Aamras- Mango juice

Aamras is nothing but mango shake, with little milk and more sugar. In place of a glass it is served in a bowl and consumed with chapati or poori .In hot afternoons, its a refreshing cool accompaniment to the meal.
            In India hundreds of varieties of mangoes are available each varying in taste and fragrance. My personal favourite is 'Langada' variety of mango , Hapus is another favourite, .. and I guess most expensive of all.  These two qualities are liked by majority. They are best for mango shake too. as for aamras they are least suitable because of their sweet taste. 'Kokeen' is best for aamras but due to its unavailability in southern part of India another quality 'sindoora'  can also be used as its substitute. There are many more qualities and varieties of mangoes beyond my little knowledge.
     To avoid all the confusion ...one can follow a simple rule while choosing mangoes for aamras that they are both sweet and sour in taste.

4 medium mangoes, peeled and cut

3/4 cup sugar(approx)

1 cup milk

1. Blend the mangoes and sugar until smooth using little water.
2. Add milk, (either cold or at room temperature but not hot)
3. Strain the juice and adjust sugar depending on the sourness of mangoes.
4. Adjust the consistency using water (neither thick nor thin)
5. Serve cold.

Tip:

With the leftover aamras--Pour in ice and; make tasty mango ice candies.

My entry for



Vegetable Raita

500gm. thick curd
1 cucumber finely chopped
1 onion finely chopped
1 firm tomato chopped
few corriander leaves chopped
salt to taste

Beat the curd and mix the vegetables and salt gently. serve cold.

Methi Papad ki sabji

Ingredients:
2 Papad broken into one inch squares
(use old papads for the curry)
1/4 cup fenugreek seeds
3 tbsp oil
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp red chilli powder
2 tsp corriander powder
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp amchur
salt to taste

1. Soak fenugreek seeds for atleast 3 to 4 hours and pressure cook for one whistle. Wash it several times after boiling to remove bitterness.
2. Heat oil and add cumin seeds. Mix turmeric powder, chilli powder and corriander powder in 1/2 cup water and add to the oil carefully. cook the spices for 1-2 min. until oil separates.
3. Add another cup of water and bring it to a boil.
4. Now add the papad and fenugreek seeds and cook until papad is cooked. If dry can add some more water .
5. add amchur, salt and cook for a min.

Serve with chapati or bajra roti.

Methi Kishmish ki sabji

Most of the time we use fenugreek seeds as a spice that enhances the  flavour of a dish like as in tadka for dal or kadhi, or as masala in the powdered form especially for pickles. Due to its bitter taste its used in very little quantity. Yesterday while surfing I came across an event that calls for the useage of  Fenugreek seeds. Luckily for me I have two traditional Rajasthani recipes that use methi as the main ingredient. One of them is Methi-kishmish Launji and the other is Methi-Papad.

In Methi kishmish The bitter taste of the fenugreek seeds is balanced with sugar & amchoor(dry mango powder).

Ingredients:
1/4 cup fenugreek seeds
handful of raisins
6-7 cashewnuts broken into half(optional)
2 dates sliced (optional)
2 tbsp oil
1 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
3 tsp sugar
1 tsp amchur (dry mango powder)
salt to taste

1.  Soak the fenugreek seeds overnight or atleast for four hours and boil for one whistle in a pressure cooker. Take out & wash 3-4 times. This will reduce its bitterness.
2. Soak the raisins & cashewnuts in water for about half an hour.
3. Heat oil and add all the ingredients except amchur. Cook until the sugar dissolves, can add a little water if too dry.
4. Add amchur and cook for another minute.
5. Serve with chapati or poori.

Mix Veg Pakora (mix vegetable fritters)

This dish you can make out of any mix of vegetable you have in your refridgirator and beleive me it tastes as good. (Ghar ki rasoi tip : a good way to finish all leftover veggies in your refridgiraor before refilling it- ha ha)

serves 4

1 cup mixed vegetables, finely chopped (potato, carrot, cucumber, onion, capsicum, spring onion)
1/4 cup gram flour(besan)
1tsp each ginger & garlic, finely chpped
2 green chillies, finely chopped
1 tsp ajwain (caraway seeds), optional
salt to taste

Oil to deep fry

Mix all the ingredients. Add a little water if the mixture is too dry. Drop spoonfull of the mixture into hot oil & deep fry until slightly brown. Drain & press lightly with the back of a spoon just to flatten slightly. Refry the pakoras to a golden brown colour.(this step is necessary to cook the central part of pakoras). Serve hot with green chutney or Ketchup.


My entry for:

Kairi Pudina sharbat

Mint flavoured tangy drink.

6-7 medium sized raw mangoes chopped
1/2 bunch mint leaves
500g sugar
2 tbsp rock salt
2 tbsp dry roasted & crushed cumin seeds
1 tbsp black pepper powder
salt to taste

1. Dissolve sugar in equal amount of water on low flame. Make a thin sugar syrup and cool.
2. Puree the mangoes along with the mint leaves & mix it in the sugar syrup.
3. Strain the syrup and add the spices, adjust the seasonings according to taste.
4. While serving fill 1/2 the glass with the syrup & remaining 1/2 with cold water or soda.

Tip:

1. This syrup can be refridgirated for more than a week.
2. If the mangoes are not sour enough just sqeeze in a lemon.

This is my entry for:

Dova ki Raabadi

A superb wholesome drink to combat heat in Rajasthan. It is cooked and left overnight, in the morning strined and served cold with curd and raw onions.

Though it is a is a very popular side dish during summer in Rajasthan but it is a must on 'Basida'. Eight day after Holi 'Basida' is celebrated. As the name Basi suggests, Food like kair sangri ka achar, missi roti, raabadi, dal ka seera, pyaj ka achar etc is cooked the previous day and consumed on Basida. Some myths are related with this festival, there is a saying that  on this day if one worships Sheetala Mata she protects our children from chicken pox . 

 

serves :6

Ingredients:

5 tbsp bajri flour

2 1/2  tbsp moth (matki) flour

2 cups yogurt

1 1/2 cups water

salt to taste

to serve:

1 tsp cumin seeds

curd

finely chopped onions

Method:

1. Mix both the flours,yoghurt & water properly using a whisk so that no lumps remain.
2. Rest the mixture for about 3 hrs. The flours will settle down at the bottom & water will rise up.
3. without disturbing the flour mixture pour the water on top into another pan & bring it to a boil.
4. Now add the remaining batter and Cook on low heat stirring continuously else the flours will stick to the bottom of pan for 10-15 min until well cooked and you get a thick batter like consistency.
4. Cover and leave it overnight.

5. Next morning seive using a muslin cloth,(can add little water to obtain a flowing consistency), using a strainer may not give you a smooth texture .

6. Add the cumin seeds and cool in a refridgirator.

Just before serving add 1 tbsp or more (as desired) of curd to one serving and few chopped onions.


This is my entry for the event :
Comfort food

Peppery veg fried rice

Hi, blogging after a long time. After returning to India other priorities in the first few months left me with no time for my laptop . Later on I too became a little lazy not only in typing but cooking too. Everything one craves for is readily available here as comapred to Yerevan where I had no other alternative. my mom too keeps sending sweets very often almost for every smallest occasion or festival &  not to forget about frequent dinners at relatives,', parties etc. So most of the time I cook very simple food at home to keep a balance.Yesterday while browsing I came across a food blog, which reminded me of my own......  feel like writing again .So here's another recipe from my kitchen for all those who like jhatpat cooking like me.


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This is a very simple recipe &; trust me it tastes very good if you use freshly ground pepper & serve hot .

 

 Ingredients:

2 cups boiled long grain rice

1 carrot chopped

10-12 french beans chopped

1 onion chopped

2 dry red chillies

1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tbsp oil

few curry leaves

salt to taste

Method:



Heat oil & add cumin seeds, curry leaves & red chillies. add the vegetables & saute until cooked. Add pepper, salt & boiled rice and mix well. Serve immediately.