Pazha Manga / mambazha kuttan / ripe mango curry

Come March - April,  Kerala markets are filled with a variety of mangoes.

A variety which is seen only in Kerala (mainly because it is easily perishable ) is - chandrakaran. It is very close to every malayalis heart.

These are very small mangoes. A kilo would easily hold 20- 30 pieces. They grown in bunches on the top branches of a very tall mango tree. Thus plucking it is a problem. Nature's help - wind, rain - is required. So every morning, we take a basket and roam around the vicinity of the tree to get some of the juicy sweet mangoes which fell during the night before the birds get the first pick!!

When there is a deluge these mangoes become a curry. Mambazha kuttan.
The paste ground gives the curry either a red colour or the faint green colour. I am posting both the recipes here and you can choose which you want to make.

(OR)

The basic ingredients are :

Curry cucumber (vellari) / ash gourd (elavan) - 1/4 kg , peeled and cubed

Ripe mango - 1/2 kg

Drum stick - 1, cut into 2 inch batons

Green chilly - 2, slit 

Jaggery - 2 tbsp

Salt

Turmeric powder - 1 tsp

Oil - 1 tbsp (preferably coconut oil)

Mustard - 1 tsp

Dry Red Chilly - 2, broken 

Curry leaf - 2 sprigs

For the Red curry:

Red chilly - 6 to 8 

Fenugreek seeds  / uluva / methi - 1 tsp + 1/2 tsp for spluttering

Coconut - 1 1/2 cup

For the Green curry:

Green chilly - 6

Jeera - 1 tbsp

Coconut - 1 1/2 cups

Method:

First soak the mangoes in water as we need to remove all the grime. 

Wash very well. See that there is no sand or dirt sticking on. 

Next we peel the skin. Do not throw away the skin. Keep aside in a clean vessel.

Into the peel , add 1 cup warm water.

Start squishing the skin to remove all the pulp.

Transfer the juice to your cooking vessel. Take a big thick bottomed vessel for cooking. 

Use more water to remove all the pulp. What will be left will be just the skin.

Into the mango pulp , add the diced cucumber / gourd, drumstick, slit green chillies, salt and turmeric powder.

Boil and cook until the gourd is half done.

Now add the peeled mangoes.

Mix well. And cook covered on a low flame for 10 minutes. Add some water, if necessary.

This is where you are to decide which curry you have to make : red or green.

If you are making the red colour curry: Dry roast the red chillies and fenugreek seeds until the seeds start to pop.

Grind the red chillies and fenugreek into a smooth paste with the fresh grated coconut and add to the curry.

If you want to make the green colour curry, grind the raw coconut with the green chilly and jeera into a smooth paste and add to the curry.

This the only difference between the 2 curries. 

The rest of the recipe is the same.

Mix well.

Add the jaggery.

After a minute of boiling, reduce flame and add the beaten curd.

Mix well. Do not allow to boil. Once it starts frothing, turn off flame.

Splutter the mustard, broken red chillies, fenugreek seeds and curry leaf in the oil and add to the curry.

(red mambazha curry)

(green Mambazha curry)

Serve hot with rice or enjoy with dosa. 

P.S - This curry tastes great the next day too. But because it contains curd, the sourness might increase. 

Sweet 1-2-3-4

What a great sweet! The name says it all. 1-2-3-4! We had this sweet at a family friend's place and my hubby fell in love with it. So I made as a post run treat. Calories -yes, but taste -

Recipe courtesy - Lalitha Venugopal aka Lalli akka

The measurement is in the name.

1 part ghee or clarified butter

2 part coconut

3 part sugar

4 part milk

I used 1 cup ghee, 2 cups tightly packed coconut, 3 cups sugar and 4 cups milk.

Cardamom essence - 1 tsp (optional)

Don't forget you need -

And 

The mixture splutters like a volcano.

And keep 2 large plates lightly greased ready.

Now the process of making:

Take the 2 cups of grated coconut and grind it into a coarse paste with 2 cups of milk.

Take a heavy bottomed pan and pour in the ground coconut, rest of the milk, sugar and ghee.

Stir well and turn on the flame.

Boil. Stir. Boil. Stir. Boil. Stir. Use those mittens. 

Till you reach this colour.

You are done with the exercise when you can draw a line in the middle of the vessel and the sweet only makes it way slowly to the middle. You can double check by reducing the flame and spreading 1tsp of the mixture on the greased plate. If it sets when cool, it is done.

If you are using cardamom essence, pour it now and stir well.

Pour the prepared sweet on the greased plates and try to make the top smooth.

Cut when cool into desired shape. 

This sweet stays well for more than a week at a room temperature. 

Mint leaf chammandi

Chammandi. This is just chutney which has a greater shelf life - 2 or 3 days as the coconut and other ingredients are fried and usually this is ground into a paste on the traditional 'ammikal' -

using  no or very less water. I had to use water as I use a modern gadget - a mixer grinder.

Do try out this recipe with other varieties of leaf - coriander , curry leaf or even a mix of leaves.

Small onion - 4 or 5

Red chilli - 10 to 12

Garlic - 2 pods (optional)

Mint leaf - 2 handful 

Coconut - 1 cup

Tamarind - gooseberry size ball

Salt

Oil - 2 tbsp

Heat oil and start frying the cut onions and garlic. Once they become translucent add the red chillies.

 

Use a slotted spoon to remove the onion, garlic and red chillies to another vessel.

Into the left over oil, tip in the coconut.

Once the coconut changes colour, remove this too into the vessel containing the red chillies.

There will be no oil left in the vessel. Add the cleaned mint into the hot pan.

Stir till it wilts.

Add the coconut - red chilli mix to this and turn off flame.

Once cooled it is ready for grinding. Don't forget the tamarind and salt.

Start grinding in small instalments. Try not  to add water, as adding water decreases the shelf life.

 This chammandi stays for 2 days in room temperature. Tastes best with rice and dosa.

Khandvi

Gujarati snack or farsaan.

The first time I had it at Shefali Arvind's house and I was hooked. Yummy.

Then I saw Madhur Jaffrey visiting Gujarat and a cook making it for her.

Recipe was easy but the task seemed hard. Continuous stirring until the batter thickens. The cooked batter when spread on a greased tray must be come of easily as a thin sheet. The saving grace was that the batter could be reheated if the described consistency was not achieved. Thus I tried and tried and then I succeeded!! 

Note: use a non stick thick bottomed vessel to cook batter in.

Ingredients:

Garnish:

Oil - 2 tbsp 

Mustard - 1 tbsp

Jeera - 1 tbsp

Asafoetida - 1 tsp

Green chilli - 2,  finely chopped

Coriander leaf - 2 tbsp

Grated coconut - 4 tbsp

Main Ingredients:

Mix the following into a thin batter without any lumps.

Besan / kadala mav / channa dal powder - 1 cup

Curd - 1 cup ( slightly sour curd is better)

Water - 1 1/2 cup

Turmeric powder - 1 tsp

Salt 

Green chilli - 2 or 3,  ground / pounded

Ginger - 1 inch piece, ground / pounded

Pour the batter in a thick bottomed non stick vessel and start heating.

Grease 3 large plates and keep aside. Keep another one stand by, just in case!!

Keep stirring the mixture and once it starts to thicken, every 2 minutes spread 1/2 tsp on the greased plate.

The goal is the batter when cooled completely must be peel off easily from plate.

Attempt 1:

Attempt 2:

Attempt 3:

And success!

See it peels off!

Turn off flame and spread the batter evenly over the greased plates.

Once cooled, start rolling from one end like a carpet / Swiss roll.

Cut into 2 inch pieces and move to serving plate.

Time for Garnish.

Heat the oil and splutter the mustard. Then add the jeera. After that add the asafoetida and green chilli.

 Turn off flame and allow to cool for 1 minute. Add 2 tbsp water to this. 

Pour garnish using a spoon over the prepared khandvi. 

Top with chopped coriander leaf and grated coconut.