Mango thokku (Grated mango pickle)

After 3 long years, I am finally reblogging. This time around, I am just going to go straight to the recipes..So here's my spicy pickle recipe to kick start the blog once again!!


Ingredients:

1) Fenugreek seeds - 2 tbsp
2) Raw mango - 2
3) Sesame oil - 1/4 cup to start with :)
4) Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
5) Dry red chilli powder - 2 - 3 tsp (dependeing on how hot your chilli powder is)
6) Asafoetida - 2 pinches or 1/8th tsp
7) Mustard seeds
8) Curry leaves (optional)
9) Powdered jaggery (optional)
10) Salt to taste. (start with 1 tsp).

Steps:

1)Dry roast the fenugreek seeds.Cool and make it into fine powder. (you just need 1/4 tsp or a pinch..so save the rest of the powder for other pickles :) )

2) Peel the skin of the mangoes and grate it.

3) Heat Sesame oil in a pan and add Asafoetida, mustard seeds & curry leaves.

4) When it crackles add the grated mango and turmeric. cook till mango becomes very soft.

5) Add chilli powder and salt. Mix well and cook till the oil separates.

6) Finally add fenugreek powder, jaggery and mix well. Switch off and let this cool.

Note:

1) Pickle should be room temp before it is transferred to the bottle, or the steam will condense on the sides and spoil the pickle.
2) Once you transfer to bottle, on top of the pickle add 1 to 2 tsp of sesame oil to  ensure freshness. (optional step)
3) Most imp, any  tam-brahmin mom will swear by this..always use sesame oil for the tamil style pickles (or the world will stop spinning...and I am too afraid to go against this theory :D )
4) Skip the jaggery if you do not like the taste of it. I add it whenever I go overboard with the chilli powder.

A short recap and Thanksgiving

This blog remained inactive for over a year due to a combination of "life events" for many of the contributors, and on a larger scale, due to what is simply called as 'laziness'. Things have been going on..as they always will. There have been the ideas, recipes, and nudges back and forth to get past what started feeling like "re-starting troubles",I should say.

So, to shake off the dust and plunge right to it- in today's post I'll take you to the setting of the recent 'food' related event we had- Thanksgiving. No recipes here, but if you like the look of something, let us know and we'll put it down.

Despite having never been a part of it a traditional celebration, Thanksgiving as a tradition is something that I can connect to easily. A day with family and friends, to give thanks and be grateful for the blessings in our lives is a beautiful thing. And no matter which the land or the people, we always celebrate with food- lots of it, in the most heartiest spread we can offer, right?

Which is what we attempted this year. Three couples and a little girl, and about 16 dishes. It's grossly over the top, I'm sure, which is why we'll call it a feast- an extravagant spread that we're not meant to finish at one time.

 The menu was 'skype'-stormed and finalized by the three girl-chefs. The task was set to unfold as a surprise challenge to the other three guy-chefs. (The girl-chefs were thoughtful enough to plan for four dishes to be made the night before.. if the surprise ended up on the wrong side)

The day dawned cloudy and cold. After enough goof ups and memory lapses, and a breakfast of crackers with pepper jelly and cheese to fire up cold bellies, we started off at 12pm.

The surprise was sprung - a cook off between the guy and girl chefs- 12 dishes split by lots to two teams. And thus it began. The ultimate cook off ;)

I have to say this again..that it was much thanks to the active and enthusiastic participation of the amateur guy-chefs that we ended up with a fun day and much more than the four backup dishes.

Let me give a shout out for the guys Hari, Deepak and Srini for making this feast possible, for the girls Nandita, Anita and Indu for their planning and optimism, for Nandita again whose idea this was, for little Hrishita who was a great and somewhat mystified helper, for Anita and Indu for getting it on camera, and then of course for Indu (myself ;)) for patient video editing.

Check us out!

Dangar pachadi - Strange name eh?

Strange name for such a tame dish...but despite the fancy name it is quite simple..but delicious!! I guess this is some kinda Iyercooking stuff..never seen this made anywhere outside the family...am just assuming though..

The first time I ever got a taste of it was at my aunt's house...and the name was intimidating...I thought it takes hours n hours to prepare this...long long after that I found out that this is one of the simplest dish ever..check out the recipe below..

Danger pachadi/ Urad dal raita

Ingredients:

1) Urad dal - 2 tbsp
2) Oil - half tsp
3) Sour buttermilk - 1 cup
4) Salt to taste

For Tempering:

5) Mustard seeds - half tsp
6) Cumin seeds - half tsp
7) Asafoetida - a pinch
8) Curry leaves - 3 to 4
9) Dry red chilli - 1 half, broken to pieces
10) Oil - 1 tsp

Method:

1) In a small pan, heat half a tsp of oil and add the urad dal to this. Fry fora min or 2 till the urad dal becomes golden brown.

2) Remove from heat and let it cool down a bit. Grind this to a fine dry powder.

3) Place the urad dal powder in a bowl n add buttermilk, a little at a time and mix without making any lumps. Add salt to taste.

4) Fry all the ingredients mentioned under "For Tempering" and pour it over the pachadi.


Yummy Dangar pachadi is ready! That takes hardly 5 mins to prepare. At home, we would usually prepare the urad dal powder in a large batches, like half a cup and store it. Itz so easy to make the pachadi whenever you want!!