Travels for Taste

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Caribbean Sweet Mini Pepper Salad

July 19, 2013 by manjirichitnis 3 Comments

When I first purchased sweet mini peppers I made a pie with them, well honestly it looked anything but perfect and just about made it to ”ok” on the taste parameters, but I shall leave that discussion for a later date. This recipe is adapted from the one given on the cute resealable bag in which the vibrantly colourfull and tempting  sweet peppers were packaged in by the supermarket.

Serves:6 as a side dish  Prep Time:15 Minutes, allow for at least half an hour of marination to allow flavours to really develop and pack a punch

Ingredients for the salad dressing:Juice of 1 lime

  • Juice of 1 lime
  • 1 garlic clove – remove skin and crush
  • 2 X 15 ml cooking oil, I used sunflower
  • 3 X 15 ml red wine vinegar
  • 1 X 5 ml hot pepper sauce
  • 1/4 X 5 ml Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1/2 a teaspoon castor sugar
  • Salt to sprinkle
  • Freshly cracked black pepper to taste

Ingredients for the salad

  • 6-8 sweet mini peppers, de-seeded and  chopped into tiny cubes
  • 1 can of 400 gm (14 oz) ready to eat  red kidney beans drained and rinsed
  • 1/2 a cucumber, peeled and chopped into tiny cubes
  • 250 gm cherry tomatoes
  • 1 large red onion sliced lenght wise
  • 195 gm (7oz) sweet corn drained

I also added the remaining portion of the organic mangoes,roughly chopped into bite sized pieces, this is an optional add I just needed to use up the mango and it added a sweet-tangy taste which I love.You could also chop fine a small bunch of fresh coriander or skip it totally.

Method:

  • In a large salad bowl mix all the dressing ingredients and add all the salad ingredients into the bowl
  • Mix well and leave to marinate for at least half an hour.
  • Since it’s super hot right now I kept it in the fridge for a bit before serving.

This salad is a super side dish with Jerk Chicken and for those summer evening when you feel you cannot eat heavy meals, just combine it with a portion of roasted meat replacement done lightly spiced.I love my new salad bowl gifted by my aunt on her visit to ours.Love you maushi.

Caribbean Sweet Mini Pepper Salad

Filed Under: Food, Healthy, Recipe Index, Salads, Vegetarian Tagged With: black pepper, Caribbean Sweet Mini Pepper Salad, castor sugar Salt, cooking oil, cumin, garlic clove, hot pepper sauce, lime, salad bowl, side dish recipe, summer party menu, summer salad, sunflower oil.red wine vinegar, Worcestershire sauce

Caribbean themed Summer Fruit Smoothie

July 18, 2013 by manjirichitnis 11 Comments

There’s no better way to get your summer party guests to cool down and settle in than by offering them a chilled fruity delight that takes away the torture of travelling in summer with the sun not feeling unapologetic as it beats down upon us!

I wanted to create a more complex flavour but settled for a sweet tangy combo with a few ingredients. It’s quick,easy and absolutely exploding with summer fruity goodness.

Makes 1.5 l and the plastic posh glass I served in holds 100 ml.

Ingredients:

  • 2 large organic mangoes
  • 5 juicy strawberries
  • 400 gm Pineapple chunks  with juice – I bought the long life jars since I have a shockingly tiny refrigerator.
  • Juice of 1/4th  lime
  • 225 gm Mango Pulp – I used half of a 450 gm tin of Kesar Mango Pulp

Method:

  • I bought the Mediterranean Mangoes,the ones from a supermarket shelf where the skin appears green but when you gently press down onto the skin and pulp moves easily inside that means, they are ready for consumption, if you buy them a day in advance ensure you refrigerate them minus the plastic packaging to prevent over ripening and also ”sweating” of the fruit inside the plastic packaging.
  • Scoop out the pulp from the ”cheeks” of the 2 mangoes and leave the rest for Caribbean Sweet Mini Pepper salad. Chop into big chunks for the blender.
  • Wash the strawberries, halve them after removing the stalk
  • Blitz the mango pieces, the pineapple pieces and the juice, the strawberries, mango pulp and juice of half a lime ensuring there are no seeds in it.
  • Pour into a jug and leave to cool in the refrigerator.
  • Serve with ice cubes in a fancy glass, I bought these plastic ones on a steal deal from the party section of a discount store. 🙂

This simple but delicious smoothie is perfect as a summer cooler and will not fail to impress your guests and besides its a great way to kick off a summer party!I hope you enjoy making and sharing this smoothie as much as I loved creating and writing about it, each glass refilled made me smile – a lot.

Carribean Themed Summer Smoothie

Why not also have a look at this easy and yum Strawberry Mojito Recipe by Helen who writes the blog Actually Mummy.

Filed Under: Food, Quick and Easy, Recipe Index Tagged With: Caribbean themed Summer Fruit Smoothie, food bloggers lunch party, fruit punch, Good Food, lime, mangoes, original recipe, pineapples, recipe, recipe development, summer party, sweet mango pulp, tin, tinned

Key Lime Pie

June 29, 2013 by manjirichitnis 4 Comments

Calling all DEXTER Fans!

Key Lime Pie – or one of Dexter ”victims” last meal, (who wanted to be a well ”victim”, if you watch Dexter as obsessively as I do, you will know! Season 3 episode 8 – Easy as Pie)

Well, this popular American Dessert is very easy to make and a delicious dessert option to serve. Recipe adapted from Martha Stewarts’ recipe for homemade Key Lime Pie and from BBC Good Food.

Key Limes get their name from the association with the Florida Keys and because they are the main ingredients in well, Key Lime Pie! I have used the darker green skinned limes and they give that – much required and tangy citrus taste to the pie.

Ingredients:(Serves 8)

  1. 300gm HobNobs (hob-nobs are the U.K version of the U.S Graham Crackers, use any biscuit/ cracker that will give you a good crumbly base)
  2. 150gm unsalted butter melted and cooled
  3. One 397gm tin of  condensed milk
  4. Four egg yolks
  5. Zest and juice of 4 limes

Method:

  • Put the hobnobs into a thick, strong, food-grade plastic bag and give them a good bashing, what fun, totally de-stressing! Or if you are less violent and do not watch Dexter then please use a food processor.
  • Mix these beautiful crumbs with the soft melted and cooled butter in a bowl, my big orange plastic bowl is so good for this (for a quick peek at the bowl check out my post about cookies and headache ok well just cookies tehehehe)
  • Firmly pat onto a tart tin 22 cm is what I have, I used a thick white ceramic pie pan which I purchased earlier on in the day and ended buying a gorgeous Brita Water Filter with it too, I love low price deals and my old water filter jug needed to be chucked!
  • Bake the base for 10 minutes in a pre heated oven at 160C/fan 140C/gas 3
  • Then separate the 4 egg yolks from the whites and add the entire tin of condensed milk, whisk for about 3  minutes , good if you have an electric whisk , I was making this pie at an obscenely late hour in the night and didn’t dare use my electric whisk ;), so had to mix really well for about 5 minutes.
  • Zest the limes so that some of the zest can go into the mix and some can be used to dress the pie
  • Now add the juice of the limes and some of the zest into the egg & condensed milk mix and whisk for another 3 minutes.
  • Pour onto the cooled base and bake for another 10 minutes.
  • Cool completely on a wire rack and then refrigerate for at least 3 hours or overnight.
  • Dress the pie with some more lime zest, I didn’t want to do the whipped cream bit on the top but ended up using the ready made squeezy ready to use cream from a can, it sits very quickly and if you do not consume immediately it will form a puddle on the top so please avoid !

This is a wonderfull dessert to be shared with friends and family and is apt for weekend meals, make ahead and refrigerate.Great for summers!

Key Lime Pie n some pine cones
Key Lime Pie dug in
Oh so good ...ummlicious

Looking for more inspiration to indulge your sweet-tooth? Why not browse through my dessert recipes:

  • Cinnamon Pecan GF cake
  • Chocolate coconut cake with coconut icing
  • Easy chocolate cake with chocolate icing
  • POSH Victoria sponge cake

Filed Under: Desserts, Food, Recipe Index Tagged With: American Desserts, an american life, bake, BBC Good Food Guide, Condensed Milk, cool, Crime Drama, delicious, desserts for the weekend, Dexter, Dexter and Rita, double cream, easy dessert, eat well, family favourite recipes, Florida Keys, food bloggers, HobNobs, Key Lime Pie, lemon zest, limes, Martha Stewart recipes, Nestle, oven, overnight, quick and easy summer desserts, ready in 25 minutes, sugar, summer dessert recipe, unsalted butter, whipped cream

Easy and healthy one-pot chicken noodles

June 17, 2013 by manjirichitnis 4 Comments

It was one of those days when I wished the dinner made itself ,but hey you know what I am saying right?Like it’s ONLY Monday and am wishing it was the weekend again , ya, ya that kind of a horrible feeling- gaaahhh! Happens to the best of us , yes even me , ok ok I will get on with the recipe.I  had this vegetable stock packet in my kitchen cupboard that had to be used or else! And I had some tomatoes, bright red  chillies, half a red onion sliced , some unused tiny onions, a juicy lime and a spanking new bottle of Kafir Lime leaves .

Since I had spent the better part of the day, well on facebook 😉 I got my lazy,fat a** out of my house and walked to the supermarket.Some chocken thighs ,a mixed bag with chopped carrot and brocolli on reduced price , just what I was looking for!

Ok so here’s a list of all the ingredients I threw in and managed to make something that made hubby go from ”hummm ummm” to ”interesting” to ” u came up with this recipe like now?” the best compliment, ok am showing off and that sickening right?

Serves:2 , Cook time including serving time :25 miutes

Ingredients:

  1. 500ml vegetable stock
  2. 100ml water
  3. 1/2 of a medium sized red onion sliced lengthwise
  4. 2 -3 shallots chopped lengthwise
  5. 2 cloves of garlic with the skin on
  6. 1 tiny pinch of cumin seeds
  7. 2 Kaffir lime leaves – no more ,they are POTENT!
  8. 2 bright red chillies slit lenghthwise
  9. 1 small tomato chopped into tiny pieces
  10. 3 pieces of chicken with the skin taken off
  11. Red chilli powder as per taste
  12. Salt as per taste
  13. 1 portion of thin egg noodles  – 100 gm approx
  14. 1 small palmfull of diced carrot  – 100 gm approx
  15. 2 -3 bits of broccoli cut into smaller bite sized portions – 100 gm approx
  16. 1/4th of piece of lime to squeeze onto the chicken
  17. 2 tbsp sunflower oil
  18. A smile on your face because you are going to make a new yum dish super quick and you n yours are gonna love-uh it!

The Ingredients

Preparation:

  • Wash the chicken pieces and remove the skin
  • Pan on hob and add one tbsp oil ,saute the thinly length-wise sliced red onion saving a few bits to go into the stock pot.
  • place the chicken pieces and lower the flame, turn the pieces in a few minutes after they start to fry, do not cook them fully as this pan fry bit is to ensure flavour on double impact and get the chicken to release it’s juices
  • at this stage add the tomato bits into the pan and flatten with a spatula after they have sizzled for a bit, this will make the sauted onion flavour marry with the tomato and lock in the chicken juices,squeeze the lime onto this
  • add about 2 tbsp of the vegetable stock to the chicken in the pan and simmer on  as low a flame as possible,keep checking to ensure it does not dry up!
  • Now add 1 tbsp in a saucepan and when it’s hot throw in the 2 big red chillies which have been split lengthwise,followed by the cumin,crushed garlic cloves with skin, some of the red onion chopped leftover from what went in the pan and the shallots chopped lengthwise.Keep the saucepan on a low flame to prevent burning of these ingredients.

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  • When the garlic is done and the pungent chilli and garlic gives off its trademark punch of aroma throw in the Kaffir lime leaves ,when the onion is totally pink n garlic crisp , throw in some of the vegetable stock and some water , add the noodles carrot and broccoli ,cover and bring to a boil, at this stage the carrot is almost cooked and the noodles too, scoop in the chicken and the thick onion-tomato gravy it was in, ensure you get every last bit of the thick sauce from the pan to not loose any of that wholesome goodness!

IMG_2935 (Copy)

  • Now throw in all the remaining vegetable stock and water and add salt and red chilli powder as per taste.
  • cook on a low flame with lid till done, the chicken should just fall of the bone easy and the carrot should be well cooked but not squidgy.
  • Serve hot with soft boiled potatoes in butter and herbs or a crisp baguette.

At 2 small spoons of oil and how it fills you, this one dish stock pot is filling, wholesome,relatively easy and a good for a weekday dinner when you are feeling  well BLAH 😉

please leave comments to let me know if this recipe rocked your boat or totally sucked !

Love,peace and good night bloggy world ,I love ya !

One stock pot chicken and noodle dinner

Filed Under: Food, Meat, Quick and Easy, Recipe Index Tagged With: chicken, chilli, cumin, delicious, easy dinner recipe, eat well, garlic, healthy low calorie dinner recipe, hob, kaffir lime leaves, low flame, noodles, one stock pot, pan, ready in 20 minutes, recipe development, red chilli, red onion, salt, saucepan, shallots, slimming food, sunflower oil, tasty, vegetable stock, water, wholesome goodness, yumyum

Father’s Day Breakfast – Asparagus Soldiers and soft boiled eggs

June 16, 2013 by manjirichitnis Leave a Comment

As far back as I can recollect Sunday was my daddy’s fav day to cook, he is so good with food and flavours and is meticulous to the point to military precision, he always left the kitchen very clean and explained the health benefits of whatever he rustled up, which actually wasn’t necessary considering the food was so tempting always that my sister and I barely heard what he spoke while we stuffed our faces 😉

Even now in his 70’s he is still as enthusiastic in the kitchen and now loves cooking for my sisters kids,his family favourite dishes are biryani, chicken curry and a simple dessert made with china grass.

He used this massive skillet to make biryani’s and its gathering dust now somewhere at home. Baba – as, we call him makes the best soft boiled eggs ever and the most scrumptious omelettes and runny scrambled eggs with cheese.(I want a skillet real bad now!)

Baba , I wish you were in London with us, I would love to have made this simple breakfast for you, I love you daddy.Happy Father’s day, but then you do know that you are the nucleus of my life, don’t you?

Manjiri Chitnis

Asparagus Soldiers and soft-boiled eggs

A childhood favourite and one of the many things my darling Daddy rustled up for me and my sister
Print Recipe
Prep Time 2 minutes mins
Cook Time 8 minutes mins
Servings: 1 Person
Course: Breakfast
Cuisine: Continental
Ingredients Equipment Method

Ingredients
  

  • 2 Eggs
  • 2 strips Bacon / Prosciutto
  • Small bunch Fresh Asparagus
  • Sea salt to season

Equipment

  • 1 Saucepan
  • 1 Knife

Method
 

  1. Boil the asparagus after you chop off the woody bit, check if they are done in about 7 minutes, drain water, wash in cold water for a few seconds and leave aside, covered
  2. While the asparagus is boiling, boil the eggs in another pan, do not cover them and cook them for about 4-5 minutes, drain the hot water and add cold water so that you can hold the egg easily and quickly ”behead” the eggs
  3. The beauty of a soft-boiled egg is the runny interior which is prefect for dunking the asparagus soldiers into
  4. Wrap the crunchy bacon strips around the asparagus
  5. I keep some sea-salt aside to add some flavour , I love eggs so I prefer them without any salt sprinkled

Baba makes the perfect ”quarter” boiled eggs which are runny and soft and he removes a bit of the shell and pours out the egg into a tiny bowl, it goes so well with Pohe (puffed rice used to make a tasty cooked breakfast with finely chopped onion,curry leaves , lime and tiny bite sized potatoes, garnished with finely chopped coriander) … I remember sitting around this tiny table in our first house in Bombay with my sister and Baba would give us these yummy eggs for breakfast on weekends.I love going back in time and reliving those happy days of simple family togetherness.

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Why not try my other recipes with Eggs as the star ingredient?

  • Sausage-loaded omelette – Basic Omelette recipe
  • Masala egg curry, a recipe famous on the street-food stall in Mumbai
  • Smoky chorizo and chives with eggs oven-baked in pots
  • Turkish Poached eggs
  • Indian Masala egg omelette
  • Egg based Team-Time Treats – compilation of recipes
I VISISTED A BUSY EGG FARM WHERE HENS ROAM IN RURAL ENGLAND, HAVE A READ AND BROWSE THROUGH SOME PICTURES FOR A VIRTUAL TOUR

Behind the scenes at an Egg Farm

Filed Under: Food, Quick and Easy, Recipe Index Tagged With: 16th, 2013, baba, better breakfast ideas, Bombay, childhood memories, children, dunk, easy recipes, father, Fathers Day, growing up, growing up happy, Happy Fathers Day, I love you daddy, India, June, kids, memories about dad, Mumbai, ready in 20 minutes, skillet, soft boiled egg and asparagus soldiers, Sunday meals, sunday mornings

Baked Courgette Chips

June 16, 2013 by manjirichitnis 4 Comments

I often crave to munch on something like most of us do and just munching on something so different and bursting with flavour is satiating.

Plus there’s a lot less guilt munching on something that’s baked rather than deep-fried right?? Well, ahem! This recipe was adapted from one I found on All Recipes.

What I love most about this is that it’s done quickly, give it a prep time of 5 min, a cook time of 15 mins, and is ready in 20 minutes! What more can one ask for, just get that oven fired up people!

So here’s what you will need :

Manjiri Chitnis

Baked courgette chips

Easy, delicious and fun to make
Print Recipe
Course: Snack
Cuisine: Fusion
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

  • 2 medium courgettes
  • 2 tbsp Grated parmesan cheese
  • 100 gm Golden Breadcrumbs
  • 2 Egg whites
  • SmokedSea Salt as per taste
  • Groundblack pepper
  • 1/2 tsp Mixed Italian herbs
  • Olive Oil

Method
 

  1. Add the breadcrumbs, cheese, herbs, smoked sea-salt ( I use Oak-smoked Anglesey sea salt, it really packs a punch) ,ground black pepper, Italian herb-mix into a bowl and mix well
  2. Pour the egg whites into another small bowl
  3. Slice the courgettes fine, I use a mandolin to get wafer-thin round slices
  4. Dip the courgette slices into the egg whites and then quickly into the bread crumb mix
  5. Pre heat the oven
  6. Line a baking tray with foil and using a brush apply some olive oil to the foil or use a low-calorie oil spray
  7. Place the courgette slices onto the baking tray
  8. Bake each side for 5 minutes at at 240°C / Gas Mark 9
  9. Once completely cool, transfer to an air-tight container and consume within 1-2 days

:

IMG_2869

I gobbled them up in one sitting! All washed down with a big cuppa of my steaming hot and sweer masala Chai, perfect for a summer afternoon when all you want to do is read that ”unputdownable” book! I am currently reading Dan Brown’s Inferno, what’s on your reading list?

IMG_2876 (Copy)

I am guest hosting the blog linky ‘In My Veg Box’ again this year in March 2015 on my blog, an event run by Vegetarian food blogger Nayna Kanabar of Citrus Spice UK and the theme this month is Courgettes. Just added in my favourite Baked  Courgette ‘chips’  recipe to the linky.

Would love to see all your lovely creations with Courgettes, do link up, all details on how to link up are available on my post here.

In my veg box courgettes event logo

Filed Under: Food, Healthy, Quick and Easy, Recipe Index Tagged With: baked snacks, books, chai, courgettes, Dan Brown, delicious, easy recipe, fast and easy snacks, food blogging, good reading, grated, Guilt Free Snack ready in 20 minutes, guilt free snacking, Indian Food Blogger, Inferno, london, Mumbai, oven, parmesan, pre heated, quick food, sliceoffme, slim, spiced, sweet, tasty, tasty food, tea, time saver recipes, watch your weight, yummy

Prawn and Samphire in butter and chives

June 15, 2013 by manjirichitnis 5 Comments

I first came upon this delightfull crunchy and salty coastal plant –Samphire -when I went into a tiny  shop which sells some amazing fresh sea food on Marylebone Street on my way to the Daunt Book store ( click on the hyperlink to read that blog post)

I found it a supermarket aisle and had to bring it home! I had a few prawns remaining and it was a great way to use them and create a side dish which is no fuss and really quick.

Simply saute the Samphire on a pan when it’s not very hot on a low flame in butter, then add another dollop and saute the prawns add a tiny bit of salt and sprinkle with Chives, Serve by squeezing some lime to add a zing, easy and quick isn’t it? Just what one needs to create good tasty meals without the fuss !

IMG_2829 (Copy)

IMG_2830 (Copy)

Filed Under: Food, Recipe Index, seafood Tagged With: butter, Chives, Daunt Book store, easy side dish recipe, eat well, fresh food, Indian Food Blogger, london, Marylebone, prawns, quick recipes, Samphire, sea food, Sides in 5 minutes and lesser, sliceoffme

Sun Dried Tomato and Chilli Spiced Bread

June 5, 2013 by manjirichitnis 5 Comments

It’s amazingly sunny this week and my spirits are up so I decided to make some  spiced bread with sun dried tomatoes and chilli, it turned out so yum I want to gobble it all up! This bread is a very filling,wholesome bread and is great for mopping up a thick gravy or having perfectly scrambled eggs with asparagus sprigs a dollop of butter – ah – sounds heavenly, my breakfast tomorrow for sure!

The oil from the sun dried tomatoes and the oil that goes in dough and really adds to the taste. It takes some kneading as I don’t own a bread maker (yet !) and didn’t really want to get into the hassle of trying the dough function on my food processor, still if you do possess one the bread bread dough tools, good for you!Recipe adaptation from here

Considering it was my first ever homemade bread, it turned out really nice, bursting with aroma and rich flavours and am now prepared to move on to well more bread making!

Ingredients:

  • 500 gm strong bread flour
  • 25 gm butter
  • Sun dried tomatoes and chillies about a large spoonfull
  • A sachet yeast
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 280 ml water at room temperature
  • Plain white flour for kneading
  • Oil from the chillies and tomato
  • Oil to grease loaf tin
  • Cling Film

Method:

  • Sift the flour and add the yeast salt and sugar with a wooden spoon.
  • Ensure butter is soft and rub in the butter with your hands till the mix looks like breadcrumbs.
  • Add the finely chopped sun dried tomatoes and chillies and some of the oil and mix well.
  • Now add the water slowly, folding it using a wooden or plastic spatula and then knead to make the dough.Keep kneading till a soft dough forms, fold in some oil and plain flour as and when needed.It will take about 15 minutes, yes I know but its worth it!
  • While kneading use the same process as you would while kneading chapati/roti aata , kneading out from center and then folding sides back into the center.
  • Cover in cling film and coat with some more oil. Leave to rise for about 2 hours in  a warm and dry place.
  • Now remove the cling film and knead the risen dough again at least for 8-10 minutes, you will notice that the dough will loose air and will almost go back to its original size.Its like mini air pockets getting tiny punches with your hands.
  • Repeat the cling film process and leave to rise for 30 minutes in a loaf tin in a warm place.
  • Preheat oven to 210 degrees , I have a fan oven,bake for 25 minutes,to ensure it’s well risen.
  • Cool in the tin for 10 minutes and then on the wire rack.
  • Serve sliced and enjoy with curries as a great alternative to regular wholemeal bread or as I plan to tomorrow with soft, perfectly done runny scrambled eggs, thinly sliced ham and asparagus sauteed in butter!

IMG_2792 (Copy)

Filed Under: Baking, Breads, Food, Recipe Index Tagged With: asparagus, butter, dough, easy bread recipe, fan oven, finely chopped, food blogger, knead, light, loaf tin, oil, oven, quick and easy bread recipe, recipe, rich flavours, salt, scarmbled eggs, sliceoffme, spicy bread recipe, sugar, sun dried tomato and chilli bread, tasty, warm, yeast, yummy

Kairee Panhe/ Raw Mango Summer Cooler/Aaam Ka Panna

April 29, 2013 by manjirichitnis 5 Comments

It’s almost 40 degrees Celsius in the afternoon in Pune nowadays, summer is at it’s peak, one needs to keep the mind and the body in sync and cool, at times like this a chilled summer drink and that too one made from raw mangoes is a treat, more so if it’s made by my old mother who is recovering from knee replacement surgery and is walking around using a walking stick. She is just waiting to get back on her feet and go into the kitchen and cook up stuff but under strict orders from her doc can only do so about once in 2 days.

Growing in Mumbai , summer holidays were great fun with my cousins around, mum always made loads of this concentrate from raw mangoes and it was such a treat to come home all sweaty and panting and drink tall glasses of this tangy cooler doused with ice cubes of various animal shapes 😉 aaahhh summer holidays!

Manjiri Chitnis

Kairee Panhe / Aam Ka Panna / Indian Raw Mango Cooler

Traditional Indian Raw Mango Cooler, a firm favourite in our household
Print Recipe
Course: Drinks
Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients Equipment Method

Ingredients
  

  • 4 Raw Mangoes
  • Sugar as needed
  • Green Cardamon /elaichi powder
  • Freshly ground black pepper powder
  • Aniseed/ Vilayati Saunf

Equipment

  • 1 Pressure Cooker / Electric Cooker / Saucepan with Lid
  • 1 Strainer
  • 1 Large Glass bottle to store

Method
 

  1. Pressure cook the raw mangoes by allowing for 2 whistles to happen. Then drain the water and allow them to cool
  2. Once these are boiled and have cooled down, peel the mangoes and collect all the lovely green pulp in a saucepan
  3. The sugar proportion to be added is 3 times the quantity of the pulp, so if the pulp of these 4 mangoes were to fit into a small bowl of about 200gms capacity sugar would be 600 gms
  4. Stir in the sugar into the pulp and keep stirring until it is completely dissolved
  5. Add a large spoon of elaichi powder,some freshly ground black pepper,some aniseed ground  – green Cardamom powder and give this mix a stir in the mixer for just about a minute
  6. Store in a glass jar in the fridge. Do not freeze
  7. Remember never to add salt to this mixture , only while preparing the drink from the concentrate add salt in the glass
  8. While preparing the cooler, add 2 spoons of the raw mango concentrate and add a pinch of salt to this, top this up with cold water and strain after mixing to remove any strands from the pulp, then add ice cubes, dress it up with a spring of mint if you will and drink up this homemade goodness! aaahh! Summer!

I picked these raw mangoes from my granny’s garden , they look stunning don’t they ?

EXPLORE MORE RECIPES FROM MAHARASHTRA, INDIA:

  • Valache Birdhe – C.K.P style recipe -वालाचे बिरडे
  • Konkani Pompfret Fish Curry पापलेटचं कलवण
  • Prawn Khichadi – कोळंबीची खिचडी
  • C.K.P Style Prawn Curry
  • Masoorachi Aamti – Whole Red Lentils with brown skin on – Traditional Maharashtrian Curry Recipe

FIND BELOW A LIST OF INDIAN RECIPES ON MY BLOG, SOME TRADITIONAL, SOME FUSION, AND MANY REGIONAL FAVOURITES!

  • Fresh dill and yellow moong daal recipe
  • Goda sheera/ sooji ka halwa/ Indian dessert
  • CKP Surmai curry
  • Pompfret fry
  • Konbichi khichadi – Prawn khichadi
  • Vaangayche Bharit/ Smoked stuffed Aubergine ( Eggplant/Brinjal) in a thick gravy/ Baingan ka bharta
  • Valache Birdhe – (वालाचे बिरडे) – MADE IN A TYPICAL C.K.P WAY
  • Kairi Panhe/ Aam ka panha – Raw mango summer drink
  • Cauliflower- vatana bhaji – cauliflower and green peas vegetarian side dish
  • Podhnichi khichadi
  • Akkha masoor aamti CKP style / Whole red lentils with skin curry recipe
  • Achari Mutton curry
  • Spicy Chicken curry
  • Egg curry
  • Kadhi – fusion of Punjabi and Gujrati kadhi recipes with vadi’s
  • Upma
  • Gujrati Kadhi
  • Shahi Khichadi
  • Sweetcorn and paneer bhaji/sabzi (vegetable side dish)
  • Tomato and coconut chutney
  • Steamed Idli batter
  • Ragi (Finger Millet) and blueberry pancakes
  • Masala egg omlette
  • Chicken tikka masala
  • Tikka masala curry paste
  • Tawa chicken Frankie roll
  • Chai concentrate
  • Grated carrot salad
  • Strawberry flavoured shrikhand

Filed Under: Food, Indian, Recipe Index Tagged With: 2013, aai, aam ka panna, aji, alphonso, aniseed, black pepper, cardamom, childhood memories, cold drink, elaichi, food blogger, freshly ground, garden, goodness, green, growing up years, home made, India, kids, love, maharashtrain, Marathi, mint, mum, Pune, raw mango, recipe, sliceoffme, sugar, summer cooler, summer holidays, tarditional indian recipes, treat

Clear Vegetable soup with an Indian Phodni

January 1, 2013 by manjirichitnis 3 Comments

Clear Vegetable soup – my way – Easy Cooking, Healthy Food

Happy New Year everyone! It’s a great way to start a new year on a healthy note hence some soup for new years day lunch light and easy !

Nothing warms us up in winter like a steaming hot soup, if it is filling , easy to make and wholesome it makes life even better! Agree? I love ordering clear vegetable soup when I go eating out and though this is not the typical chinese take away and is a very home cooking and simplistic approach it’s still what a soup should essentially be – wholesome…

You can add as many veggies as you like that would marry well with the basic list I think is essential, I basically use whatever is available in my vegetable tray on the said day !

The following roughly make for 2 large bowls of soup and a small leftover portion for Lunch next day, perfect I say !

  1. Cauliflower 1/4th finely chopped
  2. Small hand full green peas
  3. 2 – 3 large sprigs of spring onion finally chopped
  4. Bottle Gourd – 1/4th finely chopped
  5. 2 large cloves of garlic
  6. A pinch of cummin seeds
  7. Half a tea-spoon ghee or low-fat butter example :Lurpack
  8. 2 small carrots finely chopped
  9. Hand full french beans very finely chopped
  10. 1/4th tomato very finely chopped for flavour
  11. Large bit of fresh ginger smashed with skin to add flavour

Optional : Brocoli, sweet corn,potatoes,cabbage

Method:

  1. Boil all the veggies in water with salt to taste and the large piece of ginger with skin after its washed thoroughly , if it has too much mud on it please remove the skin , no knife skills needed just let yourself go, as Jamie Oliver would say !
  2. While these are almost boiled ,take the ghee/butter in a tadka pan(image pasted below ) add the garlic cloves with skin smash them using a mortar pestle before adding and then add the cumin seeds when the gee/butter is hot and sputtering.Add this ”tadka” or seasoning to the boiled veggie water mix and serve hot.
  3. The toasted garlic and ghee combination give off a sweet flavour and an appetising aroma.
  4. An ideal accompaniment is a boiled sweet corn stub slathered in low-fat butter and a slice of your favourite baguette !

Cheers to good health , easy cooking , healthy and wholesome meals and of course winter warmers !

Clear Veg Soup with an Indian Tadkawholesome goodness of vegetables in a broth!

Filed Under: Food, Healthy, Recipe Index Tagged With: chinese, delicious, easy, fast, food, fresh food, happy new year, Indian Tadka, tasty, veg clear soup, vegetables, winter warmer, yummy

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