A Peek into my Life

I got a few raw (green) mangoes last week. I made a small batch of my mango pickle . With the rest of the mangoes, I made a couple of chutneys. My mom told me about this sour-sweet mango chutney which could work like ketchup with more of an indian flavor. I immediately got down to making it. I loved its tang. The husband loved it mixed with some sweetish yogurt. We are already halfway through the chutney in a week. I will have to make another batch soon. We enjoyed it with thalipeeth immediately after I made it. Mango Onion Chutney Onion gives cooling properties to the chutney, with the green mango providing the tang, making it perfect for summer. Ingredients: 1 large (2 cups) raw mango peeled and chopped 1/2 large (1 cup) onion 1/2 tsp chilli powder 1/2 tsp cumin seeds 1 tsp salt 3 tsp jaggery 3 tsp dry coconut powder Method Put all ingredients in a blender. Blend into a chutney. Notes: Brown sugar can be used instead o...

The school year is coming to an end. My daughter has some really great teachers at her preschool. She loves them. So we wanted to do something to thank them. We made some cards using a wine cork stamping technique I had seen on this blog . We actually found a wine cork on the road when I had taken the daughter out to ride her bicycle around the apartment complex. I put blobs of a few colors (blue, red, yellow and white) on a plastic container lid. The daughter swirled the wine cork around and picked up random colors and stamped a circle to make the flowers. I had drawn a circle on the paper to help her understand where to stamp. I also drew a few leaf shapes on the paper and she painted them green. I used tempera paints. When the paint was dry, I cut out the flowers and leaves leaving a tiny border of the plain yellow paper around it. I let the daughter stick the flowers and leaves on craft paper folded into cards. She put a dab of glue on the flowers and leaves and stuck them...

We have started getting some really nice green mangoes at the local Indian grocery store. I use them in a few different ways but pickle is not at the top of the list. We are not a big pickle eating family since we do not eat very spicy food. But I love the sweet gujarati pickles like Gor Keri and Chundo. My mom and her mother (my grandmom) are expert pickle makers. My mom told me that grandmom made a few new varieties of pickles. Mango methi and Mango garlic pickles. I wanted to try them out. I adapted it though, and added both methi and garlic, in addition to adding a hint of sweetness with brown sugar and vidalia onions. My grandmom has also perfected the technique for keeping the mango pieces crisp year round, just like they are in a fresh pickle. The secret is not adding oil to the pickle. Just add the spices and salt to the mango pieces and keep them in the fridge. Take a small amount that you would use in a month or so and add oil to it. The pickle ends up tasting as fresh a...

This year we have been eating a lot of salads. We started out eating salads every day when we were in a weight loss phase. Now that we have achieved some of the goals, we have slacked down on salads. I have been a fan of salads for a couple of years now but did not make them at home. As soon as the weather warms up, I am excited because it means I can eat salads when we are eating out (and get that salad thing going at home too). I did not make salads at home because I thought it was an involved process. Buy the greens, keep them fresh, make dressings. It also required keeping the pantry and fridge stocked for salad supplies. I, like many people, was not sure how much salad I would eat at home, to invest in the supplies. I say, if you enjoy eating salads in good restaurants, you can make salads you like at home too. It is really not that intimidating once you get going on your first salad. One of the big reasons we started doing salads was, to up the vegetable and fruit intake. Ou...

Last week, I invited some friends over for a casual dinner. It was a chaat inspired menu. We started with a chana chaat and a drink I just doctored up with apple and lemon juice and some ginger ale and spices. We then moved on to paav bhaji. We ended the evening with custard topped with bananas, walnuts, and chocolate. Tangy Apple Lemonade (without sugar) I was planning to make an Indian style lemonade (nimbu sherbat). But then I thought I should try to make a drink without adding any sugar. I had an unopened jug of apple juice sitting around and frankly, we were never going to drink it straight. I thought of using the apple juice as a sweetner. It worked out great. The drink was very tangy. The salt and the spices made it taste a bit like jal jeera. It was a perfect match for the chaat menu. We mixed our drinks with ginger ale to add the fizz and sweetness. Method Mix 2 cups of apple juice with 1/2 cup of lemon juice. Add 1/4 tsp each of salt, kala namak (pink ...