Mambhaza Kaalan - Mango pulp in yogurt, coconut gravy

Ripes mangoes are best, when eaten as it is. No second opinion about that. But when there is abundant mangoes, which cannot be finished just by eating them alone, it goes into gravy preparations. During my growing up years, in summer, the upstairs room will be filled with mangoes spread on a bed of hay to ripen. Those days, very rarely vegetables are purchased and my grandma always do with the veggies fresh from the garden. In summer, mangoes and jack fruit are the most repeated ones. They are cooked in their different stages. ripe mangoes (mambhazam) is added to sambhar, pachadi or morkootan. My favorite is mambazha kaalan. This is similar to morkootan. May be, it is referred as kaalan for its consistency. Call it any name you like, the dish is absolutely tasty.

You need
Medium sized ripe manges - 3 nos

Beaten curd/yogurt - 1 cup

Red chilli powder -1/2 tspn

salt

turmeric powder - 1/2 tspn

To grind

Grated coconut - 1/2 cup tightly packed

Green chilly - 3 nos

For Seasoning

Oil - 2 tspn

Mustard seeds- 1 tspn

Red chilly - 2 ( broken into 2)

Curry leaves

Methi seeds - 1/2 tspn

Method

Slice the mangoes into big pieces. Cook the mango pieces along with the seed in enough water. Add chilly powder, turmeric and salt to it. When the mango is cooked well, remove the pieces and seed to a plate and leave it to cool. Squeeze the pulp from the cooked mango, discarding the skin and seed. Mix the pulp into the drained water, used to cook the mangoes.

Grind the coconut and green chilly with little water to a smooth paste. Blend the ground paste into mango pulp mix. Mix in the beaten curd and blend everything well. Adjust salt. Bring to a boil. Remove immediately when it foams on the top, else it will become watery because of the yogurt added.
Do the seasoning and enjoy with hot rice and a side of papad.

Optionally you can add some ash gourd or vellarikkai to this. I have not added them. If you like the curry to be little sweet, you can add a piece of jaggery while cooking the mangoes.

This is off to Mango Mela hosted by Srivalli

Strawberry Yogurt Parfait

An alluring shade of red.  A fruity, floral aroma. Succulent flesh. Fresh strawberries rival even the most decadent desserts. (I confess to frequenting my fridge last week just to inhale the heady scent of a pint from the farmer's market.) But unlike many nutrient bare desserts, fresh strawberries also nourish the body.  A cup of strawberries exceeds the recommended daily dose of vitamin C. In addition, the tiny seeds - which are the true fruit - provide fiber. This sinfully delicious berry also contains an infusion of antioxidants, including vitamin C, which help protect against heart disease.  So consider eating fresh strawberries this summer, in place of other desserts, to feed your soul and body.

                               

STRAWBERRY YOGURT PARFAITS

Serves 4

TIPS: 

• Locally grown strawberries provide the best flavor profile.  
• Remove the green caps AFTER washing fresh strawberries to avoid diluting their flavor.
• The combination of strawberries and vanilla yogurt in this recipe provides a surprising amount of flavor. So if you use frozen strawberries, choose a brand with no sugar added.  
  

INGREDIENTS

4 cups fresh or frozen strawberries 

1 cup low fat vanilla yogurt

INSTRUCTIONS

1) Wash fresh strawberries and remove caps.  Slice.

2) Place a 2-inch layer of sliced strawberries in four clear glasses.

3) Top with a 1-inch layer of yogurt.  Repeat until glasses are full.

 

Blueberry Crumble Tart

That's very hard to resist in getting some blueberries when it's on sale. I just love it so much. Without thinking about what to do with it and I buy it first. Then, I came out with this recipe which is a very rich, buttery yet flavourful pastry, that's sound quite naughty and yes I think I'm quite naughty recently as for some reason I've been good for some time :)

This is something that the 'English favorites' and also my Mr. favorite. His every bite will naturally came out with an "uhmmmm......" kind of yummy voice and make me feel so happy that I've made it real good, it's just a very encouraging kind of voice. I've control the sweetness of the entire pastry which is from the tart to fragipane as well as the crumble. The sweetness from the blueberry is very fresh and juicy. I find that all ingredients are just so friend to each other which the ground almond fragipane enhance the flavour and the crumble toppings give it a bonus texture. Smell good and taste good!

English would love to serve it warm with custard, cream or vanilla ice cream. I only have the mango ice cream which I made earlier so I serve it with a dollop of the leftover ice cream. Our stomach was stuffed after finished a portion as it's a real rich pastry!

Recipe:
For the shortcrust pastry:
2 eggs
2 tbsp cold water
225g plain flour
20g sugar powder
110g butter, cold and diced

1. Separate the eggs. Add 2 tbsp cold water to the egg yolks and stir with a fork. (You can use the egg whites for another dish or freeze them.)
2. Place the flour and sugar powder into the bowl of a food processor, followed by the cold butter and the salt.
3. Turn the processor on and pulse several times until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
4. Add two-thirds of the egg yolk/water mixture and pulse again. If the mixture is still too dry, add the remaining egg and water mixture (you may not need to use all of it). Be careful not to overwork the pastry. Stop pulsing when the mixture has the consistency of chunky breadcrumbs.
5. Turn the pastry out onto a clean, floured work surface and, with floured hands, bring together to make a smooth dough, but don't knead.
6. Shape into a flattened ball, wrap in cling film and refrigerate for about 10-15 minutes. You can keep the pastry at this stage for 2-3 days if not using it immediately.
7. Remove the pastry from the fridge. On a clean, floured work surface, roll it out with a floured rolling pin until it's slightly larger than the flan ring. Using the rolling pin, lift the pastry and lay it over the flan ring.
8. With your fingers, lightly press the pastry into the sides of the ring. Run a rolling pin over the top of the ring and pull away the excess pastry at the edges. Using your fingers, gently press the pastry up to slightly build up the height of the pastry at the edges. Prick the base of the pastry with a fork. Place in the fridge to relax for about 30 minutes.

For the Fragipane:

142g ground almond
25g plain flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
125g butter
90g caster sugar

In a food processor, blitz the whole almonds to a fine powder and put into a bowl. Then blitz the butter and sugar until light and creamy. Add this to the almonds with the lightly beaten eggs and fold in until completely mixed and nice and smooth. Spread the batter on the ready pastry case then place in the fridge to firm up slightly.

For the Crumble:

55g ground almond
140g plain flour
85g polenta (not quick cook)
140g butter, diced and cold
90g brown sugar
splash of water

1. Place the almonds, flour, polenta, butter and sugar in a food processor and pulse briefly several times, just to mix. The mixture should look like coarse breadcrumbs.
2. Tip out into a bowl and add a splash of water. Use a spoon to mix briefly - it should be quite clumpy.

To assemble the tart:

Place the blueberries on top of the ready pastry with fragipane then sprinkle over the crumble. You might not need to use all the crumble. Store them in a zip bag and place in the freezer for future use. Place the ready tart into the 180C preheated oven and bake for 50 minutes. Place it on a wire rack to cool down before unmold. Carefully unmold the tart. If you find the bottom is still soggy, put them back into the oven and bake until harden. Place a piece of aluminium foil to cover the top to avoid burning the crumble.

The tart could store in the fridge or room temperature. I store some leftover in the fridge then reheat in the oven at 150'C for about 10 minutes until it's slightly warm up. Serve with a dollop of ice cream, enjoy!