Mint And Yogurt Dip

My final recipe for this week is a dip which we can serve any starter. I used green chillis in this dip if you don't like it too spicy you can add pepper powder in the place of green chillis. Use hung curd for this dip hung curd will give a thick and nice texture to the dip. Serve this dip with paneer tikka or any other starter or even with vegetable slices like cucumber, carrot and beetroot. This will be a perfect choice for salad dressing also.

Let's check the recipe...
INGREDIENTS:---
Yogurt   ----  1 cup
Green chillies  --- 3
Mint leaves  ---  1/2 cup
Garlic ---   4 cloves
Salt to taste
METHOD:---
1. Take mint leaves, green chillies, garlic cloves  add two tab sp. of yogurt and grind in to a fine paste.
2. Take out this mint paste in to a bowl add remaining yogurt and salt to taste mix well.
Leave this dip in the fridge at least for one hour to blend the flavors.
Serve with paneer tikka, alu rolls, cutlets, or simply with masala pappad,,, 
Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#72 

Bechamel Sauce (White Sauce)

My final recipe for second week under condiments is a basic sauce from french cuisine. Bechamel sauce is a basic sauce which also known as a white sauce. It is also used as a basic sauce for other sauces and many dishes. Not only as a basic sauce you can use this as a spread or as a dip. I enjoy this creamy sauce simply with garlic bread and some vegetable cubes...
So let's check my favorite Bechamel sauce recipe...
INGREDIENTS:---
Butter   ---  5 tab sp
All purpose flour  ---   4 tab sp
Milk   ----  4 cups boil and bring it to room temperature 
Freshly ground netmeg ---  1/2 tea sp
Freshly ground pepper  ---  1/2 tea sp
Salt to taste
METHOD:--
1. In a sauce pan melt butter in medium low heat.
2. Add flour and keep stirring till it turn to smooth but take care the roux should not change the color because it is a white sauce, so keep the heat low and keep whisking.
3. After the roux turn in to a creamy texture, now add milk gradually and keep stirring and cook the sauce till thickened and smooth. 
4. This will take 10 minutes time after 10 minutes switch off the heat and season with salt, ground pepper and netmeg.
Now your Bechamel sauce(white sauce) is ready to use...

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Basil Pesto

After finishing recipes from Indian States we entered in to the third week with the theme of condiments. For this theme we are going to explore the condiments across the countries. Since we are exploring this recipes across the countries my first choice is one of my favorite cuisine Italian. there are many options for condiments in Italian cuisine. Like pesto's, dressings, preserved fruits and pickled vegetables. My today choice is a Pesto, In Italian cuisine they have a large verity of pesto's with fresh herbs and vegetables. This one with Basil is a classic recipe from Italian cuisine. This recipe I have adopted from Jamie Oliver site, I just adjusted the ingredients according to my need...
So lets check the classic pesto recipe
Recipe adopted from Jamie Oliver
INGREDIENTS:----
Basil leaves   ---  1 cup
Garlic clove  ---  1 clove
Pine nuts ---  25 gms
Extra virgin olive oil  ---  1 and half tab sp
Parmesan cheese  ---  20 g grated
Salt   to taste
Freshly ground black pepper -- about  1/4 tea sp
METHOD:---
1. Lightly dry roast pine nuts in a pan and add garlic clove and basil leaves and grind in to a coarse paste.
2. Now add all other ingredients and ground till smooth.
Stir in some cooked pasta and serve or stir in some cooked baby potatoes and enjoy or you can just serve with a slice of bread as a spread.

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Garlicky Red Bell Pepper Dip

I wanted to bake French baguette, but still I have some pieces of sun dried tomato and basil bread. I wanted to finish that so I made a dip with red bell pepper. Before I made chutney with red bell pepper, that goes well with dosa. Now I have to make a spread which pair well with any bread that should be less spicy and creamy. First I thought of using cream cheese but wanted to make it little healthy. Find this recipe in a book called delicious dips which my sister gave me.
                                                      This recipe contain two types of nuts and bread crumbs. I used both nuts but removed bread crumbs. Because I didn't have fresh bread crumbs in hand and also some how I didn't like that option if you like can add bread crumbs. 
Let's check the recipe.....
INGREDIENTS:--
Roasted red bell pepper   ----  1 big 
Red chillies (bird eye red chilli) ---  2
Walnuts  ----  1 tab sp roasted
Pine nuts  ----  1 tab sp
Garlic cloves  ---  3 mashed
Lemon juice ---  juice of one lemon
Olive oil  ---  1 tabsp
Bread crumbs  ---  2 tab sp ( I didn't add bread crumbs if you like can add)
METHOD:--
1. Roast bell pepper on stove how we roast eggplant for bharta, let it cool and peel the skin.
2. Take roasted bell pepper, red chillies, walnuts, pine nuts, garlic, lemon juice, bread crumbs (if using), olive oil and blend in to a smooth paste.
Serve with any bread or crackers or with chips. 
Let's check Blogging Marathon page

Irio From Kenya for K

Some times simple recipes makes delicious dishes Am I  right?. This recipe from Kenya is one of those dishes. Yes my recipe for K is from Kenya. Kenya is an East African country with it's Indian ocean coastline. Many immigrants came in to Kenya and brought their ingredients in to the country. So Kenyan cuisine is a mixture of  many cultures and cuisines 

                                                                             But there are some local tribes and groups still following their culture and using their won ingredients in their cuisine. Kikuyu is the one of the largest group in the country, they are also the largest ethnic group in the country. They lives in the hilly area of the country. Kikuyu people are farmers, they grow bananas, sugarcane, yam, potatoes and many more other vegetables.

                                                                        Kikuyu people make a lot of vegetarian dishes too from their locally  grown vegetables. This Irio is a traditional Kikuyu recipe which I got after a very long research. Irio is a delicious and nutritious accompaniment to any stew. But they serve this with beef stew or any other meat stew. What I came to know is traditionally how they eat this is. Take a small portion of this Irio and dip in to the stew and have it. I made this for two times. First time we had it with a bean stew and bread that was a very heavy meal. Second time we just had it with a slice of toast. This time I thought I could have it with a soup and bread will try next time. Simple recipe but was very delicious. If  you use all fresh vegetables in this recipe the taste will increase, but you can use caned peas and corn. You can use dried green peas and corn but the taste will be little different. There are variations for this recipe too. some people will add spinach or pumpkin leaves to this. And in some recipes they didn't add onion and garlic. I my recipe I like to add onion and garlic so I included them, wanted to add spinach but I didn't get that in the market, So If it ia available for you then you spinach to the recipe.

Now let's check the recipe.

Recipe adopted from HERE

INGREDIENTS:---

Potatoes :---  500gms (peeled and cut in to cubes)

Onion  ---- 1 big finely chopped

Green peas  ---  250 gms

Sweet corn kernels  --- 250 gms

Garlic  ---  2 cloves chopped

Butter   ---  1 tabsp

Sour cream  --- 2 tea sp

Water or vegetable stock or chickne stock --- 1 cup

Salt to taste,

Nutmeg powder  -- 1/4 tea sp

Pepper powder  -- 1/2 tea sp

METHOD:----

1. Heat butter in a pan add chopped onion and garlic and saute till soft. 

2. Now add potatoes, green peas, and sweet corn (add spinach if using) and stir well for 12 minutes.

3. Add stock or water mix well and cook till potatoes are soft. Here i want to tell one point in the original recipe they drain the excess water. But I didn't like that if we drain excess water the flavor of the butter which we used for saute the vegetables will go away in the water. So avoid that and I just cooked the vegetables till all the water disappear,so the flavors will stay.

4. cook till potatoes are soft, remove from he heat and mash with a potato masher till every thing in to a lumpy consistency. 

5. Now add sour cream, salt to taste, nutmeg and pepper powder mix well to combine.

Serve with a stew and bread.   

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Mango Salsa With Cilantro

This is my final recipe for this week BM. I am cooking from my cooking book collection and my combination for to day is mango and greens. greens I used in this recipe is fresh coriander leaves(cilantro) and spring onion greens. This salsa is a best combination with tortila chips, taco chips. I have adopted this recipe from the book Delicious dips by Diane Morgan in this book you can find some delicious dips (I have tried a few of the they came out so well) and also with few salsa recipes. pick a sweet mango means totapuri mango is best for this. means mango should not be too sour that should be sweet but not ripe. Instead of jalapeno chilli you can use any Indian variate chilli but jalapeno s will give a wonderful flavor. let's check how to make this salsa.
INGREDIENTS:--
Mangoes   ---- 2 cut in to  small pieces
Onion   ---- 1 medium cut in to small pieces
Spring onions  ----  4 chopped
Tomatoes   ----- 2  cored and cut in to small pieces like mango pieces
Jalapeno chilli  --- 1 minced, I used caned if you want use caned the take 6 pieces and chop them
Fresh cilantro leaves (coriander leaves)  --- 1 cup finely chopped
Lemon juice ---- 1 tab sp
Olive oil  ---- 2 tab sp
Salt ----  1/2 tea sp, check and adjust before you serve
                                                           

METHOD:--
1. I a mixing bowl take mango, onion, tomato, jalapeno chilli, spring onion pieces and chopped cilantro mix and set a side.
2. I a other bowl take lemon juice, olive oil and salt mix well to dissolve salt, and then pour over this to mango mixture stir gently to combine.
3. Transfer the mango salsa in to serving dish, cover and set a side for 1 hour and serve.
serve with Tortilla chips or with bread, sprinkle some olive oil on the bread and serve with this salsa.
This is my third post for Blogging Marathon 29th edition under Cooking From A Book let's check other BM members recipes here.
 

MANGO JAM

Ahhh almost finished my raw mango recipes for this year. Raw mangoes are turned in to ripe sweet fruit so now they are in very sweet taste. If they are any raw mangoes in the market they don't taste sour but little sweet taste will be there. this sweet and sour taste mangoes are not perfect for pickles and chutneys. This sweet and sour mangoes are good for Salsa,salads and some curries but not for pickles and jams.For jam we have to use fully ripe mangoes, that gives a better taste to jam.But some people use half ripe mangoes also for jam... Who don't like jam spread on a crisp toast for break fast? Jam is my all time favorite with bread toast or a chapati or roti, that too if it is a mango jam thats it yummmm.
Mango pulp -- peal mango and cut in to bite size pieces and make pulp in a blander add 1 tab sp water if require(better make pulp without water).

INGREDIENTS:----
Mango pulp --- 2 1/2 cups
Sugar --- 200 gms
Cloves -- 4
Cinnamon powder --1/2 tea sp
Citric acid ---- 1/4 tea sp or
lemon juice -- 1 tab sp
METHOD:---
1.Take mango pulp, sugar, cloves in to a thick bottom pan and start cooking, bring to a full boil and reduce the flame, keep string.
2. cook this mixture in a low flame till the mixture become thick, means if you drop a little jam on a plate that should not spread.(this will take 20 to 25 minutes time)
3. In this stage add lemon juice or if you like to add citric acid then mix 1/4 tea sp citric acid to 1/4 cup of hot water and add this citric acid mixture, cinnamon powder mix well to combine every thing.
4. Remove from heat and let it cool then pour mango jam in to sterilized glass jar, seal when it is completely cool.

Remove cloves before you pour the jam in to jar.
Keep this jam in fridge because I didn't use any preserves I used lemon juice if you want to keep this for long time then you can add preserves so that jam will stay for long time.
Like pickles don't use a wet spoon to scoup out the jam always use a clean and dry spoon.
If you like can add a pinch of yellow food color for more bright color.

MINT AND PISTACHIO PESTO

Mint is an herb native to Europe. It is a hardy and fast growing plant, there are many varieties of mint around the world especially Spearmint and peppermint are two common varieties. Mint is a cooling herb, with a sweet taste and pungent after taste. Mint was originally used as a medicinal herb to treat stomach ache. In Ayurveda it is pacifying for all three doshas (Vata, pitta and kapha) and especially for pitta. Mint is good for Digestion, Bad Breath and Nausea, Liver disorders and also for vomiting. And when we use this herb in cooking it gives it's very delicious aroma to many dishes like Pulao, Biriyani and many curries and if you mix it with lemon and ginger juce can make very refreshing drink. And her is my recipe for MINT AND PISTACHIO PESTO with it's mint and nutty flavor hope you all like this……………….

INGREDIENTS:-----
Fresh Mint Leaves --- 2 cups
Oil --- 1 tab sp
Garlic – 1 tab sp crushed
Pistachios --- 1/4 cup chopped
Green chilies --- 2 (or you can use ground black pepper also)
Lemon juice --- 2 tab sp
Salt to taste
METHOD:---

1. Toast the pistachios till they turn in to a nice color for a few min. over a medium heat. Let them cool then put all ingredients in to a blender except oil and grind till mixture become pureed.
2. Then add oil and grind till pesto become smooth and creamy.
3. Enjoy this delicious pesto with any boiled vegetables or with pasta and also as a dipping for deep fried snack like Falafel.
This is my entry for JFI - MINT hosted by Ashwini at Ashwinis Spicy Cuisine event started by Indira of Mahanandi

RICCOTTA CHEESE SPREAD

This recipe i have adopted from priya As per priyas recipe she used cream cheese(low fat) but i want to make a chenge here so i used thick fresh yogurt(skim) and i like that taste. Ihope priya you like this change.
INGREDIENTS:------
Riccotta cheese --- 1/2 cup
Dijon mustard ---- 1 tea sp
Pepper powder --- 1/4 tea sp
Dry basil powder --- 1/4 tea sp
Yogurt ---- 1 tab sp
Salt if need
Whisk all above ingredients in a bowl and serve chilled. you can use this as a spread or for salads.