Mango Pickle – Ready to eat

Mango Pickle – Ready to eat

As the mangoes season has started, so thought of sharing this beautiful mouth watering recipe with you all. This recipe will surely add the extra “Ummmhhh” to every meal that you would serve this pickle with.  It is a ready to eat recipe but you can store this pickle for 1 year by adding oil as a preservative.

Ingredients:

1Kg Raw Mangoes

250 ml Oil

3 tblspn Mustard seeds

1 tspn Asafoetida (Hing)

3 – 4 tblspn Red chili powder (Adjust as per your spicy levels)

1 tblspnTurmeric Powder

3 tblspn Salt

Method:

     1. Wash the mangoes and wipe the mangoes with a clean dry cloth. Cut them into small pieces.

    2. Heat the oil in a pan and add mustard seeds, once the seeds crackle add asafoetida, turmeric and red chili powder and mix them nicely.

    3. Reduce the flame to low and add the raw mangoes to it and mix well till all the mangoes are coated well with the spicy mixture.

    4. Add salt and mix well.

    5. Your pickle is ready to eat, you can keep the pickle in refrigerator for 15 days.

    6. To preserve the pickle for longer period, heat oil to the boiling point, let it cool down to room temperature and then pour it on the pickle. Mix well with a dry spoon and store it in an airtight container. The oil should be above the pickle.

NOTE:

    1. The reason to wipe the mangoes dry, as we don’t want a traces of water in our pickle otherwise the pickle will get spoiled.

    2. Spiciness of the red chili powder needs to be adjusted as per the family taste buds.

    3. Oil acts as a preservative in storing the pickle.

    4. If using the same recipe for preserving the pickle for more than 1yr then use Mustard oil or Sesame oil. Otherwise use the normal cooking oil.

Chicken Biryani Restaurant Style

Chicken Biryani Restaurant Style

Ingredients:

Chicken 1.5kg

Long grain basmati Rice 700 gms

Shahi jeera 1tblspn

Bay leaf 3 nos.

3 nos. Onions fried in ghee

50 gms Cashew roasted in ghee

50 gms Raisins roasted in ghee

1 cup freshly chopped Mint and coriander leaves

½ cup milk

Few Safforn strands

Rose and Kewda water

Salt

Powder the below ingredients:

Bay leaf

Star aniseed

Cinnamon stick 2”

Cloves 4 nos.

Cardamoms 6 nos.

Dagad Phool 1 teaspoon

Peppercorns 6 nos.

Mace 2 nos.

Marination:

Curd 500 gms

Coriander powder 1 tblspn

Red chilly powder 2 tblspn

Pinch of turmeric

Ginger garlic paste 1 tblspn

Slit open Green chilies 5 nos.

Lemon juice 2 tblspn

1 cup fresh Coriander and Mint leaves chopped

½ cup Oil

Salt to taste

1cup Maida

Water as required for preparing the dough for dum

Method:

1.    Powder the ingredients listed and store in a air tight container.

2.    Marinate the chicken with all the ingredients noted below the ‘Marination’.  Cover the bowl with a cling wrap and refrigerate it overnight or atleast for 3 hrs.

3.    Heat water in a vessel and let it boil. Add salt only for the rice (remember we have already added slat in chicken marination), Shahi jeera, bay leafs and then add the washed rice (which has been soaked for 1 hr). Cook the rice till its 70% cooked.

4.    In the mean time boil the milk with saffron strands.

5.    In a heavy bottomed pan put the marinated chicken and then layer it with rice, saffron milk, rose water and kewda water, fried onions, cashew nuts, raisins and sprinkle freshly chopped mint and coriander leaves. (You can make 2 -3 layers of rice with the same procedure) I normally make 2 layers of rice.

6.    Prepare sticky dough of maida and line it on the edges of the biryani pan and seal it with a lid. Check for any openings and seal the same.

7.    Put the biryani pan direct on high flame for 20 mins then keep the flat pan on direct flame below the biryani pot and reduce the flame to low for next 20 mins. After 20 -30 mins its ready to open the lid of biryani pot. (Open the seal with the help of knife)

8.    Your biryani is ready to serve with raita J

NOTE:

1. Never mix the biryani, just insert the spatula in the side of the biryani straight deep in and check the bottom of the vessel.

2. Always use thick heavy bottomed pan for biryani. Pressure cooker is best.

3. Remember we are adding the salt in chicken marination as well as while cooking the rice so add accordingly.

Egg Nest

Egg Nest 

They’re fun and so pretty for an Easter treat, but really a messy project who don’t mind licking the chocolate off their fingers!!!

Ingredients:

1 cup chow mein noodles/ Sevaiya

1 ½ cup Chocolate chips of your choice (milk chocolate/ dark chocolate)

½ tblspn unsalted butter

¼ tspn vanilla extract

Egg-shaped candies (jelly beans, M&M)

Aluminum sheet

Non- stick cooking spray

Method:

1.     Spray the aluminium foil with cooking oil and set aside.

2.     Melt the chocolate and butter in a bowl over a pan of slow simmering water. Once the chocolate is almost melted, remove from the heat and add vanilla drops and stir it well until fully melted.

3.     Add the noodles to chocolate and gently mix until thoroughly coated.

4.     Scoop out 2 – 3 tblpsn of noodle mixture on the foil in the shape of a nest.

5.     Place egg shaped candies in the center of the nest while the chocolate is still warm so that it sticks. Allow to cool at room temperate, so that it hardens and retains its shape.

6.     You can store these leftovers in the airtight container and keep them in the refrigerator for longer.

APPAM

Appam

Appam is a type of South Indian pancake made with fermented rice batter and coconut milk. It’s a popular food in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Srilanka. Srilankans commonly refer it as Hoppers. It is eaten most frequently for breakfast or dinner. They are perfect to enjoy with egg curry, Potato stew and chicken stew.

There are varieties of appam like Kallappam, Palappam, Vellayappam. Today here Im presenting the recipe of Appam, which is simplest of all, made from rice, coconut and is fermented with yeast.

Appams are made in a special pan known as “Appa Chatti”.

 

So lets proceed with the recipe here.

Ingredients:

Raw Idli Rice/ Pachari  2 cups washed and soaked for 6-7 hours

Idli rice

1 cup Cooked rice

1 cup fresh shredded coconut

½ cup warm water

¼ tspn Rapid rise active Yeast

5 tbspn Sugar

Salt

Method:

Preparing the appam batter -

     1.   In a warm water glass add sugar and active yeast, Mix till the sugar dissolves. Cover and set aside until the yeast rises to foamy.

     2.   In a grinder, grind little by little raw soaked rice, cooked rice, fresh coconut and yeast water adding water as required to make a smooth batter.

     3.   Collect the batter into a large container and add more water if required. As the batter should be loose in consistency similar to dosa batter. Add salt as per the taste and mix it well with your hand. Keep the container in a warm place to ferment for atleast 8 hours.

I have kept it in the oven to ferment.

After 8 hrs batter is still fermenting because of yeast. Now you can keep the batter in fridge till next use.

Making of Appam - 

     1.   Whenever making the appam add 4 – 5 tbspn of sugar to the batter and mix well.

     2.   Heat the appa chatti until water droplets sprinkled evaporates immediately.

     3.   Pour a ladle full of batter into the appa chatti and pick up the appa chatti and swirl it around so that the batter swirls around the sides of the chatti / pan.

     4.   Cover it with lid and allow it to cook for 3 -4 mins on medium heat till the centre of the appam is done and the edges are golden brown at this time the edges will automatically detach from the pan.

     5.   Remove the appam carefully from the pan onto a plate and serve it immediately. I have served it here with egg roast.

NOTE:

     1.   Once the batter is poured in the appa chatti you have to be quick in swrilling the batter to the edges of the pan.

     2.   If you add more yeast by mistake keep a close watch on the batter, as it will ferment very quickly. If this happens keep the batter in the fridge or the batter will taste more of yeast.

    3.   The more sugar in the batter, the more crispy edges of the appam.

    4.   To raise the yeast properly water should be luke warm and not boiled water.

    5.   The same appam can be made as Egg Appam by breaking the egg into the appa chatti as the appam cooks.