Mint Mango Mazaa

Ask anyone from India and they will tell you how crazy they are about mangoes. I love mangoes and I enjoy the mango season in summer. As a child, we went to our Grand Parents house and always wanted to eat lot of mangoes. However, my Grandmother had a ration of mangoes and would give we were allowed to eat mangoes only at 3:00 PM after our lunch.

I have not lost the love for mangoes but I experiment to find different ways to eat a mango. Here is the recipe for mint mango mazaa (mazaa means delicious)

Preparation time – 15 mins

Serves – 4

Ingredients
Champagne Mangoes – 4
Corn Kernel from 1 Corn
¼ sweet onion
Bunch of mint leaves
Sweet Belpeppers- 2 each of orange and yellow
Sweet cucumbers – 2
Lime – 1
Salt to taste
Fennel seeds – 1 table spoon
All purpose herbs – ½ tea spoon
Process
Peel and cut the mangoes into small cubes, add the corn kernel from fresh sweet corn, cut the onions into small cubes, cut mint leaves into small pieces and cut cucumber and bell peppers together. Add Salt, lime juice and herbs and it is ready to eat.

Cool Maharaja Sandwich

I guess my creative juices are flowing. My wife and I were thinking about what we should make for a quick dinner and experimented with a sandwich. Pavani does not like raw vegetables or Salad or a sandwich but she ended up eating this sandwich twice.

Ingredients

Lettuce

Carrots -1

Cucumber -1

Onion – ½

Tomato – 1

Ginger Mango Pickle (you will get this in any grocery store like Giant or Harris Teeter) – 2 table spoons

Tomato Pudina sauce (you will find this in Indian store)- 2 table spoons

Spicy pepper oil – ¼ table spoon

Pepper Jack Cheese

All purpose Herbs

Ranch Dressing

Process

Apply 1 tablespoon of ginger mango pickle to one slice of bread. The ginger mango pickle is sweet and sour and gives it a unique taste to the sandwich. On the other slice apply the tomato pudina sauce. Peel the carrots, Cucumber and cut the carrots, onion, cucumber into small circles. Put slices of lettuce, all the other vegetables, add a pinch of spicy pepper oil on top, add the all purpose herbs. On top of it all pour ½ table spoon of ranch dressing, add slices of Pepper Jack Cheese and it is ready to eat. This sandwich is a little spicy, little sweet and has all the great ingredients. Enjoy..

Summer Special – Cucumber Corn Salad

This is a simple and one of my favorite summer salads. Inspired from the Raw Corn salad on Food and wine but I have changed the ingredients and added a touch of Indian spices

Time Taken – 15 mins

Ingredients

Fresh raw sweet corn Kernel from 2 sweet corn

Orange Bell Pepper – 1 small

Red Bell Pepper – 1 small

Cucumber – 2 small (small cucumbers are tasty)

Cilantro – ½ bunch

Fennel Seeds – 1 table spoon

Cumin Seeds – ½ table spoon

White Onion – ¼

Lime Juice – 2 tea spoons

Chat Masala - 1 Teaspoon

Salt to taste

Process

Cut the onions, cucumber into small pieces. Mix the cucumber, Onion, sweet corn and add the lime juice to it. Add the fennel seeds and cumin seeds, salt and serve it. The fennel seeds give it a fresh aroma and taste.

East meets West - Panner Pasta

So, I guess I took a couple of days break from our blog already. Today, I will try to give you recipe for a recipe combining the recipes of East and West.

Paneer Pasta
Making time – Active – 30 mins, preparation 30 mins
Serves - 4

Ingredients
For Pasta
Bow Tie Pasta – ½ box
Green Bell Pepper – ½
Red Bell Pepper – ½
Yellow Bell Pepper – ½
Zucchini -1
Carrots – 2
Panner – ½ pack (similar to Cottage cheese and you will find this in the freezer section of Indian stores)
Olive Oil – 2 Table spoons
All purpose Herbs – 2 Tea Spoons
Butter – ¼ stick

For Sauce
Tomatoes – 6 Large Plum tomatoes
Onion – ½ Large White onion
1 tin of Vegetable Starch

Process

Making the Sauce
Cut the Onions and tomatoes, take Olive oil in a pan, fry the onions till they are golden brown. Now add the sliced tomatoes and fry them along with the onions. Let it cool for about 5 mins and grind the onions, tomatoes and salt to taste and then add the vegetable stock to it and grind it for 2 mins.

Pasta
Bring 6 large cups of water to boil, add the bow tie pasta to it and cook the pasta for about 12-15 mins. Drain the water out of the pasta and keep it aside.
Peel the carrots and cut them into long thin slices , cut the other vegetables into long thin slices. Cook all the vegetables together after adding the butter. Once the vegetables are tender, add cubes of panner, the sauce to the mix and let it boil for about 5 mins. Now add the pasta to the sauce and serve it hot.

You can add any other vegetables like Green beans, Mushroom, Potato etc.

Enjoy the Paneer Pasta

Baingan Dosa

Baingan Dosa Ingredients

All of you must have eaten Dosa or Masala Dosa. I cannot take any credit for making the dosa itself but my wife is good at it. The credit for the recipe goes to my wife. We had some left over Baingan Bharta and we both decided to try something innovative and make a Baingan Dosa instead of the Masala Dosa. The recipe is quite simple if you know how to make the Dosa.
Dosa Ingredients
Rice – 2 cups
Urad Dal – 1 Cup
Chana Dal – ¼ cup (gives the brown color to the Dosa)
Methi seeds – ½ table spoon
Salt to Taste
Baingan Bharta Ingredients
Follow the recipe here – Baingan Bharta

Process

Soak the Chana Dal, Rice, Urad Dal in water overnight. Grind all of them together and make a soft batter. Heat a pan, add one teaspoon oil (if you do not want oil, you can use the Pam spray), pour one small cup of batter on the pan, spread it thin. If you really want to make it like the guy on the street in India, Spread the batter cut a large Onion into half and dip it in Oil and spread it on the dosa.

Now take 2 large tablespoon of Baingan Bharta, apply it on the unroasted part of the dosa. Turn the Dosa around and let the baingan Bharta side also roast for some time. If you want to make it spicy, you can cut small pieces of onions and also apply them on the Baingan Bharta.
Take the dosa out of pan and it is ready to eat. Remember this is a very heavy dish with all the Baingan Bharta on it. Enjoy it.

Eggplant - Punjabi Style

Baingan Bharta (Eggplant curry)
You will find a lot of recipes on the net for this dish. This however as usual is my version of the Punjabi special.
Ingredients
1 large Eggplant (Baingan) (3-4 long brinjals if you are in India)
2 Large tomatoes
2 cloves of garlic
1 small piece of Ginger
½ Large White Onion (2 Indian onions)
2 Teaspoons Cumin powder
2 Teaspoons Corriander powder
3-4 Tablespoons of Canola or Vegetable Oil
4 Green Chilies
½ bunch of corrainder
Salt to taste
1 teaspoon Turmeric Powder (optional)
1 cup of green peas (soaked overnight and cooked. Adding frozen peas really spoils the taste. Avoid this ingredient if you cannot find fresh peas.)
Process:
Preheat the oven to 450 Degrees. Oil the tomatoes and the Baingan. Pierce the Baingan at random in various places with a fork (Do not pierce it too much or too hard otherwise the eggplant will break part). Bake the eggplant for about 35- 40 mins till it is really soft. Bake the Tomatoes as well (for 20 mins).
Take a pan and put the oil in it. Add the onions and the chilies and fry the onions till they are golden brown. Whisk the tomatoes slightly for about 30 seconds. Add the tomatoes to the onions and continue to fry them over a low heat.
Now take the eggplant out of the oven, wash it under water (to reduce the heat) peel the skin and cut it into small pieces. Add the eggplant to the onions, chilies and tomato and mash the eggplant, stir in the peas. Add salt to taste, Cumin and coriander powder and let it be on the pan for 4 mins. Now add the coriander leaves (cut into small pieces) and serve with Naan or Chapati.
Coming up next: Baingan Dosa – a fusion between North and South Indian cuisines

Mango Cheesecake

I have been thinking about putting my thoughts out on the web and I guess it is time for me now to do so. My experience to share today is the Mango cheese cake. A touch of Indian taste to the all American cheese cake. Very similar to carrot cheese cake but a few ingredients changed to make the cake not as sweet as the mangoes add natural sweetness. So here are the ingredients.
For the cake
All Purpose Flour, 2 Cups
Eggs , 2 Large
Sugar, 1 Cup
Mangoes, 2 Large – peel and cut one into small cubes and make a puree of the other
Vanilla Extract, 1 teaspoon
Cinnamon Powder, 1 teaspoon
½ cup buttermilk
Baking powder, 1 teaspoon
Baking soda, 1 teaspoon
Pecans, 4OZ
For the Frosting
Cream cheese, 1 8OZ pack softened
1 Stick of Butter softened
1 cup of powder sugar
Vanilla extract 1 teaspoon

Process

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Heat the pecans, cut them into small pieces. Whisk the eggs into the all purpose flour, add the sugar, mango juice, buttermilk, cinnamon powder and all the other ingredients and whisk them thoroughly. Add the cubed mangoes and the pecans into the batter. Flour the pans and butter the parchment sheet. Pour the batter into two equal parts into pans and bake it in the oven for about 1 hour at 325 degrees.
In a large bowl, with a electric beater, beat the cream cheese, butter, vanilla extract for about 5-7 minutes till it is really soft.

Take the 2 cakes out, let them cool for 30 minutes, peel off the parchment sheet. Apply frosting on the cake. Invert the second cake on top and apply the remaining frosting on both the cakes. Refrigerate it for an hour and then serve this summer dessert.