Aam ka panna / green mango juice

Recipe courtesy : Rani Sethi

Summer is here and it is the mango season. The best way to beat the heat is by having loads of liquids - water and juice.

 Mango juice is made from ripe mangoes, but raw mango juice tastes equally heavenly and is much more lighter too.

To know about the health benefits of green mango juice, please visit  - http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aam_panna

There is an ingredient in Aam ka panna called black salt. It is not commonly used in South India. In Malayalam it is called - induppu. 

Health benefits (courtesy Wikipedia) - Kala Namak is considered a cooling spice in Ayurvedic medicine and is used as a laxative and digestive aid. It is also believed to relieve intestinal gas and heartburn.

Ingredients -

Raw mango - 1 kg

Jeera powder - 1 tbsp

Sugar - 1 cup

Kala namak - 1 tbsp

Mint leaf - 1 cup

Wash the mangoes very well.

Pressure cook them in ample water (3 cups) for 3 whistles.

Now starts a long process of extracting the pulp. Use a sturdy sieve to remove all the pulp from he skin and seeds.

(I forgot take a snap of the pulp! )

What should be left will be this

Now add the sugar, jeera powder and black salt. Mix well.

To know if the pulp is balanced, take a spoon of it, mix in 3 spoons of water and taste.

Adjust to suit your taste. Add more sugar if too sour.

The mint leaves.

Chop them fine and add to the pulp.

Mix well.

Pour into a bottle and refridgerate till necessary.

To make Aam ka panna:

Take 2 or 3 tbsp of pulp and dilute with ice cold water. Mix very well as this pulp is thick. Enjoy!

Methi muthia

There is something about Gujarati food which attracts me. And the names are so poetic(?).

This dish is made using fenugreek leaf which is high in iron. And it is steamed. 

Taste bhi, health bhi!

Of course kids might like it deep fried. That is a great way to make them eat this not-so-tasty leaf.

Ingredients for dough:

Fenugreek leaf - 2 cups

Green chilli - 2

Ginger - 2 inch piece

Lemon juice - from 1/2 lemon

Rava / Semolina - 1/3 cup

Wheat flour - 1/2 cup

Besan / kadala mav / channa dal powder - 1 tbsp

Salt - 1 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1 tsp

Asafoetida powder - 1 tsp

Sugar - 1 tbsp

Oil - 1 & 1/2 tbsp 

While the fenugreek leaves do have an acquired taste, the beginners would may be prefer to remove the pungent taste by squeezing out the juice. We do not do so at home. The following step is NOT recommended ....but optional.

Chop the fenugreek leaves finely

Add salt and keep aside for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes squeeze to remove water.

Use this in the recipe. 

Grind the green chilli and ginger into a coarse paste and add to the squeezed fenugreek leaf.

Mix all the dry powders together.

And add to the green mix.

Mix well and add the lime juice.

Make a dough. Add water carefully. The dough loosens easily.

Add 2 tbsp oil and mix well.

If you plan to make deep fried muthias, make small balls, flatten and deep fry now.

For the steamed version 

Divide the dough into equal parts and make thick logs.

Steam for 10 - 15 minutes.

Check 1:

Not done :

Check 2 :

The knife came out easily and the dough was not sticking on.

Now cool the logs.

Cut them into 1 inch thick segments.

Spluttering:

Oil - 1 tbsp

Ground nuts - 1tbsp

Jeera - 1 tsp

Til seeds - 1 tsp

Asafoetida - 2 tsp

Heat oil and splutter the mustard seeds followed by til.

Next goes in the asafoetida powder.

Tip in the cut muthias.

Mix well and fry for 2 or 3 minutes till edges start to brown.

Serve hot with green and sweet chutney.

 

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.