Kairichi Amti (Raw mango curry)

This is one of my favorite kokani curries. Maybe because it is really very seasonal.
Seeing the lovely green mangoes (kairi) now in the mumbai markets, prompted me to make this awesome dish.
The recipe that I have followed here, is traditionally passed on from my great-grandmother's times.
It has this sweet, spicy and tangy flavour..which is truly different !!

Hope you enjoy making this simple dish, while the raw mangoes last!

Level: Easy
Serves: 3 - 4 people

Ingredients:
1 small raw mango, any variety, roughly chopped
3/4 cup fresh grated coconut
1.5 tblsp jaggery
1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp red chilly powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/4 tsp asafoetida
1.5 tsp rice flour
Salt to taste

Method:
Step 1: Apply red chilly powder, turmeric powder, salt and jaggery to the raw mango and rub well. Let it properly coat the mango. Keep aside.

Step 2: Grind together the coconut, 1/2 tsp mustard seeds and rice flour with a little water, till it turns into a fine smooth paste. Keep aside.

Step 3: Heat some oil in a pan, add the remaining 1/2 tsp mustard seeds and let it splutter. Then add asafoetida and fenugreek seeds and stir well. Add the raw mangoes (step 1) and saute well for 5 mins. Add in water, just enough to submerge the raw mangoes in it. Allow it to boil, till the mango turns slightly transparent.

Step 4: Add the ground mixture (step 2) in the water and stir well. Boil for 5 more mins.

Serve hot, with some hot rice.
This dish tastes great with chapatis too. But I personally love it with rice.

In Step 3, while you are boiling the raw mango in water, if you think the mango is too sour, take out some pieces and discard them. It is at this stage that you will adjust the sweet, spicy and tangy flavour.

If you are not going to have this curry immediately, take out the raw mango pieces and keep them separately. The more they are kept in the curry, the more tangy the curry will get.
You can add back the pieces if you like to, just before reheating this curry.

Generally, if the mango is really tangy, you may require just half of it. The mango that I used, wasnt as sour as it generally is, hence I used the entire mango.

Potato Toast

Potato toast is one of my father's favorite snack. He used to visit 'Jyoti' in Dadar TT to indulge on it.

So when my mom and I were thinking of what different could we make on his birthday this year, we decided to try to recreate the potato toast magic for him...

and Iguess it did work well...:)

Potato toast is nothing but a potato patty stuffed with spicy and slightly tangy green chutney.

This is usually had with yogurt raita, but... ketchup goes well with it too.

Here's how we made it...

Level: Medium
Serves: 5 - 6 people

Ingredients:
8 to 10 boiled potatoes, mashed
5 bread slices
3 tblsp cornflour
Salt to taste
Green chutney, for filling
Oil for deep frying/shallow frying
Oil for rolling into shapes

Method:
Step 1 - Take potatoes in a large vessel. Dip the bread in some water, squeeze out the water and add the bread to the potato. Add the cornflour and salt and mix well with oiled hands. Adjust the salt here.

Step 2 - Make 2 flattish shaped patty with the potatoes. Fill one side with the chutney and place the other patty on it. Fix up the corners.

Step 3 - Deep fry or shallow fry till brown.

Serve hot.

When you are getting the potato mixture ready, if you find that the potato does not hold shape or is too sticky, add in some more cornflour or bread slices (dipped and squeezed out of water), so that it all binds well.

While shaping the potatoes make sure you grease your hands, so its easier to deal with shapes.

I have deep fried these potato toasts...as it is faster! esp when you have guests!! But you can always shallow fry it on a non-stick pan, as everything in here is pre-cooked.

Make sure you fill these with a substantial amount of chutney. Its quite awful, if one takes a bite into these, and wonder if they were stuffed with chutney !

Happy eating!

Green chutney (for potato toast filling)

Heres the recipe for our potato toast filling.

Just like all the chutneys, this tastes great even as a sandwich spread.

Level: Easy
Serves: Makes almost 2 cups

Ingredients:
1.5 cups fresh grated coconut
1 cup coriander leaves
8-10 green chillies, or as per taste
1 raw mango / 1 lemon
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp sugar
Salt to taste

Method:
Step 1: Grind all in a mixer with almost NO WATER at all..we need this to be really dry to be used as a filling.

Ideally this mixture should get ground with the water already present in the fresh coconut. In case your grated coconut is not so fresh or is dry...add in very little water to make sure it grinds together.

This tastes awesome as a sandwich spread too...so I always make some extra and use it as and when required. Just make sure you dont keep it too long..as the coconut might go bad.

I have used the entire raw mango shown in the pic, cause it just wasnt sour. You should taste your raw mango, before deciding how much needs to be added in the coconut. We dont want to end up with a sour chutney.

Pasta Bake

Am at Bangalore at present, with my cousin sis who is a great cook herself. So we both had planned to make some dishes for my blog here..so it would be a good first hand learning for me...and everybody would benefit.

Being in Bangalore, always has been a great feeling, as I have spent 3 great years here...and have some really lovely memories. But when I went around..I just couldnt recognise any bit of it...I dint realise we were on 100 ft road, or I passed my school...I mean...its just so different now..! of course..10 years down what would you expect !!

Anywayz..getting back to the point, all of us here..my sister, her kids and me where in the mood for some pasta...so she suggested her sister-in-law's nameless recipe for today. We have decided to call it "Pasta Bake". Any other suggestions are always welcome.

Level: Medium
Serves: 3 to 4 people

Ingredients:
100 gms pasta (penne or any ribbed pasta), cook as per instructions
3/4 cup grated cheese
White sauce-
1 cup milk
1 tblsp all purpose flour/maida
1 tblsp butter
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
Red sauce-
1 tblsp oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
8 - 10 garlic pods, finely chopped
250 gms minced meat (i used chicken kheema)
1.5 tsp oregano
1.5 tsp red chilly flakes
4 medium tomatoes, pureed
Salt to taste
1 tsp sugar
3 tsp tomatoes, pureed

Method:
Step 1 - Lets make some white sauce. Take a small pot. Add in butter. When it melts, add in the all purpose flour and cook it a bit, stirring continuously. Do not let it change color. Add in the milk gradually, stirring continuously again. Add in some salt and pepper and cook till it slightly coats the back of your spoon.Keep aside.

Step 2 - Now lets move to the red sauce. Take a flattish pan, add some oil. When that heats up, add in the garlic and onions. Saute till onions turn slightly brown. Then add in your minced meat and stir well till it gets partially cooked. Add in the tomato puree, salt, oregano and red chilly flakes and mix it well. Once it is cooked completely, add in the tomato ketchup and sugar. Mix well.

Step 3 - Add in the cooked pasta and mix well till the red sauce coats all of the pasta.

Step 4 - Take a baking dish. Pour half of the red pasta and spread it well. Then pour over the white sauce and try to spread it around. Then pour in the remaining red pasta. Spread grated cheese on top and bake in a preheated 200 deg C oven till the cheese melts and slightly changes color, which should take about 10 mins.

Serve with some garlic bread...

If you like it spicy, add in a dash of chilly sauce over it, or sprinkle it with some red chilly flakes...or some pepper while digging into it.

Egg Chaat

Unexpected guests hanging out for drinks?? "Egg Chaat" is the SIMPLEST way to go!!

I first had this recipe at my atya's place in pune when I was a kid and completely forgot about it. But then recently when I was wondering, what other super simple things could i put up in the blog..just remembered this one.

The best part of this recipe is..absolutely everything in here is to taste...its quite a brainless recipe once you have boiled eggs ready.
You can slice the eggs in any shape you want, add as little or as much of everything!!

Level: Easy
Serves: 2 to 3 people

Ingredients:
3 hard boiled eggs, cut in fours
Onions, finely chopped
Tomatos, finely chopped
Coriander, finely chopped
Chaat masala, as per taste
Red chilly powder, as per taste
Salt, as per taste

Method:
Step 1 - Arrange eggs on the serving platter.

Step 2 - Lightly sprinkle with salt. Chaat masala contains some amount of salt too...so just be careful.

Step 3 - Sprinkle some onions, tomatoes, red chilly powder, chaat masala and finally some coriander.

Serve.

You could also substitute the red chilly powder with some finely chopped green chillies.

Once I added some leftover mint chutney over it too...tasted awesome..

So basically you can go places with this egg chat..:)

Hope you enjoy this one..!

Happy cooking..!

Prawns Buzna

One of the simplest prawns dish..I've seen my mom make..hence it was the first one i tried out after my marriage...:)

This is a kokani dish..you can make when you have unexpected guests at home...and you have some prawns and potatoes on hand.

So here's my mom's recipe for the same.

Level: Easy
Serves: 4 to 5 people

Ingredients:
500 gms prawns, cleaned and deveined
2 large potatoes, sliced as thick or thin as the prawns
2 large onions, finely chopped
2 tsp ginger garlic chilly paste
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp red chilly powder
Salt to taste
1 lemon
Coriander to decorate

Method:
Step 1 - Take a large bowl. Mix all ingredients except lemon and coriander well.

Step 2 - Take 2 tblsp oil in a flat vessel. When hot, add the mixed ingredients. Cover with a plate of water and cook till done, stirring just once or twice in between, to make sure it does not stick to the bottom. Do not over stir this. We dont want the potatoes to break down.

Step 3 - When done, squeeze one lime and decorate with coriander

Serve hot.

Tastes best with chapatis.

You need to have the potatoes as thin as the prawns, as prawns tend to cook really quickly.

You can adjust the lemon as per your taste preference.

Squeeze the lemon only after the potatoes are nearly cooked. If you add it before hand, potatoes take a longer time to cook, which will lead to overcooked rubbery prawns.

Happy eating!

Rack your brains!
Prawns contain lots of vitamin B, low in fat, rich in protein, zinc, iron and omega 3 fatty acids.

But they do contain a lot of cholestrol.

Mac n Cheese - my style

Well, the name itself suggests that this Mac n Cheese is nothing like its original,  but I've kept the basic recipe intact and given it my touch. This could be an indianised version..as i dont like pasta dishes which are too creamy or smooth..i like a little crunch in it..hence the onions and capsicums.

Even with the bread crumb topping, when I use the regular or flavored bread crumbs from the market, they kind of become too crunchy, when the dish starts cooling down..or sometimes..it just burns on the top..so i like using small pieces of fresh bread..butter them a little..and cover the top..it gives a really lovely crunchy coating..without that charcoal burnt taste or smell.

This recipe was basically made for one of my husband's cousin sis, who loves dishes made in white sauce. Had some cheese and macaroni shells at home..so decided to invite her over and have some "oh so heavy !" fun..:)

You might realise by the end of this note, that I have just 1 lame heart shaped baking bowl. With an electric oven..its difficult to find appropriate shaped baking bowls which fit in well...and it scares me to use my glass cookware in this primitve oven. Hence the repetition..but who cares about the shape and size when there is goeey goodness in it..!

Serves: 5 - 6 people
Level: Medium

Ingredients:
2 cups elbow macaroni, cooked as per packet instructions
5 tblsp butter
3 bread slices, finely plucked - discard the sides
2 small onions, roughly chopped
1 medium capsicum, roughly chopped
4 tblsp all purpose flour/maida
3 cups milk
1 tsp mustard powder/mustard sauce
1.5 tsp black pepper powder
50 gms grated cheese

Method:
Step 1 - Get the macaroni ready as per the instructions on the packet. Keep aside.

Step 2 - In a heavy bottomed pan, take 1 tblsp butter, when it melts, turn off gas immediately. Pour in the bread pieces and coat them well. Keep aside.

Step 3- In the same pan, on a low flame, add the remaining 4 tblsp butter. When the butter melts, add in the onions and capsicum. You dont have to cook them completely. Just get them slightly soft. Stir in the all purpose flour slowly and stir well. Dont let it change color. Immediately add in the milk slowly and stir continuously. Dont let any lumps form in there. When the sauce starts getting slighly thick, i.e. it starts slightly coating the spoon you are stirring it with, add in the salt, mustard powder and pepper powder. Mix well and remove from heat. Stir in the cheese and mix till its all melted in there.

Step 4 - Add in the macaroni and mix quickly.

Step 5 - Pour in a baking dish and press it all down evenly. Sprinkle the buttered bread crumbs on top. Pop in a pre-heated oven at 200 deg C. for 20 mins or till the crumbs on top start browning and the white sauce starts bowling.

Serve hot and gooeeyyy!

You can use the cheese, pepper powder and mustard powder as per your taste preferences.
You can also add in some chilly flakes if you like..

You need to adjust the salt and heat, before the sauce starts to thicken.

I personally prefer this with some ketchup or hot sauce, as I dont quite enjoy creamy dishes, but others hogged it just as it is!

Hope you enjoy making this Goeey Goddess!