aam ka kuchla 2 ways | seasonal recipes of UP using raw mangoes

Come summer and we start thinking mangoes in all it's hues and flavours. Raw mangoes hit the markets first and our kitchens go berserk with all the raw mango chutneys and chundas and khatta meetha aam ka achar or aam ki launji.

Few weeks ago when my house help's daughter wanted a raw mango to be peeled and given to her with salt, I thought she would eat one slice but she devoured 2 large raw mangoes within a matter of 10 minutes puckering her mouth all this while much to my entertainment. I can't remember when I myself did that.

We love to pucker up with some raw mango in our mouth all over the country in fact. A plethora of pickles, chutneys and preserves made in every region are a testimony to that.

Since raw mango is considered cooling if consumed in a specific way, there are recipes of aam panna and many related drinks that are made regularly in Indian homes. A fresh chutney is made with loads of mint leaves and some raw onion and green chillies to make a summer meal finger licking. Another soup like kachhe aam ka saar is made to be served like raita especially with lunch as it is the hottest time of the day.

Kachhe aam ka kuchla was one recipe that was made frequently in my home when my grandmother was around, but I had somehow started using the mixie and my kuchla started getting chutneyfied. But when I started making the Thai green mango salad I thought of reviving this kachhe aam ka  kuchla in my kitchen too.

So kachhe aam ka kuchla is of 2 types. Both Kuchlas are freshly made condiments but one is made with chutney ingredients and the other is more like a quick pickle, often called as kuchla achar. The name kuchla comes from the act of thrashing the ingredients lightly in a mortar and pestle that macerates the mango slices to soak up the flavours.

Sometimes the raw mango is grated to make kuchla but the idea is to keep the kuchla coarse. .

The kuchla chutney is more of my type because it borders on being a salad of sorts.

ingredients for kachhe aam ka kuchla chutney

one large raw mango peeled and sliced thinly
one large red onion sliced thinly
2-3 green chillies sliced
few springs of mint leaves
salt to taste
1/4 tsp mustard oil (optional)

procedure 

Gather everything in a mortar and pestle and thrash till everything is macerated well. It looks like this when you want it to be like a salad.

Thrash a bit more to make it a coarse chutney.

This is the best summer condiment for everyday dal chawal meals but the best pairing in my opinion is with sattu. Both these exotic things together make the most common summer food for the farmers who work in the fields all day. I think if not the meals it becomes a snack to keep them cool. I have tasted it made by my grandmother made in our urban kitchen as she used to recreate a few things that she loved.

recipe of kachhe aam ka kuchla 'achar'
The achar version of kuchla is a quick pickle that is made int he morning and should be over during the day. It tastes great when fresh and that is the USP of this kuchla which is sometimes called as 'achari' too. Some people prefer kuchla achar more than the regular spicy preserved aam ka achar. 

The achar version of kuchla had traveled to the countries wherever the farm workers from eastern India migrated. I found slightly varying kuchla recipes from Fiji and Guyana when I was searching on the internet. But the achar version of kuchla has almost disappeared from our kitchens it seems. I asked a few friends who didn't remember kuchla achar being made into their homes.

This kuchla achar can be added to jhal mudi type snacks or can be added to plain Bhindi stir fry or Karela stir fry to pack some punch in the everyday subzi. 

ingredients

Raw mangoes peeled and sliced 1 cup
turmeric powder 1 tsp
mustard powder 1 tsp
red chilli powder 1 tsp
salt 1 tsp

procedure 

Toss everything up and let it rest for a couple of hours before serving. This quick pickle doesn't keep well and it gets softened the next day which is not the best way to eat it.

Any leftover kuchla achar was happily added to next day's arhar ki daal to make it sour and of course that also became a special summer treat.

Frugal cooking has been India's tradition. Something that we have forgotten with the deluge of ingredients available from all over the globe.

methi ki launji | methi ki meethi chutney | how to make methi ki launji

Methi (fenugreek : Trigonella foenum graecum) is known as a bitter seed that we add to tempering  in everyday food but no one wants to eat mehti in larger amounts. Ayurveda has confirmed methi seeds as a wonderful home remedy for many conditions including management of diabetes, IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) and lactation etc.

There is a reason why methi ki launji is served along with bedmi poori.

Methi ka laddu and panjeeri is commonly made for new mothers in north Indian homes, to help with lactation and to generally have a better immunity during that phase. For everyday cooking methi has limited use but some people love a preparation called methi ki launji.

Methi ki launji, also called as methi ki meethi chutney is a common accompaniment for Bedmi poori, several types of mung daal kachoris and even mathris, most probably paired to aid digestion of fried food. This methi ki chuntey is served at wedding feasts in Banaras too especially when the feast is pure vegetarian and traditional type. Marwari and Rajasthani families have it on their menu almost always as much as I know.

Many families make this methi ki launji and each family has their own version.

ingredients 
(makes about 20-30 servings, about a 500 ml jarful )

1/2 cup methi (fenugreek) seeds soaked overnight, it becomes about 1.25 cups after soaked fully
1/2 cup chopped dates (I used soft dates)
1/2 cup chopped raisins
2 tbsp fennel seeds (moti saunf)
1 tbsp red chilly powder
1 tsp dry ginger powder
1 tsp coarse coriander powder (or just crushed coriander seeds)
1 tsp roasted cumin (bhuna jeera) powder
2 tsp amchoor powder (you can use a mix of tamarind extract and amchoor)
a pinch of clove, cinnamon and nutmeg powder (optional)
salt 1 tsp or less
Jaggery or sugar to taste ( I used 2 tbsp crushed jaggery)

procedure 

Drain the methi seeds, the water can be refrigerated and added to green tea if you like, this recipe uses methi seeds only.

Some people boil the methi seeds and throw away the boiled water too, but I did not do this, the methi ki launji doesn't taste bitter even if I reserve the cooking liquid.

Mix the soaked methi seeds, fennel seeds, chopped raisins and chopped dates with 2 cups of water and salt and pressure cook till the first whistle blows. Cool and remove the lid.

Now add all the other ingredients and simmer till the chutney becomes thick almost like a jam.

You can keep the chutney thinner but that tastes better when you use more jaggery or sugar as the syrupy chutney carries the other flavours well. I like this chutney less sweet and find the sweetness of the dates and raisins good enough to balance the bitterness of methi.

The addition of clove, cinnamon and nutmeg powders is optional, they make more sense when there is some more sugar or jaggery in the chutney or launji.

The methi seeds will taste bitter the first day when you make the chutney but from next day the bitterness will be gone. Some people can't even tell if there is methi in it, they mistake it for a lentil if they haven't eaten this chutney ever.

This methi ki launji keeps well for a month if refrigerated. You can serve it with any Indian meals or even as a chutney with khakhra or pakodas.

With some pumpkin subzi and crisp paratha or poori it is a combination made in heaven. Here is a pumpkin, brinjal and malabar spinach subzi that I keep repeating in this season because the few odd brinjals from the garden make good addition t o such mixed subzis. Malabar spinach is also from the garden.

I have finished this methi ki chutney on its own sometimes. Have a good spoonful of this chutney with breakfast and dinner everyday to cure any joint pains and aches, but keep the sugar away from this chutney in that case.

Call it mathi ki launji or methi ki chutney, it is a must try for poori type India meals I say.

urad daal aur sowa ke pakode | lentil fritters with dill leaves

Daal ke pakode is a winter snack made with tea or coffee in the evenings or for weekend breakfasts in many homes. Weekend breakfast mostly becomes a brunch for us but we normally don't cook elaborated meals on weekends and make something that we enjoy eating in leisure but simpler to cook. So mostly it is something like a platter of hot pakode or crisp cooked methi or alu ke paranthe in this season or a huge bowl of salad in summers. Newspapers and such comforting meals make our weekend mornings very relaxed, usually very late mornings in fact, stretching out well till afternoon.

I had soaked urad ki daal (split and skinned black beans) last week to make some kanji vada to be soaked in the kanji that was fermenting on my kitchen counter and a relaxed Saturday brunch of sowa wale daal ke pakode. But on Friday evening one of Arvind's friends called and came to visit us on a short notice for tea. I decided to quickly fry some daal ke pakode and harey lasun ki chutney with chai and as it turned out, this snack became our dinner that day. Not that I am complaining, I did fry some plain vadas and soaked them in the kanji to make the much craved for kanji vadas.

Sowa bhaji is a fragrant leafy green that is usually mixed with spinach or methi (fenugreek greens) to make saag or stir fries. We love it in our daals, raw chutneys and even in lehsun sagga. It was after a long time I made pakodas with these dill greens. All of us loved this impromptu meal of pakodas.

ingredients 
(enough pakodas for a gathering where no one minds portions)

urad daal 1.5 cup soaked overnight or minimum 3 hours
chopped dill greens 2 cups packed
minced green chillies 2 tsp or to taste
minced or grated fresh ginger root 1 tbsp or a bit more
coarse pepper powder 1 tsp
anardana powder 1-2 tsp (optional)
salt to taste
mustard oil for deep frying

procedure 

Discard the soaking water and grind the soaked daal to a smooth paste. Whip some more while still in the mixie jar to make the batter light. Do not add water while making this paste else the batter will get runny and the pakodas would absorb too much oil while frying.

Mix this batter with all the other ingredients except the oil and start frying right away. Keeping it for long makes the batter runny and it absorbs more oil while frying.

Heat the oil in a deep kadhai and fry small portions of the batter to make pakodas. You can use a rounded dessert spoon or soup spoon to scoop the batter and drop it in hot oil to make pakodas, depending on what size of pakodas you want.

Take care to fry them at medium flame so they cook thoroughly, these pakodas do not soak much oil as urad daal is quite sticky and the surface of the pakodas get sealed quickly in the hot oil.

Serve hot with any green chutney but this green garlic chutney works really well with this dill flavoured daal ke pakode.

To make this green garlic chutney mix a cup of chopped green garlic (leaves and some of the bulbs) with a cup of chopped green coriander leaves along with 3-4 green chillies, 1 tsp chopped ginger, salt to taste and lime juice to taste. The chutney is so good you would want to make it everyday with all your meals. We eat too much green garlic in this season.

These urad daal ke pakode are irresistible. I suggest you to make it a meal always as such snacks feel guilty if one is heading for a meal after this. Or serve it as starters for an elaborate meal for guests and see how fast they fly.

sweet chilly-ginger and tamarind sauce...

Sweet chilly sauce is a common condiment and sauce in the western, Thai and Malaysian cuisine. Commonly used for seasoning stir fries or as a dip for fried snacks or to smear on sandwiches and rolls. The uses can always be to suit personal taste as I have liked Thai sweet chilly sauce with my omelets too. But this one is a slight variation of Thai sweet chilly sauce.

This sweet chilly-ginger and tamarind sauce is a versatile sauce owing to it's ketchup like consistency. Actually when I gifted this sauce to a friend, she thought it is a tomato ketchup. Tamarind and ginger make this sauce quite interesting in the taste. It suits both Indian dishes as well as western style stir fries or as a dip.

Big fat red chilies of the cayenne pepper variety, are in season normally from January to March in the north of India and people use it to make stuffed red chilly pickle mostly. I use this variety of chilly to make chilly jam and orange or kumquat and chilly marmalade mostly. I also use this chilly as a substitute for red bell peppers to get a capsaicin flavor in my stews and salads sometimes as the husband is intolerant to bell peppers. Have a look what all I made using these chilies.

This sweet chilly-ginger and tamarind sauce has become quite popular as an all rounder sauce at home. I don't do any straining when I make this sauce, except for the straining of the tamarind pulp after soaking seedless tamarind in hot water for an hour.

ingredients...

Fat red chilies (cayenne or jalapenos will be good to use) 200 gm
fresh ginger root 150 gm
seedless tamarind 100 gm
jaggery or raw sugar 650 gm
salt 1/2 tsp

procedure...

Soak tamarind for an hour in 2 cups of  hot boiling water and strain the pulp in a wide pan after mashing it properly.
Remove stalks from the chilies and chop roughly.
Clean the ginger root and chop roughly.
Puree the ginger and red chilies together in a blender.

Now keep the pan with strained tamarind pulp on gas stove. Add the chilly and ginger paste and the jaggery and salt and heat to boil the mixture. It becomes a little frothy first, lower the heat after this and simmer on low flame for about 45 minutes.

It can take a little more time to reduce and become the consistency of ketchup. You can reduce it further to a jam like consistency.

And the sauce is done. It is an easy sauce to make and you will be spared from many preservatives  colors and texture enhancers used in commercial ketchup and sauces. You might like to to strain the sauce half way into the cooking and then reduce it to desired consistency.

Fill the sauce in sterilised jars or bottles. This recipe makes about 900 ml of sauce. The sauce stays well on room temperature for about 4-5 months. Or keep it refrigerated if you live in a humid area or the jar keeps opening frequently. Using clean and ry spoons will be better or use squeezy type bottles if you wish to prevent contamination.

There are bits and pieces in this sauce since I haven't strained it after cooking the chilies and ginger etc but I like it this way. This way the sauce is not suitable for squeezy type bottles.

We like this sauce with our dahi bhalle chaat, as a dip for crackers, as a sauce for pakodas and even with parathas and omelet sometimes.

I am sure you would love this sauce, especially if you have kids at home. Many friends have been requesting me to make this sauce on a commercial scale and sell it in friends' circle. Yes, this sauce is that good. I will be making this sauce more and more to gift my friends and family as homemade gifts feel more personal to me.

what do you think?

angoor ki chutney | green grapes chutney with ginger...

Angoor ki chutney or green grapes chutney is no less than the Mango chutney we love with our Indian meals or with crackers and cheese. While I myself don't eat much chutneys and jams, Arvind loves them. He loves the jams, marmalade and such chutneys more than fresh fruits sometimes. I am more for the fresh fruit but then such chutneys are a good way to use up any leftover fruits or when you buy in bulk and can't consume so much fresh. I do buy fruits and vegetables in huge bulk sometimes, being greedy for fresh produce always. This tendency makes me guilty of wasting them a few times as well, though I try and give away the extra to the house help.

This chutney is an Indian way of using fruits for making a sweet and savory, sometimes hot with chilies preserve. Also called as launji, this type of chutney can be made with any sour fruit or vegetbale, some neutral vegetable also make good launji and raw papaya launji is as good as kachhe aam ki launji, the recipes will differ obviously.

Khatte angoor ki launji may have some roasted cumin powder too, but we all make them the way we like. Some people love a hint of garam masala too in this angoor ki chutney or launji, even I like it occasionally.

This tomato chutney is more popular as a daily thing. Basically a condiment that is served along with an Indian thali meal, it serves the purpose of a palate cleanser. More popular in the central states of India, I have seen Bengali families serving such chutneys (cooked with more sugar content) at the end of the meal, just before desserts.

There are food traditions and there are recipes, modern life doesn't give us many chances to eat traditionally laid out meals but we enjoy the taste elements in bit and pieces. Like this chutney will be on a toast some day, on a cracker with cheese some other day and will be had with a paratha meal some other time.

I kept the sugar content lesser in this chutney, it still keeps well for a week at room temperature, for longer shelf life it's better to refrigerate. The chutney is a basic jam with lesser sugar content and lesser degree of set. More sugar added will cause the chutney to set like a jam as sugar causes the pectin the fruit to gel.

ingredients...

green grapes 500 gm
finely chopped or grated ginger root 2 tbsp
salt 1/4 tsp
sugar 100 gm
water 1 cup or a little more (depends on how juicy the grapes are, smaller grapes might need a few tablespoons more of water)

procedure...

Chop the grapes in halves or as you like.

Mix all the ingredients in a wide and thick bottomed pan and cook on a medium flame. The mixture will come to a boil, start frothing and then bubbling merrily while it reduces.

You should keep a watch on the liquidity of the cooking mixture as if the flame is high it would dehydrate faster and might need some more water added. Total cooking time on medium heat would be around 25 minutes but you just have to stir it in between and keep an eye. You can do other chores on the sly.

Easy isn't it?

You can always add some whole black peppercorns to this chutney, some roasted fennel seeds powder or a mix of roasted fennel and fenugreek. Some red chilly powder will be awesome too if you like a kick.

Check out a few more such chutneys with different ingredients, may be you would get an idea how these chutneys can transform a meal...

Khajoor tamatar ki chutney

Plum chutney

Mango chutney 

Date and ginger chutney with tamarind 

Tamatar ki mithi chutney

We Indians made the fruit jams spicier and tangier. I hope you would love having these chutneys with your meals. So try these if you haven't had them earlier. Those who know these chutney, know what I am talking about.

Cheers.

Khajoor tamatar ki chutney | dates and tomatoes chutney...

This is actually an Indian style tomato and dates spiced jam. Actually a tomato-ginger and dates spiced jam. Now you know what I mean. Except that the tomatoes are not skinned and de-seeded and the jam is not blended smooth. A chunky spicy jam for your sandwiches or to be served as condiments with Indian meals. This chutney is loved with spicy samosas, aloo parathas and any kind of Methi or Bathua parathas. Or on it's own if you are a wicked person :-)

 You just need some red ripe heirloom (desi) tomatoes, some dry dates we call Chhuharey (see the picture), some fresh ginger root and a blend of garam masala, preferably home made. And yes, you can add a little tamarind too if you wish but this is made without any tamarind pulp.

Ingredients...

ripe desi tomatoes 500 gm (5-6 medium large tomatoes)
dry dates (chhuharey) 20 ..soaked overnight
finely chopped ginger 2-3 tbsp or to taste
red chilly powder 1 tsp or to taste
special garam masala 1/2 tsp
sugar or natural brown sugar (boora/shakkar or jaggery) 300 gm
salt to taste, just 2 pinches is the requirement

procedure...

Dice the tomatoes and put them all into a wide base pan.

Chop the soaked dates too in desired size pieces and dunk them all into the same pan. Add salt, sugar (I used natural brown sugar) and chopped ginger to it too and start cooking on medium-low flame. Keep stirring in between as it takes quite a long time to cook (around 40 minutes) and might get stuck to the base of the pan.

Just as the jam/chutney starts getting thick and shiny it is time to add the red chilly powder and garam masala. Cook for 5 more minutes or till you get a jam like consistency and bottle it in a sterilised jar.

This can be blended smooth if you wish and can be a good substitute for tomato ketchup for your kids. I like the depth ginger provides into this chutney and the garam masala makes it very aromatic. A sweet, spicy and hot chutney to make the meals pack a punch.

Cheers...

Harey lehsun ka achaar | Lehsun-sagga...

Garlic greens and Dill leaves come together in winters and there is a genius recipe that makes use of both these aromatic herbs together.

Lehsunsagga.

Yes, this is the name of an intriguing pickle of Garlic greens. The green garlic shoots or hara lasun as it is called in HIndi. Made into a fresh chutney or a pickled chutney, called as achar as it keeps well for the whole year. A childhood favorite, my grandmother used to make it quite frequently and it was considered healthy being green and being the ever so popular condiment that is Garlic. A good measure of Ginger in it and a lot of aromatic Dill greens, it was the most favored pickle till it lasted. Yes it lasted just a few weeks thanks to a few greedy prying eyes to the glass jar. My Daadi would clean a large bunch of greens once again and chop it, pound it in the stone mortar and pestle to get a nice flaky texture in the pickle.

When I stared pickling, it was a challenge to get it right because chopping the greens finely didn't work to get that texture, blending them in the food processor just chutnified them and killed that achar feel of it. But I was hell bent upon bringing that texture of flaky greens of garlic, macerated well but not too smooth to loose a tangy bite. Got it right with a chopper attachment of my Morphy Richards hand blender. The chopper did a fine job when the green were put into it after chopping them. Later I would do the whole hog of using a stone mortar and pestle too to get the texture right.

Long story cut short, I tried every method in the book to macerate the chopped garlic greens well so they seep well into the Dill aromas and the Ginger heat.

I have taken a few step wise pictures last year of the making of this pickle, but couldn't find them in my albums when I started looking for them. Someone on a foodie group on facebook wanted the recipe and I decided to post it without those pictures.

The pictures have been added later**

ingredients...

Garlic greens cleaned 200 gm
Dill greens 200 gm
fresh ginger grated 200 gm
green chilies 50-100 gm depending on how hot you would like it
salt to taste (ideally 15% of the total weight of the other ingredients to preserve it)
lime juice 1/4 cup
mustard oil 1 tbsp (optional)

an electronic chopper or a stone mortar and pestle so the chopped herbs can be thrashed to macerate

procedure...

Make a tight bundle of all garlic greens and the dill greens together in your hand and chop them all together on a wooden chopping board or any which way you are comfortable chopping them. Retain the thick but soft stems of Dill greens, just discard the woody stems if it has. Discard the fat white bulb if the garlic greens have it at the base, use it for other recipes.

Make a coarse paste of the green chillies and ginger too if you wish. I prefer the ginger to be chopped very fine. You might like to grate the ginger. Keep these two aside.

Now whiz the chopped greens into a chopper by pulsing action so it doesn't get smooth, just macerated. Or put it all into a stone Mortar n pestle and thrash the whole mixture for about 5 minutes or till the texture is your preference. Adding salt while doing it would help the maceration process. Add mustard oil if using. Mustard oil tastes great when this pickle is consumed within a month, after that the raw mustard oil aroma vanishes.

Now mix everything together in a sterilised glass mixing bowl, I sometimes use even stainless steel bowl to mix.

Pour lime juice over it and press down to make sure all the liquid released acts as a brining medium. No need to sun this pickle, gets ready instantly if you like the sharp flavors. The sharpness gets milder as the pickle ages.

The lehsunsagga gets more sour, more mild and more dull in color as it ages but this pickled chutney ages really well and the olive green coloured lehsunsagga in one of these jars is 6 years old and still tastes great.

This olive coloured sample is 6 years old garlic greens pickle, the Lehsun-sagga, still as fragrant as the dill stays aromatic, the garlic sharpness has mellowed down.

The green pickle can be used as a chutney, as a pickle in sandwiches and burgers, even in some salad dressings. Sometimes a generous dollop of this pickle is mixed with boiled potatoes to make an instant Aloo paratha.

Don't miss getting some green garlic shoots and Dill greens (Suwaa bhaji or soya ka saag) together and take out half an hour from your busy routine to make this. You would love yourself for making it. Believe me.

Plum chutney: quick and fiery...

Some fruits make very interesting chutneys. Especially if they are bright colored and the sweetness is complex with a generous hint of tartness. I make good use of them sometimes in quick chutneys when a few of them are getting stale in the fruit bowl.

For this chutney I used just 2 of them. Red ripe juicy Plums I mean. The chutney was so good and yet so hot and fiery it lasted 3 days. Just a small teaspoon of this chutney is packed with flavors to perk up a meal. Think lentil salads and a chicken stir fry in my case.

So you chop the required amount of Plums. I used just 2 large Plums...

Add 1 tbsp of sugar for this quantity, 2 pinches of salt and a generous pinch of red chilly powder.

Then microwave it for 2 minutes...

Mash it, dehydrate for another minute in the microwave if required and serve in a bowl. Hot or cold or chilled as and when required.

I made use of a pretty ramekin gifted to me by Ruchira. Doesn't it make a nice chutney to be served into a red bowl?

Store it in airtight jar and keep refrigerated for up to a week. A nice make ahead chutney for gettogethers.

This chutney makes a nice topping for scones too. I often make it quickly when I bake some scones for ourselves. Especially those with a nice sweet and salt balance.

Or try this on some crackers.

Karonde ki chutney...hot and tangy condiment to your monsoon fritters...

Karonda is a beautiful pink white shaded berry that grows on a bushy spiny plant during the monsoons in India. We had a huge bush of this plant back home and used to pick the Karonda just for fun. Chutneys and Jams were made and relished by all of us. We were a big family with 5 siblings and a huge friend circle so chutneys and jams were always handy.

Packed with antioxidants. owing to it's rich pink purple coloration (Anthocyanins) and loads of Vitamin C, makes this berry quite good for health.The best way to eat this is using it raw as a fresh chutney but you can preserve it in the form of some coked chutney and jam or sweet preserve. A Murabba is quite popular with this fruit too which is nothing but candied Karonda that can be used as a garnish for cakes and muffins and for Indian Mithais.

This hot and sour chutney takes just 5 minutes to make if you start from peeling a few garlic cloves...

ingredients...
(to make half cup of chutney which makes 10-12 small servings)
about 20 Karonde (include more of the ripe dark purple ones always)
6 large whole dry red chillies
a dozen or more fat garlic cloves
1 tbsp of white synthetic vinegar
salt to taste

Preparation...

Place everything in the trusted chutney jar of your mixie and give it a good churn. A rough texture tastes better to some and some like it really smooth. Mine is rough and we are loving it.

keeps well in the fridge till it lasts or two weeks.

Serve as a condiment with your meals or as a chutney for fried snacks or even crackers or Khakhra kind of snacks.

Makes a great sauce to marinate chicken and fish for light quick fries.

How are you going to use it?

mint, raw mango and onion chuntney or aam pudina pyaz ki chutney | a cooling versatile chutney for hot summers...

This mint chutney is a daily fix of freshness for many families till the summers last. A couple of raw mangoes are consumed everyday either in the form of Aam Panna or this chutney to keep the heat at bay.

How wonderful it is that nature gives us something special for every season and some of those can even be used for treating some seasonal ailments as well. Like this combination of green chillies, onions and raw mangoes can treat heat strokes. The cooked mango with mint and some salts that makes the popular drink Aam panna is also a cure and prevention for heatstroke.

It is a pleasure to have yummy food or condiments that can be therapeutic in it's effect and versatile in it's use. This Aam-pudina-pyaz ki chutney is one such condiment you would love to have daily.

ingredients....

Raw Mango peeled and cubed 1/2 cup (discard the stone)
Mint leaves washed and pat dried 1.5 cup
Red Onion diced 1/2 cup
Green Chillies 2-4 or to taste
salt to taste


procedure....

Mix everything up and blend in your food processor of chutney jar of your mixie.

Serve fresh. Keeps well for a day if refrigerated.

Goes well with all Indian meals as a condiment.

Can be used for making chutney sandwiches and as a pita bread stuffing sauce.

Many families like this chutney with a stuffed Aloo ka paratha or Pyaz ka paratha along with a bowl of yogurt for breakfast.

Mixed with yogurt and some Boondi it makes a nice raita too. Equally cooling in it's effect and a variation to a normal green chutney.

This chutney pairs very well with Sattu ka paratha which is a frequent breakfast dish for many families in Eastern UP and Bihar.

For maximum health benefits I would advice this chutney to be consumed in good quantity. Half cup or more per serving is great and it will be possible if you make this chutney with lesser green chillies than you use normally. That way the chutney becomes more like a raw curry than just a condiment.

Mix this chutney in boiled red lentil soup for a quick and refreshing dinner. Great for the days when you need a break from heavy eating.

Great for detox purpose. If not consumed with too much wheat products in the same meal.

Summers look more bearable with this ...it is still 40C plus in Delhi and we are depending on such food and condiments...Mangoes big time :-)

Mango chutney...

I didn't know Mango chutney is more popular in the west than the country of it's origin. I was astonished when a few of my blog friends pointed out. How can a chutney which is a staple sweet n sour condiment on our plate every summer in practically every home , be more popular in far away countries who import mangoes from us?

This is the power of food uniting us in amazing ways.

I still wonder how the firangs can eat more mango chutney that us :-)

May be the mango chutney is more popular as a packaged product, more visible on the shelves of supermarket. That is a believable thought. Isn't it.

Having said that, all Indian states have their own version of mango chutney and all homes have their own finer nuances going on with chutneys. After all chutneys are made to suit individual palates, something you lick in a small quantity and get a satiety feeling after a meal. Even if the meal was boring.

Chutneys were a way to perk up everyday meals initially I guess. More chutneys were eaten in summers as this was the season when only a few vegetables were available and Indian summers didn't allow much meat eating in those natural living days without these air conditioned bubbles to call a home. Chutneys with mint, green chillies, onions and mangoes were cooling on the system.

Even this chutney is. Cooling in one more way as it does not require stove top cooking.

 I prefer the mangoes which get yellowish and squishy, almost half ripe for this particular chutney.

The quick recipe and procedure simplified...

Just peel and chop about 3-4 raw mangoes. Remove the hard stone as you require only the pulp/flesh.

To a cup of raw mango flesh, placed in a pyrex bowl of suitable size, add 1/2 tsp of salt, 3 tbsp of sugar and microwave on high for 2 minutes. Let it rest for a couple of minutes and then repeat microwaving it for 2-3 minutes more.

Take out the bowl and mash the raw mango flesh with the tines of a fork.

Add a generous pinch of red chilly powder and a generous pinch of garam masala.

Now this garam masala is special, and does not include cumin and black peppercorns.

So if you add a regular garam masala from a packet, the taste of the chutney would be a little different. Still tasty.

Powdering one clove, half a green cardamom, few seeds of black cardamom and a tiny piece of cinnamon together freshly in a mortar and pestle can be good if you don't have that special garam masala with you.

Cook the chutney once again for a minute or until it bubbles. The finished chutney becomes like jelly when it cools down and can be preserved for up to 2 months but you wont have to worry about that when you make such small quantity almost instantly.

Make just a bowl and enjoy till you get a next batch of raw mangoes and may be next time you would like to make this one...aam ka khatta metha achar when you get unripe mangoes.

Note: If you want to cook this chutney in a pan, just mix everything except red chilly powder and garam masala and add 2-3 tbsp of water as it might stick to the pan, and cook till it gets squishy. Mash and add the powders and take off the stove.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature if you make a smaller quantity to last about a fortnight. Otherwise refridgerate up to a year.

Banaras ka khana has shifted to it's own domain now. Please let me know if you find any difficulty searching for recipes or in commenting here. It will be immensely helpful in making the site more user friendly.

Thank you.

Date and ginger chutney with Tamarind | sonth imli ki chutney...

Sonth imli khajoor ki chutney to be precise. This is a sweet sticky gooey chutney that looks like jam or a fruit preserve. Packed with all the sweet and hot and a little savory and a lot of tangy flavors. All wrapped in one lick of the spoon.

 A complex flavor imparted by an earthy yet tingling kick of dry ginger powder, hot red chilly powder balanced by those juicy bits of dates and a slurry like tamarind jelly. This chutney is used as a condiment with meals or as a topping for many popular chaats. With Dahi vade, with dahi wale gol gappe or with samose..this chutney picks up any snack or meal to a new level.

Here is a dahi vada chaat with this chutney on top and some chopped coriander greens and a few crushed potato chips..It can't get any better.

The recipe is pretty simple and the chutney keeps well in the fridge for about six months. So it is a nice recipe to have in your repertoire. I am sure you have at least one recipe of a tamarind chutney with either dates, Aam papad or even Raisins or Apples. Or Pineapples.

The fruit can be of your choice and the consistency also keeps changing according to the main meal you want to serve it with.

This one is a traditional flavor from UP and goes well with all kinds of chaat.

ingredients...

tamarind 50 gm (seedless sticky tamarind)
Or same amount of tamarind paste from a packet
dates chopped finely 50 gm
jaggery 25 gm or to taste
red chilly powder 1 tsp
dry ginger powder (sonth) 1 tsp Or fresh ginger paste 1 tbsp
garam masala 1/2 tsp (I use this special garam masala, it can be a powder of Laung, Elaichi, Daalchini otherwise, including both kinds of cardamoms all in equal amounts)
salt to taste (1/2 tsp is enough as the chutney is not too salty, adjust salt after the chutney is done)

procedure...

Soak the tamarind in 100 ml water and boil or MW for 2 minutes. Let it cool and mash the pulp and strain the gel like pulp. Discard the solids. You may like to add 50 ml water again to the solids and repeat the process to extract some more thinner tamarind pulp from it. Mix both the filtrates together.

Add the chopped dates and all the other ingredients and boil or microwave the mixture together till it becomes a jelly like consistency. You might like it thinner so stop cooking when your kind of consistency is reached. Thicker chutney lasts longer.

Use as required and refrigerate in an airtight container.

Tamatar ki meethi chutney being an all time favorite, this one comes a close second. It is dangerously addictive as you would want to keep dipping the spoon and licking it.

tamatar ki mithi chutney | condiments for banaras ka khana

There are a few foods you relate to your childhood. While growing up Tamatar ki mithi chutney was a winter delicacy as the tomatoes available in the winters were the juiciest kind packed with sweet and tart flavors. The desi (heirloom) tomatoes are the kind that are easily squished into your palms when pressed, not like the hard shell plastic like tomatoes (Roma and the likes) bred for longer shelf life available in the supermarkets these days.

Tamatar ki mithi chutney was made in bulk and was stored either in a ceramic barni or a specific bowl called as pathri in my family. Pathri is actually a bowl made of yellow sandstone of Jaisalmer, the below picture features tamatar ki mithi chutney in the same pathri I got from Jaisalmer last year.

These pathris were generally used for setting cultured yogurt or storing chutneys and condiments, each family used to have several sizes of these pathris and these were always bought from Banjara women who used to come home for selling their wares brought from Rajasthan.

This tamatar ki chutney is the UP specialty, its counterpart in Bengal is a much thick jam like version with either dates or aam papad added to it. There is another tamatar ki chutney which is made for large family gatherings at my home which includes dried dates, makhanas and some nuts and melon seeds etc, but this one is a simple saucy chutney mostly served with paratha meals in winters.

Some people love this chutney with everyday dal chawal meals, some with khichdi and some use it to replace tomato ketchup too. But this tamatar ki mithi chutney is an essential condiment for an elaborate meal served thali style or even buffet style.

ingredients...
tomatoes 1 kg
whole dry red chilies 4-6as per taste
mustard seeds 1/4 tsp
fennel seeds 1 tsp
fenugreek seeds 1/2 tsp
nigella seeds 1/4 tsp
finely chopped ginger 1 tbsp or more
jaggery 300 gm
salt  1/42 tsp
mustard oil 2 tsp

procedure...

Chop the tomatoes roughly in small chunks, no need to fine chop. Break the whole dry red chilies in two three pieces and keep aside.

Heat the oil and throw in all the seeds and the broken red chilies, wait till they get aromatic and turn brownish (take care not to burn them) add the chopped ginger, wait till they sweat and add the chopped tomatoes at once.

Add water (about 500-600 ml) and salt and cook covered for 8-10 minutes. The tomatoes should get mushy.

Add the crushed jaggery and cook to make a syrupy saucy chutney, the color will darken a bit making the chutney a bright red saucy deliciousness. 

Dip your fingers in it and lick it, slurp it or dunk your parathas into it. Yummy is the word. The natural glutamates in tomatoes make this chutney so delicious it is a keeper.

Spread it on your bread to make sandwich or have it as a dessert for a change, tell me if you like it.

The chutney has amazing flavors. The heat of red chilies mingles very sharply with the deep earthy sweetness of jaggery while fennel, fenugreek and ginger are the main spicy flavors, the other things are kept subtle in my version. Accentuated fenugreek is great too if you like the methi flavor, add more fenugreek seeds if you wish.

Salt in this chutney is there just to balance the sweetness, this tamatar ki mithi chutney is a mouth watering delicacy and if you love tomatoes and chutneys and have a sweet tooth too  this is for you.

Most people I know from Banaras love it with alu parathas along with plain dahi or white butter. Do try that combination sometimes.

 

aam ka khatta meetha achar | gudamma | khattmithhi | aam ki launji | raw mangoes preserved in hot sweet n sour syrup

Indian summer means mangoes everywhere. Green mangoes, yellow mangoes, red tipped mangoes, round mangoes, oblong mangoes. Mangoes and more mangoes. Time to eat them now and to preserve them for the coming days.

This khatta meetha achar is a traditional UP preserve called khatmithhi, gudamma (gud is jaggery n the name suggests gud + aam) and paagey aam (meaning mangoes in sugar syrup). Call it by any other name, it is the hot favorite khatta meetha aam much like a gujrati chhunda and is a must do in this season.

For the last two years I am gifting a small jar of this to one of my neighbors as she likes it very much and this time when she asked about the recipe I decided to post it here.

You need raw mangoes for this preserve and if you do not find perfectly raw white flesh mangoes, you can go ahead with the yellowish flesh raw mangoes, it should be sour in taste so that khatta meetha (sweet n sour) taste is done justice with. If the mangoes are very firm and raw it will result in perfectly shaped firm pieces after cooking and if the mangoes are half ripe or slippery while cutting pieces you may end up with a mushy textured preserve. 

The good thing is, it does not affect the taste or shelf life of this preserve, so go ahead with making this preserve with whatever type of raw and sour mangoes are available in your part of the world.

It's a step by step procedure and i think it will be easy even for a first timer to make it perfectly.

ingredients ...

raw mangoes 2 kilo
sugar 800 gm to 1 kilo ( depending upon if you want more or less syrup)
water 800 ml to 1 L
2 pinches of salt
fenugreek seeds 1 tsp
fennel seeds 2 tsp
red chillies whole 6-8 ( to your taste )

procedure ...

Dry roast the fenugreek, fennel seeds and red chillies in a pan and powder them in the spice grinder. Keep aside.

Peel the raw mangoes with a potato peeler, cut them into 8 pieces and discard the cotyledons, keeping the hard seed coat intact.

Mix with the sugar and water in a stainless steel pan and start cooking.

Keep stirring frequently and keep the flame medium as it may froth up n spill...

It will start frothing n bubbling more and more as the syrup gets thicker........

At this point it needs to be stirred frequently and cooked on very low flame as it may stick to the bottom.....

Dip the spatula in the syrup and drop the syrup in the pan to check consistency....it should fall making a string....one string consistency as we call ek taar ki chaashni ..........

The color should be shiny and translucent and that is the indication that the preserve is ready.......

Add the spice mix and stir to mix properly, so that the spices release their flavor in the hot and sour syrup. Put off the flame and fill the preserve in sterilized glass jars.

It can be made thinner (with lesser sugar) to consume within a few days as it keeps in the fridge for a week or so. The preserve is quite sticky and is a common accompaniment of a simple daal chawal lunch during this season.

It is made in Bengali families too and they call it aamer chaatni every family may have their own version but I found one thing very interesting that the sweet chaatni is served in the end of the meal ,just before the dessert in Bengali meals. The chaatni is not eaten along with the meal as it is done in UP families.

Most UP homes will serve this gudamma with every meal during summers. Some people even mix this pickle with daal chawal and eat as a mix which I find repulsive somehow, but it just shows how much people love this khatta meetha aam ka achar. Gudamma or khattmithhi as you may call it.