard seeds splutter, add the urad dal, let it brown a bit then add dry red chillies to the pan. Finally add curry leaves & add the chutney that we have prepared to the pan.

3. Mix it well. If you find it a bit thick you can add a little bit of water to it. Once you see small bubbles coming up, switch off the gas.

4. Serve it along with idli, dosa, vada and enjoy. 

HAPPY COOKING!! :))

AAMRAS RECIPE

Aamras is another of our mango favourites, we just don't miss a chance to have it during the mango season.
Aamras again belongs to the western part of India, mainly Gujarat and Maharashtra. Aamras basically means aam ka ras or mango pulp.

Once again I was introduced to this lip smacking combo of aamras and poori by my husband. Though he is a malayali but he has stayed in Ahmedabad right since his childhood and so gujarati dishes are his absolute favourite.

Aamras is traditionally served with pooris but if you don't prefer pooris you can also have it with chapatis. Aamras can also be served as a sweet dish or a dessert.

Take the sweet variety of mangoes for aamras which is not fibrous. You can add a bit of water to thin down the consistency of aamras if it is too thick some people also add a bit of milk. The texture of aamras should be smooth and flowing.

Some amount of sugar can also be added to aamras depending upon the sweetness of mangoes. If you like the flavour of elaichi or kesar you can add that too to your aamras. I haven't added any of this but just mango pulp, sugar and a bit of water to adjust the consistency as everyone in the house prefers it this way.

INGREDIENTS

3 mangoes, ripe and sweet (non fibrous ones)
2 table spoons sugar (adjust according to the sweetness of mangoes)
water as required

METHOD

1. Rinse and peel the mangoes. Chop them and put them in a blender along with sugar to get a smooth puree.
2. Check the consistency, if it is thick add a little bit of water.
3. Check the sweetness, if more sugar is required add it at this point and once again blend.
4. Take the Aamras in bowl and keep in the refrigerator to chill.
5. Serve chilled aamras with hot pooris or chapatis or just serve it chilled as a dessert.

PICTORIAL GUIDE

1. Rinse and peel the mangoes. Chop them and put them in a blender along with sugar to get a smooth puree.

2. Check the consistency, if it is thick add a little bit of water.

3. Check the sweetness, if more sugar is required add it at this point and once again blend.
4. Take the Aamras in bowl and keep in the refrigerator to chill.
5. Serve chilled aamras with hot pooris or chapatis or just serve it chilled as a dessert.

                          HAPPY MANGO SEASON!!😊

VEGETABLE POHA RECIPE WITH STEP BY STEP PICTURES

Vegetable Poha recipe is a very healthy, quick and easy recipe to make for breakfast. An easy way to make kids have a bit of veggies. I usually add carrots, onions, peas, potatoes to it, this time I didn't have potatoes so have not added them. Vegetable poha at my place is incomplete without peanuts as peanuts are my little one's favourite and also they add a bit of crunch to the vegetable poha.Vegetable Poha can also be served as an evening snack with tea.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup poha or flattened rice
2 table spoons oil
1/4 cup peanuts
1 tea spoon mustard seeds (rai)
1 sprig curry leaves (kari patta)

1 onion chopped

1 small carrot chopped

1/2 cup peas (if using frozen ones boil them a little bit or add them to hot water for a few minutes)

1 small potato chopped ( I have not added it here as I didn't have but you can add it along with the other veggies)

1-2 green chillies slit into half lengthwise

1/2 tea spoon turmeric powder

salt to taste
1/2 tea spoon sugar

2 tea spoons lemon juice
2 table spoons green coriander chopped
1-2 table spoons grated coconut (optional)

METHOD

1. Take the poha in a strainer and wash it nicely and let the water drain out. This is just to soften the poha, we don't need to soak the poha. Chop all the veggies and keep aside.
2. In a kadhai or pan take 2 table spoons of oil and lightly roast the peanuts.
3. Remove the peanuts from the kadhai, leaving the remaining oil in it. Now in the hot oil add the mustard seeds (rai).
4. Once the mustard seeds splutter add the curry leaves (kari patta).
5. Now add the green chillies and carrots, cook for a minute.
6. Add the green peas, onion. Cook all the veggies till they soften.
7. Add salt and turmeric powder. Mix well.
8. I've added the roasted peanuts and green coriander to the wet poha and mixed it together before adding it to the veggies.
9. Add the poha to the veggies mixture in the kadhai.
10. Mix everything together and add sugar ( you can increase or decrease according to your taste ).
11. Switch off the gas and add the lime juice. Mix it together nicely.
12. Garnish it with fresh green chopped coriander and grated coconut. Serve hot.

PICTORIAL GUIDE

1. Take the poha in a strainer and wash it nicely and let the water drain out. This is just to soften the poha, we don't need to soak the poha.

2. In a kadhai or pan take 2 table spoons of oil and lightly roast the peanuts.

3. Remove the peanuts from the kadhai, leaving the remaining oil in it. Now in the hot oil add the mustard seeds (rai).
4. Once the mustard seeds splutter add the curry leaves (kari patta).

5. Now add the green chillies and carrots, cook for a minute.

6. Add the green peas, onion. Cook all the veggies till they soften.

7. Add salt and turmeric powder. Mix well.

8. I've added the roasted peanuts and green coriander to the wet poha and mixed it together before adding it to the veggies.

9. Add the poha to the veggies mixture in the kadhai.

10. Mix everything together and add sugar ( you can increase or decrease according to your taste ).

11. Switch off the gas and add the lime juice. Mix it together nicely. ( I missed taking a picture of this step)
12. Garnish it with fresh green chopped coriander and grated coconut. Serve hot.

                             HAPPY COOKING!! 😊

MANGO SHRIKHAND (AMRAKHAND) RECIPE

Who doesn't like mangoes and how all of us wait for the mango season to arrive. So here at my place too the mango season is much awaited.
Shrikhand is a yogurt based dish which is popular in Western India mainly Maharashtra and Gujarat. I'd first tasted Shrikhand on my visit to pune as Shrikhand is not very commonly available in delhi, where I've spent all my life and I must say I fell in love with it at first bite.
Thereafter I tasted many versions of Shrikhand available during the few years I stayed in Mumbai and I loved all of them but amrakhand was the best and loved by my daughter too. Anything loved by my daughter has to be tried by me at home. So here it is our favourite, mango shrikhand or Amrakhand.

INGREDIENTS

2 Mangoes chopped
400 gms fresh curd ( it should not be sour)
1/4 cup sugar powdered ( you can increase the amount of sugar if you prefer it extra sweet, but this ratio works perfectly for our family)
2-3 green cardamoms/elaichi (crushed)
a pinch of saffron strands ( optional - I have not used them )

METHOD

1. Tie the curd in a muslin cloth or a cotton cloth. Keep it on a strainer. Keep the strainer on a deep bowl to collect the water from the curd. Keep it inside the fridge for 3-4 hours or just leave it in the fridge overnight. We need to collect the thick curd also known as 'chakka'.
2. Peel the mangoes and puree them in mixer.
3. Add the powdered sugar to the mango puree.
4. Add elaichi and saffron too if using. If using saffron just soak it in a table spoon of warm milk for 10-15 minutes.
5. Add the mango puree and sugar mix to the hung curd. Mix everything together very nicely or put everything together in a blender and blend till smooth
6. Chill the mango shrikhand or amrakhand and serve with hot puris or serve as an accompaniment with food. It can also be served as a dessert post meal.

PICTORIAL GUIDE

1. Tie the curd in a muslin cloth or a cotton cloth. Keep it on a strainer. Keep the strainer on a deep bowl to collect the water from the curd. Keep it inside the fridge for 3-4 hours.

2. Peel the mangoes and puree them in mixer.
3. Add the powdered sugar to the mango puree.

4. Add elaichi and saffron too if using. If using saffron just soak it in a table spoon of warm milk for 10-15 minutes.

5. Add the mango puree and sugar mix to the hung curd. Mix everything together very nicely or put everything together in a blender and blend till smooth.

6. Chill the mango shrikhand or amrakhand and serve with hot puris or serve as an accompaniment with food. It can also be served as a dessert post meal.

                                            HAPPY MANGO SEASON!!

BEETROOT CUTLETS

Beetroot is considered to be a superfood. As a child I used to detest beetroot and so do my children but now that I know the benefits of beetroot I make it a point to have a bit of it on the salad plate everyday at home so that the kids feel interested to eat it when they see it regularly everyday. Though I've still not been lucky with it.
So now I've started camouflaging it with some of the kids favourite dishes.
I add a little bit of beetroot puree in the dough while making paneer or chicken rolls. So they have a pink roti that is what my daughter likes to call it.
This time when I was making cutlets which my elder one really likes, I thought of adding beetroot to it and to my surprise, it turned out really tasty.
Since then I've served beetroot cutlets many times as a starter while hosting dinners and the nice pink colour that beetroot gives to the cutlets has turned out to be a real conversation starter.

INGREDIENTS

Beetroots  2 (boiled and grated)

Potatoes 4 - 5 (boiled and grated)

Ginger 1 inch piece (grated)

Green chillies 1-2 chopped finely

 Fresh Coriander leaves (hara dhaniya) finely chopped

Salt as per taste

1/2 tea spoon red chilli powder(lal mirch)

1/4 tea spoon turmeric powder(haldi)

1/2 tea spoon garam masala

1 tea spoon coriander powder(dhaniya)

1 tea spoon chaat masala

1 tea spoon fennel powder(saunf)

1 tea spoon lemon juice or dry mango powder(amchur)

Dry bread crumbs

3 - 4 table spoons semolina (sooji or rawa) for coating

METHOD

1. In a pressure cooker boil the potatoes and beetroot. You can even use a microwave to boil the potatoes and beetroot. Beetroot takes a little longer time to cook than the potatoes. I usually wash the potatoes and beetroot, put them in a plastic bag and microwave for 4-5 minutes. Once the potatoes are done, I remove them and microwave the beetroot for another 1-2 minutes.

2. Once the potatoes and beetroot are cooled, grate them in  big bowl.

3. Now add the grated ginger, chopped green chillies and coriander.

4. Add all the spices mentioned in the recipe and the bread crumbs too.

5. Mix everything together nicely and shape them in round balls and flatten them a little like tikkis.

6. Take sooji (semolina) in a flat plate. Place the flattened beetroot cutlets over the sooji so that it coats the cutlets nicely all over.

7. Prepare all the tikkis this way and keep them refrigerated for about an hour or till serving time.

8. At the time of serving take them out from the fridge and directly deep fry them in hot oil or else take 2-3 table spoons oil in a pan and shallow fry them till they turn crisp. Serve hot with a chutney or sauce of your choice.

PICTORIAL GUIDE

1. In a pressure cooker boil the potatoes and beetroot. You can even use a microwave to boil the potatoes and beetroot. Beetroot takes a little longer time to cook than the potatoes. I usually wash the potatoes and beetroot, put them in a plastic bag and microwave for 4-5 minutes. Once the potatoes are done, I remove them and microwave the beetroot for another 1-2 minutes.

2. Once the potatoes and beetroot are cooled, grate them in  big bowl.

3. Now add the grated ginger, chopped green chillies and coriander.

4. Add all the spices mentioned in the recipe and the bread crumbs too.

5. Mix everything together nicely and shape them in round balls and flatten them a little like tikkis.

6. Take sooji (semolina) in a flat plate. Place the flattened beetroot cutlets over the sooji so that it coats the cutlets nicely all over.

7. Prepare all the tikkis this way and keep them refrigerated for about an hour or till serving time.

8. At the time of serving take them out from the fridge and directly deep fry them in hot oil or else take 2-3 table spoons oil in a pan and shallow fry them till they turn crisp. Serve hot with a chutney or sauce of your choice.

                                                  HAPPY COOKING!! 😊