Mamidikaya/Mango Charu

This is another recipe which I love. Easy to do and yummy to taste. I believe a modified version of this called "aam ka panna" is very famous in Maharastra. So lets see this charu recipe:

Ingredients
Raw Mango (taste it to check if it is sour)
Green chillies
Curry leaves
Water
Salt to taste
Oil
Mustard seeds
Cumin seeds

Method of preparation

1)Peel the mango skin and chop it into small pieces. Add little water to mango pieces and put it on stove. (mango pieecs should be drowned in water. Do not add too much water at this point. We can add more water while making charu.)

2) After it is done try to mash the pieces with hand or masher until it is kind of soft water. If you want you can filter the water.
3) Take a kadai and add oil to it. Add mustard seeds and let it splutter after the oil is heated. Add jeera (cumin seeds) to it.
4) Add asafoetida to it now and also green chillies at this point. Now add the mango mixture and water to it.
5) Add salt to it and boil it for 5 minutes. 

This charu goes well with plain dal or any dal of your choice with rice.

Mamidikaya Pappu/Mango Dal

This is another famous one from Andhra Pradesh. This dal is usually made in summer when we get the sour mangoes. Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients
Raw Mangoes - 1
Toor Dal - Cooked (if uncooked, then cook it along with peeled, chopped raw mangos)- 1 cup
Curry leaves - a few
Salt to taste (1 and 1/2 tea spoon)
Green chillies - 2 slit and choped
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tea spoon
Oil - 1 table spoon
Jeera - 1/2 tea spoon
Turmeric - 1/2 tea spoon
Coriander powder (Dhania powder)- optional - 1/2 tea spoon

Method of preparation
1) Prepare dal as you would normally do, by adding dal, little turmeric and Jeera. You can add Peeled and chopped mango also while you are cooking dal in pressure cooker.
2) Take a kadai and add oil to it. Add mustard seeds and let it splutter. Now add jeera (optional as it is contained in dal while cooking), green chillies, curry leaves and now add raw mango pieces (only if you did not add it in dal).
3) If you added mango pieces to dal, then add the total cooked dal at this point. Add salt and coriander powder and your dal is ready. Garnish with coriander leaves (optional).

If using Electric pressure cooker, then put cooker in the browning mode. Add oil to it and repeat from step (2) of above, except you will be adding uncooked dal to it and add sufficient water and then cook it on high pressure for 3 minutes for dal to be ready. After you take out dal in serving bowl garnish with coriander leaves.

Serve hot with Rice and ghee.

Bread Toast With Coffee

My husband requested for a bread toast. So I decided to do a bread toast along with Bru Coffee. Easy to make fast and yummy to eat. I initially toast/roast it on the tawa and then added ghee on both sides slightly. Ghee gives a good taste to lot of things and I can say one of it is bread toast. Heated milk in microwave and mixed bru coffee and sugar to prepare the instant coffee. So have a good day.

Bread Pakoda

On a weekend, my husband was asking me to make break pakoda. He had some specifications in mind on how it should be. He studied in BITS pilani and he was remembering the bread pakoda's from there. So he was asking me not to dip the bread in water, but do it just like the regular pakoda. I made it and it came out really delicious that I had to try it one more time just for taking photos and sharing with you all. So here goes the recipe that I used for bread pakoda's.

Ingredients
Bread - cut corners of bread and cut them in half
Batter:
Besan (Senagapindi)
Salt to taste
Jeera powder - a pinch
Red chilli powder

Stuffing Curry:
Onion - 1 small, chopped finely
Potatos - Boiled, Peeled and chopped ( I used 5 potatos)
Turmeric - 1/2 tea spoon
Oil - 2 spoons
Jeera - 1/2 tea spoon
Ginger - very small piece - grated
Green chillies - depends on your taste - finely chopped (I used 3 very hot green chillies)
Salt to taste

Method of preparation
Stuffing preparation:
1. Once potato's are ready, take a kadai and add oil to it. Let it heat up and then add jeera to it. Adding Ginger to it is optional. But if you like to make aloo bonda with left over Aloo curry, then I would suggest add ginger. Add green chillies also at this time.
2. Add the onions and let it fry till translucent. Then add  turmeric, Salt to taste and lastly potatos. Mix them nicely. Potato's might look like they are mashed but it will still taste good. Your stuffing curry is ready.

 Batter preparation:
Mix all the ingredients of batter like a thick one. The batter should be as though you are preparing for bonda. Loosely mixed batter may not stick to the bread properly and may result in soaking up excessive oil, which in turn might change its taste.

Pakoda preparation:
Take two bread slices. Apply water with finger to the edges. Add some curry in the middle of bread. Now take another slice of bread and apply water to the edges again. Put the water applied bread on the top of stuffed bread. press gently with your fingers on the edges. Make sure the curry is not popping out or the bread is not wide open .

Now take the bread sandwiched and dip it in the besan mixture. Make sure the besan mixture is on all the sides and slowly drop it in hot oil (on medium flame). Fry it till it turns slightly golden brown

 Take the pakoda's out from the oil and drain it on a paper towel, to loose the excessive oil. Serve it with your favorite sause. I tried it with both green chilli as well as hot sause and it tasted good.

Note/Suggestions:
1: I tried to make it in triagle shape, but frankly speaking it did not turn out well as in triangle shaped pakoda's it was hard to stuff good amount of sabji and then closing it on corners was a big task. I believe it will require a little effort or little practice at least. So for starters, I would suggest stick with rectangular pakoda's.
2: If Curry is left over, then you can have it either with roti or poori or you can do some aloo bonda with same curry. I tried twice and they came out wonderful.
3: You can also add grated carrot to it. I did not get a chance to try it yet. but it will be healthy and tasty too. But make sure the carrot is properly cooked, before adding the final step of potato's.
4:If you want a bigger version of pakoda's with more stuffing then use the big slices instead of cutting the bread slices to half. I can guarantee, one or two will definitely fill your tummy.
5: If you want even more crunchier top layer, then I would suggest add a spoon of sooji or a pinch of baking powder to besan mixture. Adding either of above will make the top layer crunchy.

Try this and let me know, how it came out. Good Luck and hope you like it.