PEACH CHUTNEY

PEACH CHUTNEY

After moving to Canada, I had heard many times that, in summer there are many ‘pick-your-own-fruit’ farms and you get a chance to pick fresh berries/fruits from the farm or orchards. If you are willing to pick your own berries, you can get an empty basket in 5-10 dollars, then go ahead and help yourself and fill your basket. It sounded like so much fun. On a road trip through the beautiful Okanagan Valley, I got to experience such a fruit picking, which I never had before in my life. Though in my long stay in Africa, I had a lot of experience of picking fruits and vegetables from my own kitchen garden but picking fruits from a farm with acres and acres of plants was another experience on its own!

Being vegetarian, my diet is depending a lot on fresh fruits and vegetables of any kind, so I am always interested in looking for new places/shops to get fresh fruit and vegetables whenever possible. Here, in summer a lot of varieties of fruits are available, so summer is the season when I use them in my culinary journey to make some old tried and tested recipes plus I try and learn some new recipes out of them.

This is a simple recipe, my mother was making the same type of chutney with mangoes so I tried with peaches once and really liked it, and so whenever fresh peaches are available I make this chutney. When peaches are in plenty here, I even freeze them for future use in winter. It is very easy to freeze peaches- rinse thoroughly and slice them; sliced peaches can be kept in the freezer in a zip-lock freezer bag.

  These are pics of my trip to Vancouver, a farm stall and an orchard where I picked peaches.

RECIPE

INGREDIENTS

• 2 Medium peach (100-150 grams)
• 1/4 fenugreek seeds
• 1/4 fennel seeds
• 1/4 mustard seeds
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 tbs brown sugar
• 1 tsp dry or fresh mint
• salt and chilli powder to taste
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 green chilies optional
• Juice of 1 lemon

METHOD

• Wash and slice peaches into small pieces.
• Heat oil in a frying pan, add fenugreek, fennel and mustard seeds in it, when the colour is slightly changed, add sliced peaches with salt and chili powder and green chili, roast for 2 minutes and add water.
• Cover it and leave it to cook for 8-10minutes.
• When peaches are soft, add sugar and cook for 2-3 minutes when cold add lemon juice.
• Serve when cool with any food or snack of your taste.

I am sharing this recipe as my blog post entry with Hearth and Soul blog hop and Meatless Monday
and with I am pinnable and Cook blog share party and Cook once and eat Twice with Fiesta Friday and Sweet Inspiration link party and Full plate Thursday

CORIANDER CHUTNEY AND A POST ON A HERB AND A SPICE -CORIANDER/CILANTRO

CORIANDER CHUTNEY AND A POST ON A HERB AND  A SPICE -CORIANDER/CILANTRO

EDITED: This recipe was featured in the weekly blog party called Healthy happy and Green party, on 12-7 2017, Check here.

EDITED: This recipe was featured in the weekly blog party called Sweet Inspiration Party, on 15-07-17 Check here.

Coriander is also called cilantro in Northern America, which is a very popular herb and used in many cuisines of the world. Its fresh green leaves are used for garnishing because of its nice green colour and earthy aroma and also its many health benefits.

 

In Indian cuisine, coriander has been used from ages, not only as the fresh green leaves for garnishing but also the seeds and in ground form as seeds powder. In Hindi which is the national language of India, it is called “Dhania.”. Roasted Coriander seeds are also used in spice blend like sambhar powder of South India. In some parts of India, these roasted seeds are mixed in mouth fresheners and eaten as it is. In North India, it is commonly used in almost all curries and stews of lentils and vegetables, yoghurt dishes, lassis (savoury smoothies), fresh green salads, fruit salads, side vegetables and lentil dishes, either as seeds or as seeds powder. I mean, you just name it, and it can be used in most of the preparations.

 

In Indian cuisine, a lot of spices are used in everyday cooking. In a typical Indian kitchen, we use a special spice box, where we keep all the spices which we use in our everyday cooking, coriander powder is a must in that spice box. When I am talking about spice box, I remember one more incidence. The following photo of my spice box was published on a full page of Airdrie Life magazine together with my two recipes in April 2015. Those two recipes, I have already shared on my blog-Lentil Crepe and Carrot Halwa.

  

When the photographer from the magazine came to my house to take photos of those recipes, out of so many items in my kitchen, he really liked this spice box and said this is a unique piece because he had never seen it before. He even asked me, “How do you remember all the spices in it?” I told him, “This is very easy because I am the one who is filling these spices and I use them every day”. Normally the spices which are kept in this spice box are the common ones which we use every day in our kitchen. These type of spice boxes are normally a round stainless steel box with 7 or 9 individual stainless steel small bowls inside them. They come with a tightly fitted lid or a plain thin lid between the main lid and those small bowls so that spices do not mix when holding the whole box.

 

This spice coriander or cilantro is highly appreciated in Ayurveda (Ancient healing system of India) as a cooling spice. Cooling, in the sense that it helps in digestion and cools the stomach. It is mentioned in this website that by enhancing digestion, it works to alleviate the root cause of allergen reactions.

Coriander has many health benefits because it is a wonderful source of dietary fiber, magnesium, iron and other minerals. Green leaves have vitamin C, vitamin K and protein in it. Check this website for 16 amazing health benefits of Cilantro

Coming to the recipe, this is one of the most famous chutney of Indian cuisine, which is served in almost all Indian restaurants in India and abroad with snacks, samosas and other food items. In Indian cuisine, food is always served with pickles and chutneys and this is one of the famous ones. This is a simple recipe with few ingredients. Whenever this chutney is made, care should be taken about its consistency, it should not be watery or liquid. It should be thick enough like Jam which we can easily spread on a toast or a cracker, then only you can enjoy this chutney. This recipe is tried and tested; you can never go wrong with it.

 

RECIPE

INGREDIENTS

• Two bunches of fresh green coriander leaves
• Two tbs Chana dal/yellow flat lentil
• 1 tbs oil for roasting the lentil
• One medium onion
• 3-4 green chilies (optional)
• Salt to taste
• 2 tbs white vinegar
• 1 tbs sugar ( optional)

METHOD

• Heat the oil in a frying pan and roast yellow lentils till they turn light brown and leave them aside to cool.
• Rinse and chop cilantro, onion and green chilies.
• Add all ingredients in a blender and pulse for 2-3 minutes till it is turning to a nice green, thick paste.
• Keep it in the fridge, it can last for one month.

Serve cold with any snack, fritter, samosa etc.

I am sharing this recipe as my blog post entry with Meatless Monday, with Cook Blog Share, Hearth and Soul blog hop and with I am pinnable and Sweet Inspiration party and with Cook once and eat Twice and with Simple and in Season and with Eat your greens and with Fiesta Fridda with no so creative cook and My Baja kitchen and with Happy Healthy green and natural party

TOMATO AND COCONUT CHUTNEY (South Indian style)

TOMATO AND COCONUT CHUTNEY

(South Indian style)

Edited: This my post was featured at a blog hop on 5th of May 2016, Check here.

Chutneys and pickles play an important role in Indian and South Asian cuisine, as a condiment or a side dish, without which no snack or meal is complete. They are always readily available in Indian homes, and we serve them with every single meal as a side dish, which can enhance the taste of food to its highest level of satisfaction. Once you try chutneys, their sweet-sour and tangy flavors can sometimes intensify the taste of the main food, and the complete dish can be enjoyed even more.

In Indian cuisine, many fruits and vegetables of different colors are used to make these colorful and versatile chutneys with varieties of tastes like sweet, sour, tangy, hot etc. In different states of India, different types of chutneys are made which go well with the taste of their traditional food preparation respectively. Chutneys and their types depend upon the food item we eat, for example if our curry is already hot, we might need some sweet chutney to accompany it or if our curry or the main dish is bland we might need some hot or sweet and sour chutney with it.

Traditionally in India, all types of chutneys and pickles were homemade, and all their recipes were known by the housewives/homemakers. The source of learning was through their mothers or elderly women in the family. But these days everything is commercialized, even chutneys and pickles are readily made available in shops. The only problem with these readymade one is the quality because they are loaded with preservatives, too much sugar or vinegar, which is not good for health. Homemade chutneys are always good because we know all the ingredients in it compared to the ready made ones in the shop where some of the ingredients are difficult to pronounce/ read or known.

In some Indian homes, I have seen different varieties of pickles and chutneys are always there on the dining table with the food. They are normally kept in one big container with small compartments/bowls in it, like an Indian spice box or something like a box with divisions. This is really a convenient way to serve different varieties in one go, and easy for people to help themselves with whatever taste of chutney they require at the time of a meal.

Both the chutneys in today’s post are south Indian style and go very well with dosa and Idlee and other south Indian dishes, even with rice and other curries. Both these chutneys are so versatile that they can be enjoyed with any type of pakoda (fritter), samosa and many other snack items of north and south India. Tomato chutney can easily replace ready made tomato ketchup from the shop.

RECIPE



INGREDIENTS
For coconut chutney

• 1 cup desiccated coconut
• 2 green chilies(optional)
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• salt to taste
• ¼ cup plain yogurt
• ¼ cup of water (if required)

For Tempering

• 2 tbs oil
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• few curry leaves
• 2 whole red dried chili

METHOD

• Soak coconut in one cup of water for 3-4 hours
• Remove extra water and grind with all other ingredients in a blender, add water if it is too thick.
• Mix yoghurt thoroughly.
• For tempering heat oil in a pan, put mustard seeds and red chili and curry leaves. Fry till chili and leaves are fried.
• Add together with oil on top of chutney.
• Chutney is ready to serve.

TOMATO CHUTNEY



INGREDIENTS

• 500 Grams tomatoes, chopped into small pieces
• 4 cloves of garlic, cut in half pieces
• 1 big onion (200 grams), cut into small pieces
• 2 green chilies (optional)
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• salt to taste
• 1-2 tbs oil

METHOD

• Heat oil in a frying pan, add mustard seeds, let it splutter then add garlic and onion and fry till golden brown.
• Add tomatoes and salt and let it boil and cook for 5-10 minutes.
• When cold put it in a blender and make a puree of it.
• Chutney is ready to serve.

I am sending this recipe, as a blog post entry for Cook blog share and Hearth and soul blog hop and Welcome home Wednesday party, and with Full plate Thursday, and with My two fav things on Thursday, with Fiesta Friday, and with Real Food Friday, and with Sunday food and fitness party, and with Meatless Monday and What do you do this weekend, and with Tasty Tuesday and Happy healthy and green party, and with way wow link Party and with Sweet inspiration link party.