Lime pickle

Lemon pickle is the best side accompaniment during summer. Lime is rich in Vitamin C, Which has many health benefits like boosting our body's immune system, skin anti wrinkling, cure for common cold, eye diseases and more. Lemons grow beautifully in ample on our trees during summer. The lemon tree in my backyard is full of limes, So I thought of making a pickle out of all of them.

               

Recipe:

Lemons (Green/Yellow Lime) -500 grams i.e. 1/2 Kg

Salt - 100 gms

1 pinch of Turmeric
Cut each lemon into 8 pieces and mix well with salt and turmeric and leave it out it in hot sun for 20 days in a closed glass jar.

Note:
(1) You will Notice that the lemons have reduced in size considerably and have become softer and mushy as the pickle will have some fluid in it because the lemon juices are released from the lemons.

(2) If you don't like spices, you can eat the pickle this way itself (non-spicy tangy taste). But I like my pickle to be a little spicy, as it tastes even better.


So I have dry roasted the following spices for adding into the pickle:

-1 tsp of cumin seeds
-1 tsp of carom seeds (ajwain)
-Cinnamon - 2 long sticks
-1tsp of cumin seeds
-1tsp of fenugreek seeds
-10-12 cloves
-5-6 dry red chillies (or chilli flakes)
-1 tsp of black pepper

After dry roasting these spices, grind them well in a mixer grinder. 

Then you have to mix it with the lemon pickle you prepared above ( after 20 days when it has soaked up a good amount of sun ). While mixing do not forget to add 2 tablespoons of black salt in it along with the spices 

This is how it looks after adding the spices into the pickle.

        The pickle is ready! You can keep it for almost an year.

If you feel the pickle is getting slightly dry, squeeze more lemon juice and add the juice from top and shake the jar ( you can add the juice of 2-3 medium sized lemons).

You will notice the the pickle gets tastier with the passage of time!! :D

~Enjoy~

Eggplant in Poppy Seed Paste

This is a delicacy for Bengalis & Various dishes using poppy seed paste is always welcomed in my family. It tastes delicious.  

It is also called "Begun Postho" in Bengali. Here is my EGGPLANT( BRINJAL ) IN POPPY SEED PASTE!

For this dish you will need long/slender eggplants (brinjal) which are very fresh otherwise there will be too many seeds in them.<-Asian long brinjal

Ingredients:

• 9-10 long, thin, fresh brinjals (cut into half, right in the middle)
• Poppy seeds 2 1/2 tablespoon
• White mustard seed - 1Tbsp
• Peanuts - 1 Tsp
• Green chilly- 6-7 
• 1 tomato cut into small pieces
• 1 onion cut into pieces. 
• 5-6 pods of garlic finely chopped
• 1 tsp of kalonji (nigella sativa seeds)
• Coriander leaves to garnish
• Oil for cooking
• 2 tsp of turmeric powder 
• 1 Tsp of sugar
• 1 Tsp of garam masala 

Procedure:

• First cut the brinjals into half and coat these with salt and turmeric powder. Then shallow fry these and keep it aside.

• Make a fine paste out of poppy seeds, green chillies, white mustard and peanuts.
• Put 2 Tsp of oil in the pan. When it's hot add 1 tsp of kalonji / kalajeera .Cook for one minute then add the onion and garlic pieces and Fry them till brown.
• At this point add the tomato, 1 tsp of turmeric powder and salt.
• Once the oil comes to the top, add the poppy mixture which you prepared before.

• Cook for 2 minutes and add a cup of water.
• Let it come to the boiling point then add the fried brinjals.

• Don't cook for long then the brinjals will get smashed and mix into the gravy.
• The gravy shouldn't be runny (liquid) nor too thick. Adjust salt and sugar according to your taste. Reduce the gravy and make it slightly thickened.

Sprinkle some coriander leaves on top and serve.

Best enjoyed with Hot rice

ENJOY!

Lemon chicken

Hi friends. The temperature is continuing to soar outside. To beat the heat you must drink a lot of fluids and try using a lot of fresh lemon juice in your diet to keep the body hydrated. 

So here is my 'LEMON CHICKEN" Recipe for summer.

This dish is also called "Gondhoraj Lebu Chicken" 

INGREDIENTS:

• 500 gms of chicken breast (cut into pieces)
• Lime juice:3 Tbsp
• Onion paste:1 Tbsp
• Garlic paste:1Tbsp
• Ginger paste:1tsp 
• Curd: 2 Tbsp
• Green chilly paste:1 Tbsp
• Green chilly: 2-3 slit into two pieces
• Coriander powder: 1Tbsp
• Small cardamom: 4
• Lemon peel: 1 tsp 
• Lemon leaves: 7
• 1 tsp of oil for marination
• 2 Tbsp of oil for cooking
• Salt and sugar according to your taste

Those who wants it more spicy can add more chillies as per need.

PROCEDURE:

• Marinate the chicken with Ginger, garlic, onion, chilly paste (mentioned above), 3-4 lemon leaves and lemon juice, Add 1 tsp of oil for binding and salt according to your taste, add lemon peel for achieving a strong lemon flavor (but not much otherwise it will become bitter) Marinate for 2-5 hours
• Note: Before cooking please remove the the lemon leaves, as they will become bitter during cooking.
•  Now heat 2 Tablespoons of oil in a pan and add the cardamom into the oil.
• After 2 minutes add the marinated chicken and cover the pan and cook in medium flame.
• When the chicken starts releasing water then add the yogurt (hung curd), salt and 1 tsp of sugar to it.
• Place the lid and cover the pan and let the chicken cook thoroughly.
• When the chicken has boiled thoroughly and it has started becoming dry, you can add 2-3 fresh green lemon leaves and the slit green chillies to the dish. 
• Cook for 3-5 mins and serve hot.

Can be served with fried rice / white rice

PS: For Bengalis residing at Kolkata and others who can get "gondhoraj lebu" (a special type of lemon that's bigger in size and has a strong fragrance) please do use that instead of the small lime.

             

                                  Gondhoraj lemon (India)

Sweet & Spicy Green Mango Juice (Aam Panna)

This Drink is perfect for summer! :D When the temperature is rising up & your energy is draining away and you feel dehydrated this refreshes you up with it's tangy taste & restores your body salt content too as it contains salt and herbs! It's very easy to make & since mangoes are in season, makes it even more simpler.

These are the spices that I have used:

Cumin seeds (2 tsp), pepper pods (1 tsp) , coriander seeds (1 tsp) and dry red chilly (5 pieces). Dry roast them and then grind them well & keep it aside.

PROCEDURE:

Take 4 large raw mangoes and remove their skin  and boil them all in pressure cooker in 1.5 litres of water and strain them.
Remove the seeds from the mangoes once its cool. 
Then mash the mangoes in the same water until you get a smooth texture.
Add 250 grams of Sugar & 4 spoons of Black salt to this pulp and mix thoroughly. Bring it to boil and keep stirring continuously so that the sugar is mixed well.
If you want you can add 500ml of water to make the pulp thinner in consistency.
Remove it from the stove and let it cool, Add the spice-mix which we made in the first step into the pulp.

This is the pulp.

Add water before drinking.

 

~ENJOY~  MANGO JUICE !