Culinary Xpress

Cantoloupe & Greek Yogurt Medley

8:22 AM

To enjoy the whole nutrient of any fruit, it needs to be consumed in it’s whole form. I like to have more fresh fruit juices during the summer and especially to counter the humidity here. All you need is light , healthy and quick breakfast along with some refreshing cold beverages to tackle this hot and humid weather at Bhubaneswar. Cantaloupe or muskmelons are perfect summer coolers as it has lots of water content which reduces the body heat during summer. Though one could consume this directly, you could also this to juice, smoothies, sorbet, icecream, soup, desert etc.

Cantaloupe juice is easy to prepare and could be made in minutes by just adding it to the blender along with some ice cubes and honey or jaggery depending on the sweetness of the fruit and you are ready with this healthy cantaloupe juice. I personally like to eat the fruit instead as it is so juicy.But sometimes I also like to experiment and loves it .Muskmelons have a classic sweet melon flavor and a smooth texture making it ideal for use in as a puree for sauces and soups, smoothies, milkshakes and lassis. it can be added as cubed or pureed when making sorbet, kheer, cakes, ice cream and puddings.

Muskmelons also known as sweet melon, kharbuja and cantaloupe are botanically known as Cucumis melo and a member of the Cucurbitaceae family. There are approximately ten different commercial varieties of Muskmelon grown in India today such as Kharbuj, Kharbooj and Karbuja. In addition to fresh eating in India the Muskmelon is utilized to produce Muskmelon oil which is used in skincare, for cooking and in naturopathic medicine.( Source:http://www.specialtyproduce.com).Muskmelon has a lot of health benefits like controlling blood pressure, it is high in fibre, reduces body heat and is an anti oxidant.

Recipe type: drinks

Cuisine: world

Prep time:5 minutes

cooking time :5 minutes

serves: 2

Ingredients:

1 cantaloupe or muskmelon
Sugar or jaggery as required
200 gms fresh greek hogurt
a pinch of black salt
1 tsp cardamom powder
few cherries to decorate

how to make the recipe:

Cut the muskmelon into half. Remove the peel and separate it from the flesh.Discard the seeds. Chop and add in a blender along with sugar or jaggery as per requirement and the black salt. Blend till smooth without adding water.
Pour the Cantaloupe juice onto individual serving glass Mix the cardamom powder in the greek yogurt and pour over the muskmelon juice.
Garnish with Cherries and serve immediately so that the juice retains it’s freshness.

Baking

Irish Soda Bread Buns with Cranberries and Fennel Seeds

7:15 AM

This is one of the most old fashioned Soda Bread recipe with just the basic ingredients which can be ready in less than an hour. The addition of buttermilk gives this bread the much required crust and this is the perfect recipe when you are in a hurry. Like any other Soda bread, these buns tastes as good as when it is eaten with a slice of cheese or with butter and jam. The exotic scent of the fennel seeds and the burst of tartness from the cranberries make these buns to have it in a perfect cosy environment with your family.

Soda bread is a variety of quick bread traditionally made in a variety of cuisines in which sodium bicarbonate (otherwise known as baking soda) is used as a leavening agent instead of the more common yeast. The ingredients of traditional soda bread are flour, bread soda, salt, and buttermilk. The buttermilk in the dough contains lactic acid, which reacts with the baking soda to form tiny bubbles of carbon dioxide. Other ingredients can be added such as butter, egg, raisins, or nuts to make it as per your recipe. ( Source: Wiki)

If you’ve never made bread before just like me and terrified at the very thought of making homemade bread, simply relax. It is quite easier to make a soda bread than making a pancake or muffin. This is going to be part of my contribution to the 45^th Foodie Monday Bloghop theme of #Bread.

Recipe Source: Simply Nigella

Recipe Type: Bread

Prep Time:10 minutes

Cooking Time: 15 minutes

Yields :8

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups of whole wheat Flour
½ cup All Purpose flour
½ cup butter
1 tsp salt
1 ½ tsp Baking powder
¾ tsp soda
¾ tsp all spice powder
150 l runny buttermilk
1 large egg
½ cup dried cranberries
2 tsp fennel seeds

Let's Learn how to make this bread:

Melt the butter and then leave it to cool a little.

Preheat the oven to 220 degree C and line a baking sheet with baking Parchment.

in a large bowl, combine both flours, salt, baking powder, baking soda, all spice powder and mix well.

Whisk the egg with buttermilk and then fold in the melted butter.

Pour the wet ingredients over the bowl of dry ingredients, and then add the dried cranberries and fennel seeds and mix everything with a wooden spoon. The final bit of mixing should be done by hands.

Turn the sticky dough into the floury surface and then cut into 4 equal parts and out of those 4 parts make 4 more balls. Now you have 8 balls made from the dough.

Shape each piece of dough into a rough dough ball and place on your lined baking sheet with some space between them.

With the help of a knife, mark a pattern of ‘X’ in each of the dough.

Sprinkle little flour on all the breads and bake in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes or untill the buns are brown and sound hollow when tapped on the kitchen slab.

Let them cool for about 10 minutes before you eat them.

these Buns are best eaten the day it is made.

I like to have it with butter and some plum and tomato chutney and a glass of milk.

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"CCChallenge"

SAMBHAR VADA

11:34 AM

A south Indian Breakfast is never going to complete without the mention of Idly, Dosa, Sambhar, Vada. You can see these tasty platter of food at any food joint and road side stalls if you visit South India. During my recent trip to Karnataka, I have seen each and everyone asking for Medhu Vadai which are deep fried crispy vadas served with sambhar and Coconut Chutney and a cup of Coffee.

Sambhar Vada is the quintessential South Indian tiffin that features not just in their everyday menu but on special occasions also. Sambhar Vada is nothing but a split black lentils based fried snack soaked in mild and flavourful sambar. During the process, the urad dal is soaked and ground together with spices and then deep fried until golden brown. It is served primarily with coconut chutney and sambhar . The best part of this dish is that you can recycle the leftover Vadas , all you need to do is soak the vadas in hot water and then in hot sambhar. This recipe is a reminder of my beautiful short stay at Bangalore and the food there and it’s taste is going to remember with me for a long time to stay.

Cuisine: South Indian

Type: Breakfast

Prep Time: Overnight or minimum 3 hours

Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Serves: 6

Ingredients for Sambhar:

½ cup Arhar daal
1 small onion
1 Tomato
1 cup of assorted vegetables like Drumstick, Okra, Raddish, Brinjal, Beans cut into lengths)
1 tbsp tamarind pulp
3 tsp Sambhar Masala
1 tsp Red chilli powder
¼ tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp sugar

For tempering:

1 tbsp oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
2 nos of green chillies
Salt as needed
¼ tsp Asafoetida powder
1 sprig Curry leaves
3 to 4 garlic pods

Ingredients for Vadas:

1 cup Urad daal( skinless)
Salt as required
Water as required
1 sprig curry leaves
A pinch of Asafoetida
1 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
Oil for deep frying
1 tbsp rice flour powder
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp ginger

Let’s Learn How to make Vadas:

Wash urad dal thoroughly in water and soak overnight or for minimum 3 hours. Now drain the water if any to a bowl and start grinding the urad dal in a running grinder till the batter is smooth and fluffy. The whole process will take 10 to 15 minutes.

Once done, collect the batter to a separate bowl and add hing, curry leaves, coriander leaves, grated ginger, salt and rice flour. Combine everything well with a spoon.

Heat oil in a wide pan with heavy base .Take a ball of batter and make a whole with your thumb and drop the vada in hot oil carefully.

Fry the vadas till it turns golden in color. take out from pan and place on a kitchen towel to absorb the excess oil.

Let's Learn how to make the Sambhar:

Wash and soak daal in hot water for 1 hour and put it in a pressure cooker for 4-5 whistles with salt, turmeric and onion in it.

Once it is cooked, add the vegetables and tomatoes to it and cook till the vegetables are tender. Add the red chilli powder give it a good stir, let it cook for 5 mins more.

Soak the tamarind in hot water and keep it ready,

In a small pan heat oil and add the mustard seeds and let them splutter, add curry leaves, hing, crushed garlic, green chillies and the Sambhar masala and add this to the dhal mixture. You need to check the consistency of the sambhar and if needed add 1 to 11/2 cup of water to it. The Sambhar needs to be in liquid state.

Now add the tamarind paste and the sugar to the dhal mixture and let it cook for 5 minutes , Switch off the gas.

PLATING the SAMBAR VADA

In a bowl take warm water, dip the vadas one by one in the warm water and with both palms gently squeeze out the excess water. Repeat the same until you use up all the vadas.
Place in a serving dish, now pour sambar on top of the vadas. Garnish with chopped onions and coriander leaves and serve warm.
Enjoy your bowl of sambar vada along with coconut chutney & a cup of coffee.

Linking this to Valli's 'Cooking from Cookbook Challenge: June -- Week 3'

Breakfast & Snacks

MUDHI MANSA - Puffed Rice with Goat Meat Curry

10:30 AM

Mudhi Mansa or puffed Rice with Mutton Curry and Baripada in Mayurbhanj district in Odisha are synonymous with each other. This famous delicacy is served as a main course where goat meat curry or Mansa tarkari is mixed with puffed Rice or Mudhi along with some other side items. It is a belief with the people of Mayurbhanj that if you consume Mudhi after a meal, it will help in digesting the food you eat. No marriage seems complete in Mayurbhanj if you do not offer the Barajatris or Baratis, Mudhi Mansa. The popularity of Mudhi Mansa among most of the Odia people speaks the volume about the delectable taste of the dish. It is rightly said , if you have visited Baripada and not tasted the Mudhi Mansa, you have not tasted anything.

In coastal parts of Odisha where I am born and brought up, Mudhi or Puffed rice is generally considered as an ingredient for the evening snacks where it is mainly eaten with mixture . Whereas in Mayurbhanj, it is eaten during lunch and dinner also. It is such an integral part of their life that, Mudhi can be enjoyed with anything and everything. You name it and they eat it. Mudhi mansa, mudhi aloodum, mudhi tarkari, mudhi machha,singada aloochop mudhi, dahi mudhi, mixture mudhi and even Baigan Poda with Mudhi and list is endless. Try it once and you will fall in love with its taste.

Recipe: Odia

Prep Time: 1 hour

Cooking Time: 20 to 25 minutes

Serves:4

Ingredients for the Mansa tarkari:

500 gms Goat Meat with extra fat
2 large onions
2 medium potatoes cut into halves
1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
1 tbsp turmeric powder
1 tbsp red chilli powder
1 bay leaf
2-3 cloves
2 to 3 green cardamom
1 inch cinnamon
2 tbsp mustar oil (for the typical taste)
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp garam masala( grind 4 to 5 green cardamom and 1 inch cinnamon stick)
Salt to taste

Let's learn How to make the Odia Mansa Tarkari:

Marinate the mutton with 1 tsp mustard oil, turmeric powder and red chilli powder for 1 hour minimum.

Chop the onions and tomatoes and keep aside. Peel the potatoes and cut into halves and keep aside.

Heat Mustard oil in a Pressure cooker to a piping hot mode so that it would remove any strong odours from the oil .Shallow fry the potatoes and set them aside.

In the same oil, add the sugar and let it caramelize. Then add the whole spices (cloves, cinnamon, cardamon and bay leaf).

Add the chopped onions and fry till it turns golden brown in clour. Then add your ginger garlic paste and fry till the raw smell of the paste goes away.

Now add chopped tomatoes and cook till the oil separates from the spice mixture and then add coriander powder, chilli powder and a little water. Tomatoes are not usually added in the recipes in Odia Mutton curry but it is a personal preference , so I add, you can skip if you do not like.

Now add the marinated mutton and coat it evenly with the spices. Keep frying the mutton for a few more minutes on a medium heat. You will notice the fat melting and adding to the richness to the masala. keep sauting on low flame till you see the masalas leaving the sides of the pot.Add potatoes now.

Pour 2 cups of boiling water and cover the lid and allow it to cook on medium flame till you have the first whistle of the pressure cooker. Now lower the flame and cook for another 10 to 15 minutes. This would help the mutton fat to gradually melt and add to the richness and flavour of the dish.

Let the pressure cooker release all the steams naturally and then open the lid and sprinkle the garam masala over it.

Your delicious Odia mutton curry is ready. There will be a thin layer of oil over the mutton curry, which indicates a good mutton curry.

Ingredients to make Mudhi Mansa:

1 cup Mudhi
1 onion finely chopped
1 green chilli finely chopped
2 to 3 tbsp chopped cucumber
1 tbsp chopped tomatoes
Fresh sprig of coriander leaves, finely chopped
A pinch of Odia jira lanka gunda (roasted cumin seeds and red chillies grind together )

Let's assemble the dish:

Mix all the ingredients together and finally add a some mutton curry with a few chunks of meat. Your Mudhi Mansa is ready to be savoured.

This Mudhi Mansa, an exclusive odia delicacy Which remains a niche in its own state made from the leftover gravy from the mutton curry mixed with onions, green chillies and fresh coriander along with the puffed rice , needs to be brought to the limelight for the world to know. Hence,this delicacy is going to be part of the #44th Foodie Monday Blog Hop theme of #Indianspices.