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.

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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.


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