RAW MANGO PICKLE......

RAW MANGO PICKLE.....

PICKLES….
OH! How much I love pickles.
Pickles is something I have with all my meals, pickles give taste to your food especially dal rice and yogurt or dahi rice.
Pickles are my husband’s mom’s specialty, I feel no one can make better pickles than she can; she makes extraordinary pickles which are divine to taste. Her raw mango or kairee pickle is the best and that is what I have featured in today’s post.
I have childhood memories of eating pickles, which my mother used to make with plain rice and this combination works and tastes real good-only pickle and rice. However, not too much, as it will burn your insides it should be a little and lots of rice.
I love pickles with parathas, dosas, rotis, bread and even with south Indian idlis.
If there is a vegetable that is not very tasty, I just take some pickle and lo… my food is as yummy as ever, that’s the magic of a good pickle.

I have tried to take good pictures, and so I am posting two. Please tell me which you feel is the best, as I have said earlier I am in the process of improving my food photography by trial and error and only friends like you all can help. I know blog readers see great photographs daily and so can be of help to an amateur like me to improve and progress. Do the sight of pickles make you drool it does that for me…

BHENDI MASALA....

Hi
My recipe for bhendi masala is simple and a goan recipe
Bhendi is one vegetable, which I do not eat, as I do not like the slimy feel after it is cooked but it is a favorite vegetable in my family.
I make bhendi in 4 different ways, I would like to share this recipe as it’s a bit different from the ones which is regularly made as the others are common recipes which you might find in every persons house.

ING:
300 gms bhendi
½ cup grated coconut
¼ tsp garam masala powder,
½ tsp chili powder
½ tsp haldi powder
Mustard, hing, curryleaves, three green chilies for bagar
Oil
Little jaggery to balance taste


METHOD

· Clean and cut bhendi sideways
· Take oil in a pan. When it gets hot, add mustard seeds after they crackle add hing, curryleaves and green chilies.
· Add the bhendi, which has been cut, to it, add a little water cook.
· Grind together grated coconut, garammasala, chili powder, haldi powder,
· Grind until fine.
· Check the bhendi when cooked pour the ground paste into the bhendi
· Let it cook
· Your bhendi masala goans style, its ready to be enjoyed!!!!!!!!.

FISH MARKET IN GOA....

CAN YOU SEE THE MACKERAL IN PACKETS AND LOTS AND LOTS OF PRAWNS ON THE RIGHT , YOU ALSO GET VERY TINY PRAWNS CALLED AS "GALMO" WHICH ARE TASTY TOO, BUT THEY HAVE TO BE CLEANED VERY WELL BEFORE THE PREPARATION.
I GET MY YEARLY SUPPLY OF PRAWNS FROM HER....YOU CAN SEE HER WEIGHING THE PRAWNS WHICH I PURCHASED. THEY DO IT IN A WOODEN CUP WHICH IS ONE "VATTO" OR ONE PORTION WHICH IS PRICED ACCORDINGLY..

I GOT THE MACKKERAL PACKETS FROM THIS LADY HERE....

As i have said earlier fish is an integral part of a goan diet, and goans cannot live without fish so when it rains the variety of fish available is less campared to the other days of the year, so you see lots of dry fish in the market which is stored away for the rainy day.

DRY PRAWNS....

Goans eat a lot of dry fish too, as I have said earlier goans are very fond of fish and cannot live for more than a couple of days without fish so during rainy season when the fish is not in plenty as on normal days, they switch to dry fish which also is a delicacy
However, the type of dry fish that our family eats is limited, they eat dry prawns and mackerel although you can find many varieties of dry fish in a goan market.
I had visited such a market, which sells the best quality dry fish in Goa; it is at madgaon, a city in Goa.
It is a site at such markets, you see heaps of fish sold, sealed in plastic bags and in very hygienic condition.
I enjoy going to such markets and going through the things that they displayed at the counters. I carry a lot of fish to mumbai; I have to have dry fish for emergencies in my fridge.
Today was such a day I had to have some non-veg as yesterday we had a pure veg lunch and a Chinese dinner. Therefore, I decided to do a dry prawn (dry dish) recipe to be eaten with chapattis. As I had made bhendi masala-goan style, which is not something, I like.
Let me share my dry prawn recipe with you…...


SUKHYA SUNGTACHE SUKHE

ING:
1 cup cleaned dry prawns
2 Big onions finely chopped
½ cup grated fresh coconut
2-kokum or 1tbsp tamarind pulp
Salt to taste
Chili powder as per taste
½ tsp haldi powder.
½ tsp dhania-jeera powder.


METHOD:

Clean and wash the dry prawns
Take oil in a pan (it tastes better with coconut oil)
Fry finely chopped onions till they turn soft
Add the prawns and fry for sometime and then add water
Let it cook for sometime
Add chili powder, haldi powder and dhania-jeera powder
Add grated coconut and let it all cook for sometime
You can add tamarind pulp now
You can add coriander finely chopped too (this is optional) as goans do not add coriander nor do they add curry leaves which can also be added for a different flavor.

BRINJAL BHARTA.....

BRINJAL BHARTA
Brinjal is a vegetable, which has lot of admirers and also many who hate to eat it.
But in my house brinjal is quite a favorite because goans have dishes which make a humble brinjal quite interesting..
In my very initial posts I had a recipe of brinjal phode posted, which is quite a tasty dish
Today I will write about vangyache bharta… or brinjal bharta
In Goa this dish is done without cooking it.
The dish requires the brinjal to be roasted and then the pulp is used.
Let me share with you some facts about a brinjal, which I sourced from the book
FOODS HARM FOODS HEAL
Brinjal is low in calories
It lends a meaty flavor and texture to veg dishes
The tastiest eggplants are firm,with thin skins and mild flavor.
A cup of eggplant has only 40 calories
Eggplants are members of nightshade family which includes tomatoes,potatoes and peppers.

Let me give you the recipe of vangyache bharta

ING :

1 big brinjal
One finely chopped onion
2 green chilies chopped
½ cup grated coconut
1tbsp tamarind pulp or ½ cup dahi or yogurts.

METHOD;

§ Roast brinjal on the gas stove till it becomes soft.
§ Let it cool then remove the outer skin
§ Mash the inner soft flesh of the brinjal
§ Add finely chopped onions, green chilies, and coconut to it.
§ Mix all this together.
§ Add tamarind pulp or sour yogurts to it
§ Mix everything, together.add the required salt.
§ Eat with chapattis.