Majjiga Chaaru

Yogurt is known as Majjiga in Telugu and chaaru means rasam. This is a very simple to make and a delicious rasam variety that I have made till now. Perfect dish when you want to have something light:)
  

Ingredients 

Sour yogurt – 1 cup

Water – 2+1/2 cups

Green chillies – 2

Chopped coriander leaves – 2 tbsps

Chopped curry leaves – 1 tbsp

Ginger – 1/2 inch

Turmeric powder – 1/2 tsp

Hing ( asafoetida/ perungayam) – 1/4th tsp 

Salt to taste

For tempering

———————–

Ghee – 1 tsp

Mustard – 1 tsp

Cumin seeds ( jeera) – 1/2 tsp

Fenugreek seeds( methi/ vendhyam) – 1/4th tsp

Method

Wash and finely chop green chillies and ginger.

Beat the yogurt well till there are no lumps. 

Add 2 and a half cups of water and mix well.

To this add hing,turmeric powder,salt to taste, chopped green chillies, ginger, coriander leaves and curry leaves and mix well. Let it just simmer. It will only take few mins. Do not let it boil.

Take it off the gas.

Heat ghee in a pan. Add mustard. When it starts spluttering, add cumin seeds and fenugreek seeds. Sauté for few seconds and add the tempering to the chaaru.

Let it rest for few mins. Serve the chaaru hot with rice and any vegetable:)

  

Fruity Vegetable Salad

Today, there was a potluck lunch meet with my school alumni group. And I had to make a salad. 

So, I made a healthy and colourful mixed fruit and vegetable salad. I have added roasted nuts as a garnish to give a good crunch. 

This a wholesome and a complete salad which can be had as a light meal. 

I was really when everyone appreciated and said that the salad was good and it was a pleasure seeing everyone enjoy the salad:)

  

Ingredients

Carrots – 4

Cucumber – 4 ( seedless variety)

Green capsicum- 1

Red capsicum- 1 

Yellow capsicum – 1

Boiled fresh corn – 2 cups

Apple – 2

Pineapple – 1/2

For the dressing

——————-

Lemon – 2

Honey- 1 tbsp

Crushed pepper – 11/2- 2 tsps

Red chilli flakes – 1 tsp

Oil – 2 tbsps

Salt to taste

For garnish

————–

Chopped coriander leaves – 1/2 cup

Peanuts – 1/2 cup

Walnuts – 1/4th cup

Sesame seeds – 1 tbsp

Method

Wash, peel and grate the carrots.

Wash, peel and cut cucumber into small cubes.

Wash and cut capsicums, apple and pineapple into cubes.

In a big bowl add all the chopped vegetables and fruits. Add the boiled corn and mix well.

Keep it in the fridge for some time.

To make the dressing

————————-

Cut the lemons and squeeze to extract the juice.

To the lemon juice, add the honey, crushed pepper, chilli flakes, oil and salt to taste. Mix well.

To make the garnish

————————-

Crush the walnuts.

Heat a pan. Add peanuts, walnuts and sesame seeds and dry roast till it becomes golden and crisp.

To serve the salad 

———————-

Add the dressing to the salad and mix well.

Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and roasted nuts and seeds and serve immediately:)

   
 

Cucumber Barley and Pomegranate Chat

I had some cooked barley with me. I wanted to use that to make a soup. First I thought of using it as a garnish for cold cucumber soup. But finally ended up making this as light and a refreshing chat. 

Barley is very good for health and this is one interesting way to include in the day to day menu.

I was very happy with my creation and my family really loved it:)

  
Ingredients 

Cucumber -3 medium sized

Cooked barley – 3 tbsps

Pomegranate- 3 tbsps + little fur garnishing

Chopped coriander – 1 tbsp

Roasted jeera powder- 1/4th tsp

Red chilli powder- 1/4th tsp

Salt to taste
For the dressing

————————-

Yogurt – 3 tbsps

Oil- 1/4th tsp

Red chilli powder- 2 pinches

Jeera powder – 2 pinches

Sugar – 1/4th tsp

Chat masala powder- 1/4th tsp

Salt to taste

Chopped coriander leaves and pomegranate for garnishing.

Method

Wash, peel and cut the cucumber into big pieces. 

Scoop out the centre to make it as a cup and reserve the pulp and the seeds.

  
Chop the scooped out pulp. 

In a bowl, add the chopped pulp, barley, pomegranate ,chopped coriander leaves, red chilli powder, jeera powder and salt to taste and mix well.

Fill the the cucumber cups with this mixture.

  
To make the dressing

Beat the yogurt well. Add all the ingredients mentioned for the dressing and mix well.

  

To serve the chat

Arrange the stuffed cucumber cups in a serving tray, pour over the dressing, garnish with chopped coriander leaves and pomegranate and serve immediately:)

   
   

Jackfruit Lassi

Jackfruit is one of its own kind of tropical fruits, recognized for its unique shape, size, and fruity flavor of its bulbs and its aroma. The fruit is deliciously sweet in taste. It is rich in energy, dietary fiber, minerals, and vitamins and free from saturated fats or cholesterol, making it one of the healthy summer treats.
My husband’s friend gave us one big whole jackfruit. It is very very sweet and delicious. Inspite of sharing it with everyone, we still have a lot more left. So, I thought making something new with jackfruit. 

What can be more soothing than a lassi during summer? Made this jackfruit lassi for the first time. It was indeed very soothing and delicious:) 

  

 

 Ingredients 
Jackfruit bulbs – 15 ( deseeded)

Yogurt- 2 cups

Ice cubes – 1/2 cup

Sugar – 4 tsps

Salt – a pinch

Cardamom powder- 1/4th tsp

Finely chopped jackfruit- 4 tbsps

Method

First grind the jackfruits to smooth paste.

Add yogurt, ice cubes, sugar, salt and cardamom powder. Blend everything together till it becomes smooth.

Pour it in tall glasses (4), garnish with chopped jackfruit and serve immediately:)

   
 

Kesar Badam Mango Milkshake

My kids love mango milk shake. I make it almost every alternate day during the mango season. Today I have added some badam and kesar to make it more richer and enhance the nutritive value. Had some left over vanilla ice cream. So I served the mango milk shake with a scoop of ice cream. My kids were happy. Simple joys of summer season, isn’t? 🙂
  
Ingredients 

Chopped ripe mangoes- 4 cups

Skimmed milk – 3 cups

Badam ( almond) flakes- 4 tbsp

Kedar ( saffron) – a big pinch

Sugar – 6-8 tsps

Ice cubes – 10-12

Vanilla ice cream – 4 small scoops ( optional)

Method

Blend everything except icecream to a smooth puree.

Serve in 4 tall glasses with a scoop of ice cream:)

   
 

Tortilla Wraps with Mango Salsa

The mangoes that I had cut yesterday were not completely ripe and sweet. It was little sour and crunchy to bite. It was just perfect to make chutney or salsa. 

Initially I thought of making paratha and spicy and sweet mango chutney. Then I got this idea of making tortilla wraps and salsa with mango. My kids were very thrilled as I made a Mexican dish after a very long time.

Healthy and wholesome tortillas with sweet and sour, refreshing mango salsa was a perfect breakfast for a bright summer day:)

  

Ingredients

For the Tortillas

Whole wheat flour – 1 cup

Maize flour ( makkai atta/ chola maavu )- 1/2 cup

Salt to taste 

Warm water as required 

For the Mango salsa

Chopped onions – 1 cup

Chopped green capsicum – 1 cup

Chopped mangoes – 2 cups

Red chilli flakes – 1 tsp

Olive oil – 1 tbsp

Chopped coriander leaves- 2 tbsp

Method 

For the Tortillas

In a big bowl, add the whole wheat flour, corn flour and salt. Mix well. Add required amount of warm water and knead to a smooth dough. Let it rest for 15-20 mins.

  

Divide the dough into 8 portions. Take one portion and roll into a smooth ball.

Flatten it gently. Dust liberally and roll into uniform circle.

Cook on a hot tawa on both sides till brown spots appear.

   
 

Make all the tortillas similarly and keep it aside.

For Mango Salsa

Heat oil in a pan. To the hot oil, add chopped onions. Sauté till it turns pale. Add the chopped capsicum, red chilli flakes and salt to taste. Mix well and sauté again till the capsicum turns tender( ensure that its not over cooked). 

  
Take off the gas and add the chopped mangoes. Mix well. Check for the seasonings. Add the chopped coriander leaves and mix it well. 

  

To make the wraps

Place a tortilla on a plate. Keep a spoon full of filling on one side of the tortilla. Roll it up tightly. Similarly make the rest of them.

  
Cut and serve along with some tomato ketchup:) 

   
   

Eggless Mango Cupcakes

My daughter has been asking me to bake some cupcakes for a while now. I have lots of mangoes at home. I came across this interesting recipe in the net. Made few changes to that and made this cup cake.I was very delighted with the result. It really was soft, had a melt mouth texture with a lovely mango flavour. 

I didn’t want to make it heavy by using any cream or butter frosting. The mango puree itself is rich, smooth and fluffy enough to be used as frosting. This idea came to me when I puréed the mango and was transferring it to bowl. It fell from the spoon as smooth as the whipped cream:)

  
Ingredients 

Mango purée- 1/2 cup + 1 tbsp

Maida – 1/2 cup

Semolina( rava)- 1/4th cup

Castor sugar- 1/4th cup

Olive oil – 1 tbsp ( can use any refined oil)

Yogurt- 1/4th cup

Baking powder- 1/2 tsp

Baking soda- 1/4th tsp

Salt – a pinch

Cardamom powder- 1/4th tsp

For frosting 

Chilled mango puree – 1/2 cup

Almond flakes for garnish

Method

Preheat oven to 190 deg cel.

Grease the cup cake moulds and keep it ready.

Sieve together maida, baking powder, baking soda and salt twice. Add the semolina and mix well.

  
Beat together oil, yogurt, mango purée, sugar and cardamom powder well.

  
Add the maida and semolina mixture to this 

and mix well again.

Transfer the batter to the greased cupcake moulds till its 3/4th filled.

   
 

Bake in a preheated oven at 190 deg cel for 25-30 mins.

Remove, unmould and cool the cake completely.

   
 

Frost the cake with chilled mango puree, sprinkle almond flakes on top and serve:)

   
 

Iced Lemon Mint Ginger Tea

Iced Tea or ice tea is a form of cold tea. Though usually served in a glass with ice.it can also refer to a tea that has been chilled or cooled. It may or may not be sweetened.
Iced tea is also a popular packaged drink. It can be mixed with flavored syrup, with common flavors including lemon, raspberry, lime, passion fruit, strawberry, peach and cherry. While most iced teas get their flavor from tea leave. Herbal leaves are also sometimes served cold and referred to as iced tea.

 Iced tea is sometimes made by a particularly long steeping of tea leaves at lower temperature (one hour in the sun versus 5 minutes at 180-210 °F / 80-100 °C). Some people call this ‘sun tea’. In addition, sometimes it is also left to stand overnight in the refrigerator.

Today was a very hot day in Chennai. I had a strong desire to have iced tea. Mint lemon is my favourite. Added some ginger to spice up a little. Enjoyed cold ice tea with some masala peanuts in the evening. Trust me when I say that it was very delicious and refreshing:)

  
Ingredients

Mint leaves- 8 tbsps 

Grated ginger- 1 tsp

Tea leaves- 1 tsp

Water- 6 cups

Sugar- 4-5 tsps or to taste

Lemon juice- 4-5 tsps

Ice cubes- as much as required

Mint leaves and lemon slices for garnish.

Method

Wash and crush the mint leaves.

Add the mint leaves, grated ginger and sugar to 6 cups of water.

Let it boil. Once it starts boiling vigorously, add the teas leaves and take it off the gas.

Let it brew for few mins.

Strain the tea and let it cool. Add lemon juice and mix well.

Take 4 glasses and fill it with lot of ice. Pour the tea over the ice, garnish with mint leaves and lemon slices and serve it cold:)

   
 

Mango Mocktail

Chennai’s weather for the past two days has been a pleasant surprise. It’s just warm. Still, I was in a mood for a mocktail. With whatever I had in my kitchen, I have created this recipe:) I thoroughly enjoyed making this and I hope you would all enjoy this recipe:)
  

Ingredients 

Chopped mangoes- 1 1/2 cups

Strawberry crush- 6 tbsps

Ice cubes- 25-30

Sugar- 4 tsps

Red chilli flakes- little 

Soda water-  2 cups

Method

Blend the mangoes, sugar, red chilli flakes and some ice cubes to a smooth purée.

Take a tall glass. First add the strawberry crush. Let it drip through the sides of the glass. Add some ice cubes. 

 

 Now add some mango purée. Add little strawberry crush and top it with some more mango purée till the glass is just 3/4th filled.

  

Now pour the soda till the brim. Stir it once with a gentle hand. Sprinkle some red chilli flakes and serve immediately:)

  

  

Cucumber and Pomegranate Raita

Bangladeshi dish. The basic ingredient for this dish is yogurt. Vegetables or fruits or combination of vegetables and fruits can be added to the yogurt. It can be used as a dip or sauce or salad. The yogurt may be seasoned with coriander, mint, and other herbs and spices.

Cucumber and yogurt are perfect summer ingredients. It’s helps to cool down and hydrate the body.  

Today I have made raita with cucumber and pomegranate. Pomegranate adds to the nutritive value of this dish. Also it makes it mildly sweet and crunchy:)

Ingredients 

Cucumber-  1 big
Pomegranate- 1/2 cup
Salt to taste
Roasted jeera powder- 1/4th tsp
Chilli powder- 1/4th tsp
Sugar- 1/2 tsp
Garam masala- 1/4th tsp
Yogurt- 1 1/2 cups

Method 

Grate cucumber.

Beat the yogurt well it becomes smooth. 

In a bowl, add the grated cucumber, pomegranate and beaten yogurt and mix well. 

Add jeera powder, chilli powder, sugar, garam masala, sugar and salt to taste. 

Mix everything together and serve chilled.