My experience with mangoes here in US has been a big disaster so far. At my native we had a lot of mango trees. So I have grown up eating one of the best mangoes. Few of them were the “ gavnti ” – country style mangoes, they were very tasty and full of pulp. Anyone who ate these mangoes could never ever forget them. I didn’t realize how much I loved them up until we started living in the US and I was searching in all possible places for any good edible mangoes. When I first saw the beautiful mangoes in Walmart, I could not stop myself and bought few of them. Soon after trying to cut these, I was disappointed. They were not at all sweet and were full of hairy pulp. All of them directly went to trash. I didn’t loose hope and tried buying from Walmart 2-3 times with same results and now my hubby does not allow me to go anywhere near mango section in Walmart. So the next hope was to try Indian store, the same thing repeated there too. Though the pulp was not so hairy, they were too sour or had bland taste.
Even after such a disaster, I bought a pack of peeled and cut mangoes from Costco this time. I knew they were not sweet. I wonder what do they mean by “sweet mangoes” here, have they ever tried Indian mangoes?. This batch was neither sweet, nor sour. They were somewhere between and it was impossible for direct consumption. So I thought of cooking something with them.
I searched in all my recipe collection and could not narrow down on anything. Then I remembered Mango dal by Sandeepa . I was hooked to this recipe from the first time I saw it. Then I realized my husband would not eat the mango pieces in this dal because he didn’t like the big pieces of mangoes in a dish that I had prepared the previous day. So I thought of disguising the mangoes and decided not to tell him whats in the dal . I tweaked the recipe completely as I started cooking and came up with the following recipe. It was lip smacking delicious. We both simply loved it. Thanks a lot Sandeepa for such a lovely dish.
Please check Sandeepa’s blog for the Bengali traditional recipe , the one I have posted here is my modification.
Ingredients: 1 cup masoor dal 1 cup finely chopped mangoes (sweetish sour) 1/2 tea spn finely chopped ginger 4-5 curry leaves 3/4 cup chopped onion 4-5 green chilies Ghee 1/2 tea spn cumin seeds 1/2 tea spn mustard seeds A pinch turmeric 1/2 cup chopped coriander leaves 2 tbl spn fresh/frozen coconut Salt
Amount of mangoes can be adjusted to taste
Method: Heat ghee and add mustard, cumin seeds. When they start popping, add green chilies, curry leaves, ginger. Fry for a min and then add onion. Fry till it turns translucent. To this, add washed masoor dal (do not add water) and mangoes. Fry for about 2-3mins till a nice aroma comes out. Now add salt, turmeric and 2-3 cups water. Close the lid and cook till dal is mashed. This step can be done in cooker, but since this dal cooks pretty fast, I cooked directly on stove top. When done, mash well with a ladle. Garnish with coconut and chopped coriander leaves. Serve hot with rice.
Serves : 3-4 Preparation time : 40mins(about 15mins if cooker is used)
My brother visited us over this weekend. He came to US on a short trip for some office work and before leaving for India, he wanted to meet me and give me loads of home made stuff. We had amazing 3 days. As usual, we had loads of fun, we fought most of the time for silly things, but when he was leaving today, I started feeling so homesick :(. Even though I wanted to cook so many things for him, I hardly cooked anything when he was here. We ate in different restaurants all the time. But on Sunday he wanted to have some home made stuff and he asked me to cook chicken (he is a great chicken fan). Since my husband is not a big fan of chicken, I hardly cook when we are alone. So my brother asked me to cook something which is in my to-cook list for a long time. The moment he said, I knew what I was going to cook.
This recipe is from a Kannada magazine. There was an article about Bunt’s food . I have heard a lot about their food and always wanted to try it. Bunts (or at least the Bunts I know) love chicken. Their chicken gravy and kori rotti is a super hit combo. Since none of us like this papad like kori rotti , I served this great tasting chicken gravy with chapathis and rice.
My brother and husband both simply loved it. They said they could get the authentic taste. This has a very prominent coconut taste to it. To reduce cooking time, I used ready made coconut milk, but freshly extracted coconut milk would taste even better. The gravy tastes better and better as time passes. Make sure to use fresh chicken for better results.
Ingredients: 10-12 pieces chicken 1 and 1/2 cups thick coconut milk 1/2 cup fresh/frozen coconut 1 cup chopped onion 1 tea spn chopped garlic 1 tea spn chopped ginger 5-6 red chilies 1/4 tea spn fenugreek( methi ) seeds 5-6 cloves 1″ cinnamon 1/4 tea spn tamarind extract or 2 pieces tamarind Ghee A pinch turmeric 4-5 strands coriander leaves(optional) Salt
Method: Dry roast red chilies, fenugreek seeds, cloves and cinnamon. Keep them aside. Heat ghee and fry ginger, garlic and 1/3rd cup onion. Fry till onion turns slightly brownish. Add coconut and fry till coconut turns brownish. Grind this along with the roasted spices and tamarind to a smooth paste. Cook chicken pieces in coconut milk, 1/2 cup water and 1/3rd cup raw onion till the chicken pieces are done. Now add turmeric, salt, ground masala and cook for about 7-8mins till the gravy slightly thickens. Garnish with coriander leaves. Heat remaining ghee and fry remaining 1/3rd cup onion till they turn brownish. Pour this on the gravy. Serve hot.
Serves : 3-4 Preparation time : 30mins
PS: Along with chapathis , I served this with basmati rice. While cooking rice, I added 2 cloves and 1 cardamom to it. This resulted in a very fragrant rice which went very well with this gravy.
