Mango Thokku

Come Summer, every household will be busy making pickles and variety of sun dried goodies to last the rest of the year. Raw mangoes are pickled in various ways. This is an instant pickle which can be consumed immediately and do not require any standing time before consuming.

Ingredients

Raw mangoes, chopped - 2 cups

Gingely oil - 4 tblpsn

Chilli powder - 3 tspn

Salt - 2 tspn

Roasted and powdered methi/fenugreek seeds - 1 tspn

Mustard powder - 1 tspn

Method
The mangoes should be raw and sour. Wash and wipe the mangoes dry. Chop the mangoes into pieces with skin. If the skin is very thick, you can scrap and chop. The pieces are not chopped uniformly.

Take a MW safe bowl. Add 2 tablespoon of gingely oil and the chopped mangoes pieces. MW high for 3 minutes. This is to make the mango soft. If you want it mushy, keep for another 2 minutes. Add chilli powder, salt, methi powder, mustard powder and the remaining 2 tblspn of oil. Mix well, so that the spices coat the pieces well. MW for 3 minutes. Cool and store in dry, airtight bottles. It will stay good for a week outside and 2 weeks on refrigeration. The chilli powder i used is very hot which is specifically for pickles. You can adjust the amount of chilli according to your taste.
Usually, these kind of pickles are made not to last too long.

This is my entry to MEC:Extras, hosted by Rachel, an event originated at Srivalli's

15 Minute Recipes - Drinks(Part 1)

Dear friends,

Thank you all for participating in this event and making it a grand success! Can you believe that I received over 290 recipes? I seriously did not expect such a huge response. I really appreciate your enthusiasm in sending multiple entries. I hope you will find the round up very useful. I have split the recipes into various categories. Recipes are sorted in alphabetical order.

Presenting 15 Minute Recipes-Drinks(part 1)

Juices

1. Aam panna from Appetizing Recipes
2. Bonda juice from The Chef and Her Kitchen
3. Carrot Orange Juice from Appetizing Recipes
4. Instant cucumber cooler from easy2cookrecipes
5. Grape juice from Priya's Sourashtrian Kitchen
6. Green tea cooler from Foodie's Hope
7. Lemon juice from Appetizing Recipes
8. Lime mint juice from Usha Nandini's Recipes
9. Mix Fruit Juice from Appetizing Recipes
10. Musk Melon Juice from Appetizing Recipes
11. Pomegranate Sweet lime juice from Appetizing Recipes
12. Watermelon cooler from Khana Khazana with Malini

Milkshakes and Smoothies

1. Avocado milkshake from Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes
2. Banana Cashew Milk Shake from Appetizing Recipes
3. Banana lassi from Sai Kitchen
4. Beetroot shake from Lemon n spice
5. Quick breakfast Smoothie from Dil Se..
6. Chikku Shake from Appetizing Recipes
7. Chocolate Icecream Milkshake from Khana Khazana with Malini
8. Cocoa Milk Shake from Appetizing Recipes
9. Honeydew melon smoothie from Usha Nandini's Recipes
10. Kiwi lassi from Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes
11. Malai wali lassi from Asankhana
12. Mango Shake from Appetizing Recipes
13. Mango cranberry smoothie from Asankhana
14. Mango lassi from http://tastespell.blogspot.com
15. Mango Milk shake from The Temptations
16. Orange lassi from The Temptations
17. Pina Colada Smoothie from Khana Khazana with Malini
18. Purple Shake from SpicyKhazana
19. Mixed Fruit Smoothie from Ramyacooks
20. Rose milk with vermicilli from Aathidhyam
21. Protein rich strawberry smoothie from Delectable Vegetarian Recipes
22. Watermelon Milkshake from Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes
23. Watermelon Milk shake from Bon Appetit
24. Almond jaggery milk from Usha Nandini's Recipes

Buttermilk Drinks

1. Neer Mor from Usha Nandini's Recipes
2. Cucumber buttermilk from Appetizing Recipes
3. Neer Moar Buttermilk from Appetizing Recipes
4. Oats-Buttermilk Kanji from Enthaligai
5. Sambharam/Buttermilk from Cooking up Something Nice
6. Spicy Green Buttermilk from SpicyKhazana

Hot Drinks

1. Hot chocolate from My Experience With Cooking
2. Ragi Malt with Jaggery from Dil Se..
3. Badam Ragi Malt from Indian Vegetarian Kitchen(my kitchen)

If I have missed out any entry, please let me know. Check your links and see if they work.

Mani Payasam - Sago Dessert

Mani Payasam (Jevvarisi Payasam) - Sago Dessert

Jevvarisi or Sago (Sabbakki / Sabudana) was our first solid baby food in the days when cereal food tins for babies were still a long way off in the market. Mother roasted the sago and ground it to a smooth flour and stored it for her babies. Two or three table spoons of this flour was cooked in water to a gruel (koozh) like consistency. Though I don’t remember my ‘jevvarisi koozh’ days, I cannot forget the way my younger siblings relished the koozh, sometimes with milk and sugar, and other times with mashed lentil and thin rasam. The way they chuckled with the koozh smeared all over, when mother turned away her face in mock fright to avoid their koozh filled kisses! This is a picture still remains a happy picture etched in my mind.

Jevvarisi payasam has been an all time favourite among the children in our family. The Sago or tapioca pearls look like transparent glass beads when cooked, and tastes heavenly in the creamy milk and sugar payasam, thus earning its pet name “Mani Payasam” (bead payasam).

Sago, a product derived from the tuber tapioca is full of starch. It is also said to be a good coolant. The addition of milk and sugar makes this heat buster and energizer into a refreshing drink on hot swealtery days.

INGREDIENTS:
Sago – 1 cup
Milk – 3 cups
Sugar – ¾ cup
Ghee – 2 tsps
Raisins – a few
Cashew nuts – a few
Cardamom powder – 1 pinch
METHOD:
1. Heat ghee in a heavy bottomed pan and roast sago until all the pearls pop up.
2. Boil milk with one cup of water and add the roasted sago.
3. Cook on low flame stirring now and then until all the pearls become transparent like glass beads.
4. Add sugar and cook till it blends well.
5. Add cardamom powder and roasted cashew nuts and raisins.
This Mani Payasam can be served warm.

If you want to covert this to a cool & exotic dessert, then add a drop of vanilla essence instead of cardamom powder and chill it. Raisins and cashew nuts are optional. Serve the chilled payasam in tall glasses topped with a scoop of vanilla or kesar pista ice cream.