MANGO MANIA - Chamandi - Mango Chutney

MANGO MANIA!

Last week we visited our native village accompanied by our sambandis .(When a boy and a girl get married, their respective parents become Sambandis to each other.)
The highway via Dharmapuri and Salem split smoothly through the beautiful tender green mango topes (Groves), with rough and sturdy hillocks standing guard in the background. Green, firm and juicy mangoes looking like emerald pendants weighed down the branches of the short mango trees. The already harvested ones lay in mounds at the foot of each tree.
Ripe and raw mangoes of all hues and sizes were stacked up in shacks skirting the high way.The fragrance and the colour of the king of fruits attracted each and every passing vehicle which compulsively stopped by, for a happy bargain.
The sight of the king of fruits lead us to exchange various mango recipes and my sambandi and I chatted and chatted only mangoes till we reached our destination!
Since we had bought a cart load of mangoes on our return trip, I started preparing the mango dishes one by one.
CHAMANDI which I learnt from my Sambandi was the first one to be dished out!

MANGAI CHAMANDI
Chamandi is a chutney or a dip or you can even call it a pesto, prepared with raw mangoes and raw spices. It involves no cooking. A side dish with a tang, it goes very well with rice and koottu or rice and morkuzhambu , curd rice, chapatis and dosais.

INGREDIENTS
Firm raw mango - 1 medium size
Red chillies - 8 ( depending on the degree of sourness of the mango.)
Salt - 2 level tsp
Asafoetida - 1 pinch
Grated jaggery - 1 tbsp
Coconut oil - 2 tsps
METHOD

1. Peel and grate the mango .
2. Grind all ingredients without coconut oil into a slightly coarse paste.
3. Add coconut oil and run the mixer just to blend.
Enjoy the mixed taste of Chamandi with a mixed flavour of mango and coconut oil, with steaming hot rice.

Eggless Chocolate Yogurt Cake

Last week of March, I had my neice and nephew here for a week's vacation. My 10 year old nephew had his list of things he wanted me to make during their stay. He is a great fan of Naan and Paneer Butter Masala that he can have it for all 3 meals and not get bored by it. Without him telling, I knew that top the list. As with all kids, he too is a chocoholic. I was thinking of  using the zebra cake recipe and make a chocolate cake. I was surprised when he asked me if I could bake using the recipe given on the Cadbury's cocoa tin. Though I have seen it, I have not bothered to try it. I told him I haven't tried it so I can't guarantee the result. He was confident of my baking skills and told I can't go wrong. Hearing his innocent reply, I could not say no and all credit goes to him that I baked my best chocolate cake so far. The recipe was eggless so I needn't make any changes. Few measurements were given in grams which I converted to cups with help of online converter.  The measurements may not be exact and that didnot affect the cake at all. Mava was also in the ingredient list and I didnot add it. May be the addition of mava would have resulted in a rich cake.

You need

Curd - 1 cup

Rawa/semolina- 1/4 cup (50 gm)

Cooking soda- 1/2 tspn

Butter - 1/2 cup (100 gm)

Powdered sugar - 1 2/3 cup (200 gm)

Mava - 50 gm (I didnot use it)

Maida - 1 2/3 cup (200 gm)

Baking powder - 1 teaspoon

Cocoa powder - 3 tablespoon

Milk - 1 cup


Method

Mix 1 cup curd with rawa and cooking soda. Keep aside for 10 minutes. Beat butter amd powdered sugar. Add soaked curd-rava mixture. Mix well. In a bowl, sift maida, baking powder and cocoa powder until well combined. Add the flour mix to wet mixture. Add 1 cup of milk. Mix gently. Take care not to overmix.

Pour the prepared batter into a greased and dusted tim. Bake at 180 C for 55 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.


Fudge Icing

Butter - 1/2 cup
Icing sugar - 1 cup
Cocoa powder - 3 tblspn
Milk - few drops

Mix all the ingredients till light and fluffy. Add few drops of milk to get a spreadable consistency. Spread it on the cake.

My niece wanted to add her bit to the cake. So sprinkled some powdered sugar on top of the icing and aranged some tutty fruity.

YELLOW PUMPKIN APPAM

பரங்கி அப்பம்
This is a tasty appam. I have learnt this from my mother’s cookery book. It is very easy to prepare!

Ingredients:
Raw rice- half cup
Ghee- 2 tbsp
Shredded yellow pumpkin-half cup
Shredded coconut- half cup
Cashew nuts-8
Powdered jagerry- half cup
Cardamom powder- half sp
Enough oil to fry


Procedure:


Soak the raw rice in enough water for an hour.
Heat a pan and pour the ghee.
Add the shredded pumpkin and fry it on a slow fire until it turns in to soft.
Let it cool down for a few minutes.
Grind these with the other ingredients.
1 or 2 tbsp of water is enough to grind them to a thick paste.
Heat a pan and pour the oil.
Take a tbsp of the batter and pour it on the oil.
When one side is cooked in to golden brown colour, cook the other side.
Thus finish all the batter.
The delicious sweet pumpkin appam is ready!