Ginger Chai

When I wake up in the morning, the very first thing I do is make this Ginger Chai. I like all kinds of chai, but I start my day with a simple, clean Ginger Chai, with no spices. I learnt making this Ginger Chai from my Uncle Nishit, who is a yoga & meditation instructor and a huge proponent of Ayurvedic eating and living.

I remember when my mom would make a huge pot of chai for my friends and me, early in the morning when we studied for Board Exams. A cup of warm, sweet, and spicey tea is such a good way to start the day! In my home, we also drink chai with chai masala -- a blend of spices, and with fresh ginger and mint.

The ginger and warm milk in the chai both help reduce the effects of caffeine. If you are looking for a quick caffeine fix, this isn't the drink for you. What this chai does is cleanse and strengthen your digestive system for whatever you will eat in the day. Read my post about ginger at Naturopath.ca for more information.

When you have something so clean and comforting, don't ruin it with processed sugars. Dark maple syrup sweetens my Ginger Chai with natural flavor, and you only need a little bit. I remember my uncle and aunt ordering maple syrup by the gallon, from a farm owned by their friends in Maine. When my husband and I lived in Upstate New York, we could meet the farmers from whom we bought our pure, organic syrup. We loved knowing how much care went into producing a great quality, organic dark maple syrup. It is important to buy the real stuff. Be sure not to cook the maple syrup in the chai, but add it later. If you can't afford or find good maple syrup, an alternative is unrefined sugar.

We vary our Ginger Chai by adding chai masala, mint leaves, extra cardamom, or just whatever we are in the mood for on cool, rainy evenings! In our household, some folks like their chai dark, some like it milky, some like it spicey. You can change the amounts of ingredients and the time you steep the tea according to your tastes ... it is more fun when every cup of tea is personal!

I want to point out one of my favorite chai photographer (if there is such a term), Archana. I met her through Flickr, and she now even has a chai blog. I learn a great deal from Archana's photos and they never cease to amaze me -- just look at all the chai photos she has taken!

I used:
1.5 cups water
1 tablespoon freshly grated, peeled ginger root
1 teaspoon loose Indian black tea
1/4 cup organic milk (for a vegan substitute, use soy milk)
1 tablespoon pure, dark maple syrup

My method:
1. In a small sauce pan, boil water and ginger until roughly a half cup of water boils off.
2. Add the milk, loose black tea, and bring it to a boil again.
3. Turn the heat down, let it simmer for a minute or two or until you get a little color from the tea. This will be quick, so watch to make sure the chai doesn't boil over! When ready, strain into a cup.
4. Stir in the maple syrup, and drink it hot!

Got Ginger?

Ginger has numerous health benefits and medicinal values besides spicing up your food. Read my post about ginger on Naturopath.ca to learn more.

I am giving away the secret to my delicious daily need in my next post -- Ginger Chai!

Simple Spinach Rice

This is one way I make rice a bit more interesting. We eat Spinach Rice with yogurt, with other vegetables, or simply by itself for a clean, light meal.

I grew up eating many different types of Spinach Rice. This recipe I published at Naturopath.ca is easier than most!

Pooranpoli

When family is over, we have a feast! Pooranpoli, also called gali rotli, are roti stuffed with sweet daal filling. They are made for a feast and eaten as a sweet bread with savory dishes.

This is a childhood favorite for my brother and me, and since the family is all together for a long holiday weekend, we had to have at least one big, home-made feast. Below is a photo series of the making of pooranpoli. I'm leaving you drooling with photos only for now, the recipe will have to come another day ...

This goes to my family ... until then, enjoy your family food traditions on this or your next holiday!

xoxo
MPG

Eggless Chocolate Chip Cookies

Admit it, who doesn't like chocolate chip cookies?! I hardly buy them in stores and cafes because I worry about the shortenings and other low quality ingredients often used to make them.

I had to come up with a tasty, health conscious alternative made with oat flour. For the recipe and a closer look, see my Eggless Chocolate Chip Cookies at Naturopath.ca

The Applemint Gimlet

My dear friend Kajal of Applemint celebrates her birthday today. Let's all join her by having an Applemint Gimlet, which I created in her honor :D We had ours with Russian vodka, but I also offer a fizzy virgin version below, so drink up! Whether you know her as Kajal or Kate, cheers and happy birthday to Applemint :D

In fact Kajal is in Ghana right now and I'm in Seattle, so she is well ahead of me in the celebration. Despite knowing each other only online, we have become great friends. Kajal really encouraged and inspired me with her desserts, her style, her photography, and most of all her bubbly personality -- which really does come through her posts and chats.

We also have a lot in common. Besides having birthdays just a few days apart, we share a whole culture. We're both Gujjus and share the experience of being uprooted from our beloved motherland, India. Our love for food, photography, and blogging really sealed our friendship. Kajal is a friend from across the world who I can count on. She's like the vibrant younger sister I always wanted and never had ;)

I had only one thing in mind since I brought home this apple mint plant from a Seattle Tilth edible plant sale recently -- to make something for Applemint of course! Kajal made me a wonderful mango cake for my birthday, but my baking skills are somewhat short of the panache and presentation she has. I had to do something different, and something cool (literally, it turns out), using some prized ingredients.

This Applemint Gimlet includes the top-shelf ingredients you deserve -- an amazing, smooth Russian Vodka from St. Petersburg that my husband Brian recently found, local Mountain Wildflower Honey that is oh! so fragrant! from our Cascade Mountains, and of course freshly plucked apple mint from my garden.

It is fairly ironic that Kajal has a big-ass mango tree in her backyard (see her post for a photo), but her own apple mint plant dried up in Ghana. Meanwhile here I am in Seattle, having a hard time finding good mangoes, but with an amazing bunch of apple mint.

Kajal, I raise my Applemint Gimlet: to your many talents! You are always complaining how damn hot it is Ghana, so have a tall, cold one on me, girl!

I used:
1 part freshly squeezed lime juice
2 parts Russian Vodka
2 Tbsns Mountain Wildflower Honey
Some apple mint leaves
An apple mint sprig to garnish
some seltzer or soda, to fill and for a fizzy lid
ice, a straw, and a chilled Collins or Highball glass

My method:
1. Muddle about 5 or 6 apple mint leaves in a chilled glass.
2. Add honey, lime juice, and mix well to make sure the honey dissolves.
3. Add vodka, ice, and fill with soda.
4. Add a fresh spring of apple mint, and serve.

Skip the vodka and fill with soda for a non-alcoholic version.

Rhubarb Risotto

Rice puddings are familiar, warm, and comforting, just like moms :) Throw in some rhubarb, strawberry, and ruby red port, and you'll get a kick in the butt like you occasionally might if you misbehaved ;) Arborio Rice also adds a bite instead of a typical Eastern rice, which would only dissolve like it does in kheer.

I totally went out on a limb with this dish. It is imaginable someone else has tried it, strawberry - rhubarb is a popular combination, but I haven't seen it in a rice pudding. I'm glad I gave it a go, they really perked up my risotto!

I did learn from one mistake while making this :-P I needed more milk than I expected, but even while a bit thick at first, it surely tasted good. You can vary the recipe by making it with water instead of milk, or by adding whatever you feel bold enough to risk :) I don't advocate waste, but calculated risks are worth taking to discover something unique! I used strawberries thinking it needed them, but next time I would use only rhubarb, saving strawberries for a garnish.

I dedicate my sweet, fruity Rhubarb Risotto to my mom, for teaching me to be nice while at the same time being strong and independent! Mom, thank you for standing by me in the toughest times, and for pushing me to overcome the highest hurdles.

Happy Mother's Day to all moms ... you do the best and the hardest job in the world!

I used:
2 tbspn unsalted butter
1/2 cup Arborio rice
3 cups milk
1/4 tspn Saigon cinnamon
4-5 sliced strawberries
2-3 sticks sliced rhubarb
1/4 cup unrefined sugar
couple of splashes of ruby porto -- I used Warre's 1995 LBV, shown above
squeeze of fresh lime, or lemon, orange, any fresh citrus

My method:
1. In a small sauce pan on medium heat, add the rhubarb, sugar, and lime juice. Let them heat to a simmer.
2. Add the strawberries and a splash of port, and simmer for few more minutes until the port reduces, and the mixture thickens. Taste and add more sugar if needed at this point. Take it off the heat and set it aside to cool. At this point you could call it a compote, and use it as such :)
5. Melt the butter in a larger pot on medium heat. Stir in the dry rice, turn up the heat, and let it cook for a couple minutes as the pan heats up.
6. Add about half a cup of milk at a time, while stirring to make sure all the milk is absorbed before you add the next half cup.
7. As you add the milk, you are also stirring to make sure a cream film does not form. As the rice cooks it will double in volume. Once you add the last half cup of milk, and while you are still stirring, add the cinnamon, stirring it in, too.
8. Stop and taste to make sure the risotto is cooked. If not, then cover it and cook on low heat with some more milk. The cooking time and amount of liquid needed may vary based on the Arborio you use.
9. Once the risotto is cooked, take it off the heat and mix in the cooled rhubarb compote.

Serve the dish right away, while still warm, for the best flavor. I added a fresh sprig of mint :)

One other note -- try the compote separately alongside a sip (or two) of porto, and you'll be amazed how they sparkle!

About Mango Power Girl!

I have received wonderful comments and touching, personal responses since starting Mango Power Girl, so I want to share more about me and my purpose here on the day I was born!

Who is Mango Power Girl?

My name is Mohini. I was born and raised in the state of Gujarat, India, home to the world's best mangoes. I lived more than half my life in India before moving to the United States, savoring mangoes from farms in my family, and with fresh produce from outdoor markets at every turn in my hometown.

I was inspired by my mother's genius cooking, for which she won various awards, the opportunity to publish her recipes long before food blogs, and the admiration of the many people she fed so well :) Once each month on Mango Power Girl, I publish something traditionally Indian and inspired by my Mom, such as wonderful stuffed Winter Dates or the sesame seed, puffed rice, and peanut brittles we make every year, called Chikki. When I was growing up, our modest home and kitchen had a "revolving door" for a steady stream of hungry guests. I have learnt by observing the best!

I moved to the United States as a teenager, living in Pennsylvania and later New York. Most of my years in the US have been spent in my beloved New York City. Even when I visited the US as a kid, I felt right at home in New York -- it must be the diversity, the crowds, the vastness, the food of course, and the feeling of being connected to the whole world!

I spent much of my time in NYC as many New Yorkers do -- surviving! After going to college there, I worked long hours at my Wall Street job, enjoying the city but not so much cooking. My breakthrough in cooking came later, when I made two of the best moves of my life at once -- I left the corporate world, and I married the love of my life, Brian.

Marrying Brian also meant moving up to the worldly but small city of Ithaca, New York, where we lived for the first few years of our marriage. It was Ithaca that got me doing something I always wanted to and never took time to -- I cooked, cooked, and cooked in my tiny 4' by 7' kitchenette! I discovered the amazing Ithaca Farmers' Market, where we met the producers and we could trust the food was grown responsibly. We could have confidence in the ethics of the economics, too. We paid fair prices and without anyone in-between controlling their profits. I learnt to cook with fresh, local, and seasonal food and I made many beautiful meals. In Ithaca I started to think about blogging, but that was not meant to be, yet. I cooked, I picked up photography, and day by day I developed and re-developed recipes of my own and from my family.

I eventually worked for a community development, microfinance organization in Ithaca, one that completely changed my view of finance. I had majored in Mathematics and Economics at a great university before working on Wall Street, but getting to know the other side of the financial spectrum was my most eye-opening education. In my daily job, I was helping the same farmers and small businesses I was shopping from at the farmers' market. I saw what a struggle it was for them to do what they believed in, and I saw how they gave to their community the best that they could. My own life was starting to add up, I was learning where I belonged. It was confirmation that when I made sacrifices and left the world of corporate finance, I did so for the right reasons, and I wasn't going back!

The growing season is limited in Ithaca and its farmers' market cannot run year-long. That's a sort of metaphor for how we were starting to feel about everything -- limited, if wonderful. Brian and I decided to seek greener pastures. We moved to Seattle, the "Emerald City," expecting to find more of everything we loved about Ithaca. Seattle's reputation was and still is for high technology, a temperate, beautiful environment leading to amazing food and committed environmentalism among otherwise progressive politics, great music and a vibrant cultural scene, and the list goes on. One of the things we love most about Seattle is Pike Place Market, the oldest farmers' market in America and one of several local markets we go to often.

In Seattle, I have continued along the path I started on in Ithaca. I work in non-profit finance by day, and in the future I plan to continue using my business skills for the greater good. Deep down in my heart though, I always dreamt of being an artist. I live this dream today in bits and pieces -- through my photography, my drawing, my cooking, and through Mango Power Girl :)

Why the name "Mango Power Girl?"

I thought of "Mango Power Girl" suddenly as I was going to bed one day. Sometimes memories flood you all at once, so in explaining I will share a few. While growing up in India, I was a girl powered by mangoes. Every year I anxiously waited for Summer, when my mom would buy crates of alphonso mangoes just for me! I ate mangoes with breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and up to this day I still can!

In school I ran around with a mango-loving group of friends. For my readers who haven't grown up in India -- raw mangoes have a sweet but sour, sometimes tart taste, and we eat them as a juicy snack with salt & red chili powder. My friends and I knew where the best mango trees on our school grounds were, from which we tried to pluck those raw, green mangoes. Sometimes we climbed the trees, but most times, good aim and a rock did the trick. Occasionally this ambitious task ran over our school break times, and we had to sneak back into the classroom :)

By the Summer of 2007, I had been thinking of starting a blog for a couple years. One night my mango memories came rushing back and the name struck me -- in that instant I became Mango Power Girl.

My husband Brian grew up in Ohio. We did not meet until many years later, but across the globe we both grew up watching "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe" on television. When I told Brian my idea for the name "Mango Power Girl," he replied with a battle cry that any aficionados of He-Man would appreciate -- "By the Power of Mango!" -- a geeky motto that still pops up here and in my Flickr stream :)

What is Mango Power Girl about?

I waited to start this blog for several years, until my husband really pushed me to get it going! In another sense, I had waited all my life. I grew up around fabulous cooks, especially my mother and her brother, my uncle Ashok. At first I aspired to be just like them and I imitated dishes I loved, trying to recreate them. All at once I realized that cooking like them comes to me naturally, and that doing so also means I create and recreate my own recipes.

I blog to share my experiences and what I call my foodstyle. My foodstyle is all my values as they relate to food. It is what I eat and how. I want to bring out the fun and delicious dishes we have at home and encourage more people to really cook! I want people to value foods they have available locally, yet explore international cuisine. Most of all I want people to think about their own foodstyle! For my own part, I am also out to prove that vegetarian food done right is beautiful, nutritrious, and not boring at all!

I have always loved photography. In fact I come from a family of professional photographers from generations back, but who unfortunately I did not have a chance to learn from directly. I hope to make them proud. I have absolutely fallen in love with food photography. I constantly try to improve and I'm learning so much from the pros I have met in person and online, especially through my Flickr stream. Currently I work with the family cameras we have -- mostly a Sony Cybershot DSC-N2 and a Sony Cybershot DSC-F707 until I can invest in more.

Below is a shot of me selecting raw mangoes, taken by my husband during a recent visit to India. This is a stall in the market where my family shopped for generations.

Trailmix Turtles

I was so inspired by Peter's childhood treats that I had to make my own, with a few twists. Peter, I saw your post one early morning and I craved them all day long :)

I have been trying different recipes for snack bars with numerous fruit and nut combinations. I now take them with me to work on a regular basis. They are wholesome, filling, and tasty with a variety of flavors and textures, just a perfect snack at anytime.

Read my post at Naturopath.ca for the recipe for Trailmix Turtles, made with dried pluots and strawberries from a local farmers' market.

Mango Shrikhand

May is my month! I was born in May not too many years ago, and where I was born in India, this is a hot, Summer month. There, May is also the month of mangoes. If I was in India now, I would be eating a mango with every meal and some in between. I am making May the month of mangoes, with many if not all of my posts dedicated to the "King of Fruits." This was also the first batch of the mango season which I found ripe and sweet enough in Seattle, so the first dish I made was Mango Shrikhand.

Shrikhand ("shree-khund") is yogurt drained of all its liquid, then sweetened and spiced with any flavors you like. It is not so much an Indian dessert as it is regional, and very popular in my home state of Gujarat. Yogurt itself is widely eaten all over India, especially in Summer because of its cooling properties.

I loved shrikhand so much as a kid that I would eat it plain, even with no fruit, just cardamom. My school was right next door to a big creamery -- the largest producer of packaged shrikhand in India (it was like going to school next to Breyers). Once each year the school took us on a field trip, a tour of the shrikhand manufacturing and packaging plant; boy! how I waited for that trip!

Usually the shrikhand we ate at home was not packaged, we made it ourselves as we also made our own yogurt. Here in Seattle though, it is harder to get the milk to curdle with our relatively cool, damp climate. We still make yogurt at home, but often turn to the best we can find locally. In Seattle we are fortunate to have many alternatives!

Greek Gods is one locally manufactured yogurt that has been perfect for shrikhand. They are available all over the U.S. -- try their Store Locator. Greek Gods yogurt is a strained yogurt, so it cuts my shrikhand-making work in half. It is so fresh and high quality that it is the closest thing to the home-made shrikhand I grew up eating!

If you can't find Greek Gods, for one alternative you can use regular yogurt, with a little more work. You will need to tie it up and hang it in a cheese cloth overnight, to drain the water. Kefir cheese and any other plain, Mediterranean style, strained yogurt will work the best and you may be able to avoid the draining step. Strained yogurts are also manufactured with a higher pectin content, so they will require less sugar than a regular yogurt you strain at home.

Depending on how fresh the yogurt is and other factors, its tartness will vary. Sugar levels vary widely, and this is one reason it is hard to give precise measurements in recipes for traditional foods. You have to trust your tongue, taste as you go, and learn by doing.

Shrikhand is traditionally eaten with poori or roti, but once you taste it, you'll eat it all by itself! Below is my recipe for Mango Shrikhand ...

I used:
2 cups Greek Gods plain yogurt
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
1/2 tspn ground cardamom (I've seen people over-do this lately and it kills me! Don't use too much cardamom.)
2-3 tbspn crushed nuts
1 ripe and diced Ataulfo mango (Mango tip for Seattleites: Ballard Town & Country has had a few amazing batches, but you've got to pick them properly! Ataulfo are currently in season and widely available ... please leave some for me ;)

My method:
1. Take the yogurt in a medium bowl and hand-beat with a whisk, till it is nice and smooth. It takes about 3 minutes.
2. Mix in the sugar next. Taste it! If it tastes acidic or "too yogurty," you need more sugar! 1/2 cup is what I needed to turn this yogurt into Shrikhand, you might need more or less.
3. Add the cardamom and mix.
4. Cover and refrigerate. It will solidify slightly, too.
5. Right before serving, top with nuts and mangoes.