Monday, July 14, 2014

Mango Salsa



I’m a mango lover and a trip to Kerala in early May seemed to be a brilliant idea as the mango season was still on. The thought of gorging on limited edition mangoes made my mouth watery, you know what I mean, the ones you grow in your or someone else’s backyard, timely picked and ripened with much love and care for perfect texture, color, and smell that even the flies nor you want to be away from them.  

Then confronted by a real life situation of days moving like a breeze, typical of us visitors who pays yearly visit, we started getting acrobatic in scooter to catch up with friends and family and returning back home with those limited edition mangoes and no time to eat them.




Back home, the real deal were Pakistani mangoes. It is a dream of a mango, so sweet and cheap, having a couple of slices will make you think world is indeed a better place to be, and how blessed you are to savor them. I say it is a sweet swap for alphonsa mangoes. 

I skipped my dinners for mango mousse, a mid morning meal for a sweet bowl of yummy yummy fruit salad with some milkmaid to top it, you call it mango smoothie or mango milkshake, I am for it. This salsa has to be the healthiest thing I have done this mango season followed by a Mango Pulissery. I could have dressed a taco shell with mango salsa, and it would have been lovely. But then we are so used to fruit chaats, I ate it all by itself. I never tried pairing it with fish, chicken, or pork and wonder how that would be? For that experience, I cannot stretch my mangoes anymore. My fruit bowl is empty.  

By the by, do you think the topmost caption should be Ode to mangoes rather than a mango salsa?



Ingredients 

Chopped mangoes - 1 cup

Chopped ripe tomatoes - 3/4 cup

Chopped capsicum - 1 tsp

Spring onion - 2 tsp

Chilli flakes - 1/4 tsp

Oregano - 1/2 tsp

Salt to taste

Method

In a bowl, combine the mangoes and tomatoes. Lightly mash them with a spoon. Add capsicum, spring onion, chilli flakes, oregano, and salt. Mix well. Refrigerate for at least an hour before serving.




Monday, July 7, 2014

Tamar Hindi/Tamar Al Hindi/Tamarind drink






I sure am a festival blogger who pops in times of Vishu and Onam. I took up a wobbly job and by no means it is stopping me from coming here and if you think I am not properly fed…. you are wrong guys! My blogger mamma is home and she is cooking up way more than I could eat …… and I am spoilt. Apart from that, I remain the same with constant itch for recipes, made new friends as passionate as I am for food, and now I am brimming with recipes.  I even leached out a recipe from my boss. I feel like I am on the verge of explosion with a world of recipes shared by like minded people who believes recipes are to be shared, so I thought to come back here and spit it all out. I have also got a new friend who reserves a seat for me our ride back home from office so we can talk about food and only food. Crazy it may seem, but you understand. Don’t you?



Tamar Hindi is a popular Ramadan drink, where tamarind is the main ingredient.  We usually use tamarind only for flavoring sambars, rasams, and theeyals in our house, so it came to me as a surprise to know how potent indian dates (that is what tamarind or puli is called) really are.

The drink by the very look is muddy, not at all appealing, and taste is a sour-sweet combination. Over here, arabs add a dash of rose syrup to make it look more adorable. Although I love all things sour, I was wrong here. It was not definitely my glass of drink, but my family loved it.  So can’t say it is an acquired taste.




Ingredients 

Tamarind block –  50 gm
Sugar – ¾ cup
Ginger chopped – 1 tsp

Salt – a pinch

Method

Soak tamarind in a cup of water for 1 hour. Squeeze out the pulp and discard the seeds and fibers.

To the tamarind pulp, add sugar and ginger. Stir well and once the sugar is dissolved, add 3 cups of water. Bring it to a boil. Switch off the stove. When it is not hot anymore, add ice cubes and serve chilled. 

If you don't like ginger, before serving add cardamom powder. 

You can use dates syrup, honey, etc., as alternatives for sugar.  

Add rose syrup, if you are looking for a deep color. 



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