Indian Grilled Corn

This is how I grew up enjoying corn every summer in India. It is simple and spicy, and the grilling brings out the corn's best flavor. You can find the same style of grilled corn for sale on street corners in India during the peak of its season. This is what I call good street food :) with amazing flavor and a healthy side to it!

Here at Naturopath.ca is my quick method of grilling corn, Indian style. I share my method for grilling corn on an electric stove, if you don't have a traditional or outdoor grill. Oh! what wouldn't I do to have a gas stove! while I do know that living in Seattle, I am using the most efficient and renewable sources of energy :) Hope you get to enjoy the last bit of summer corn this season. Give this Indian Grilled Corn a try, you'll be surprised how simple and tasty it is.

Mango Power Lassi

For everyone who has been wondering -- why haven't there been more Mango Power posts? -- here's an easy one, my Mango Power Lassi! To tell you the truth, I have been incredibly disappointed this summer because I have had a hard time finding good mangoes.

There have been plenty of OK mangoes, but they are either bumped and bruised, way too expensive, or just not the type I like to eat. One thing most people might not know if they have not lived in a mango producing region: you cannot have machines processing your mangoes. Everything must be plucked, picked, gathered, and packed by hand. Like most berries, mangoes are a delicate fruit and they bruise easily.

Unlike berries though, mangoes continue to ripen after being picked. So if a mango was bumped too much when it was picked or packaged, you might not see the bruises until it ripens. What you get is a mango which is totally destroyed on the inside, while the skin and outside still look good. Living so far away from mango producing regions, I have run into this problem quite a bit and have been heartbroken for throwing away multiple expensive, ruined mangoes :(

When I do find good mangoes, I either eat them straight (not as interesting to blog, am I right ;) or I turn them into something pretty simple, like this lassi. Last time I found a good mango I did just that!

I also want to point out that I picked up my cute jar glasses on one of our local island excursions. I thought they would be perfect to serve a little kid a drink as they are also sturdy and practical. There is one great little kid named Finn, who would have been the perfect customer. Our awesome little cousin Finn and his parents moved to California last year, and he turns 4 years old this week! So, this post is for him!

Hey Finn, see the spinning green bug you left us? It hangs on our porch and spins around every time the wind blows. We miss you Finn :) come visit Seattle! and I will make you a Mango Power Lassi :)

I used:
1 cup plain fresh yogurt
1/4 cup milk or water (approx.)
1 mango, peeled and cubed
a pinch of ginger powder

My method:
1. Blend the yogurt and the mango in a blender.
2. Add milk or water to thin out the mixture as much as you like, then add ginger powder and blend. The liquid amount is an approximation and will change based on the thickness of your yogurt and the juicyness of your mango. (Skip the ginger if it is too spicy for kids, add vanilla or cardamom!)
3. Taste, then add a teaspoon of sugar if it is not sweet enough. My mango was pretty sweet, so I enjoyed it just like it was.
4. Pour it in a glass of your choice, add ice cubes, and enjoy!

Tandoori Tofu Kebabs

Who says only meat eaters have fun barbecuing?! These Tandoori Tofu Kebabs are so flavorful and easy to make that even tandoori meat lovers will happily eat them!

Tofu is something I cook in many, many, many ways. Tandoori Tofu Kebabs is one dish you'll rarely find in an Indian restaurant, although when they taste this great, they should be insanely common! They are a healthy and delicious way to enjoy wonderful grilled Indian flavors, and any Indian food lover would love them.

You can eat Tandoori Tofu Kebabs freshly grilled and all by themselves -- like my husband Brian ate half of the lot -- or you can eat the tofu in wraps, or with curries and rice, or you name it!


I used:
1 block extra-firm tofu, drained and cubed
1 cup plain yogurt
1 tablespoon chana flour
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
1 tablespoon freshly grated garlic
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon dhana-jeeru powder (a blend of ground cumin and coriander seeds)
1/2 teaspoon red chili powder
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom
salt to taste
rock salt and lemon to garnish


My method:
1. Mix all the ingredients for the marinade in a big bowl or a Ziploc® bag, then toss the cubed tofu in it. Taste the marinade and adjust it to your liking before you toss in the tofu!
2. Let the tofu marinate for up to one hour, or two if you like bolder flavors.
3. Soak your skewers in water, and preheat the oven to 400 F (200 C).
4. Thread the tofu on skewers, and let the skewers hang by the edges of a deep, lined baking pan to catch the drips. Yes, it will be a bit messy!
5. Let them bake for about 7-10 minutes, just as long as it takes for the tofu to crisp up nicely on the outside. Check to see if you need to rotate skewers, making sure the tofu is cooking evenly on all sides.
6. Sprinkle with rock salt and lemon juice, then serve hot, or incorporate the tofu in the dish of your choice.

Tip: Use the rest of your marinade to make tandoori vegetables or anything else you please!

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!

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

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.

Healthy Palak Paneer

I did a non-traditional, call it "fusion" Mushroom Spinach Curry some time ago. Now, here is the traditional Palak Paneer, but done in a healthier, modern way. Indians typically fry the paneer for this dish, but I don't fry! Read my post at Naturopath.ca for the recipe and more!

Making Naan at Home

My family has been working on home-made naan recipes for years. Naan is traditionally made in the tandoor, a clay oven which you're not likely to have at home in America, so I once thought we would never get them quite right.

Until now! Recently I saw Anjum Anand make naan from scratch on "Indian Food Made Easy," her BBC television show and her accompanying cookbook. It looked too simple to be true, but I tried it and was delighted. At last we have a recipe for home-made naan, and it contains no yeast.

I describe Anjum Anand as "the Indian Nigella." She is up front and friendly with a great deal of style in her dishes. Her goal is to show you how delicious Indian food is really not so difficult for home cooks. In fact, a lot of good Indian food can be made easily, even from scratch!

Anjum Anand gets high marks from me personally, too as I loved eating at Cafe Spice in NYC where she was once a chef. She gets props for making a lot of my native Gujarati food, which is rarely found in Indian restaurants and markets in the US where North Indian foods are favored. Anjum Anand takes both traditional and non-traditional approaches, doing whatever it takes to make simple and quality Indian food.

I DVR'd her naan episode of "Indian Food Made Easy" and got to work. Here is her naan recipe, just fine for your regular home oven! I also had fun rolling them out with these traditional Indian rolling pins, which come in various shapes and sizes.

Anjum made topping suggestions, but you can just as well use your imagination and add almost anything you like. I made a few different types, including:

1. Jeera Naan - I sprinkled and pressed cumin seeds into some of my naans. Whole cumin gives a really smokey aroma when toasted, and they toast perfectly without burning as these naan cook fairly quickly.

2. Garlic Naan - I minced garlic, rolled out about a 4" disc, and folded and rolled it again into a naan. I did not want garlic to burn on the top, so I kept the garlic inside.

3. Cheese Naan - I used shredded pepper jack cheese and followed the same method as garlic naan to fold it in. I sprinkled the top with a few red pepper flakes to distinguish these naan visually.

A few tips Anjum did not mention:

1. If you prick the naan with a fork before you place it in the oven, it won't puff up as much. This is what Anjum did on her TV show, but it makes the naan a bit crunchy. I like the puffy version :) Give both a try both ways to see what you like.

2. Fair warning that these do cook quickly, so stay ready. You will figure out how much time your oven needs after you've practiced with a few.

3. In Seattle the open air can be too damp, which I later realized as my dough was struggling to rise. Mine did not rise much, but I did knead it a lot! Anjum does say in her recipe that the dough rises, but I find that the key is in the kneading, which she also points out in the actual TV show. You have to knead till the dough is nice and soft! I personally feel that kneading is more important than rising for the end product to turn out nice and soft. The freshness and type of flour might affect this as well.

4. When you crank up your oven to the highest temperature it can reach -- mine goes to 500 F (260 C) -- everything and anything in the bottom of your oven will burn and smoke. I keep my oven very clean, but at that temperature I still set off my smoke alarms :-P

I always change things around in recipes, but I have to say Anjum Anand's recipe was just-right. These taste ten times better than what you can find in a store, and you don't need to order from a restaurant for $2 a piece! I hope you enjoy impressing your friends and family with home-made naan :)

Chikki, no kites!

When I was growing up in India, January 14th would bring a sky full of sights to see, loud sounds to hear, and amazing smells of festive food! It is because on this day in Gujarat, India they celebrate Kite Flying Day or Uttarayan or Makkar Sankranti. It marks the end of winter and all around there is anticipation of clear, breezy spring days. In my home state it calls for a celebration and 2 days off of school or work -- just to fly kites!

The morning of, we would wake up as early as we could to win the best corners of our rooftop terraces, from where we and countless thousands of our compatriots would fill the skies with kites. We gathered piles of colorful, tissue-paper-like kites, and glass coated threads to fly them. The glass did cut your hands, but flying kites was serious competition and serious fun, as you would test your skill in cutting others' lines with your own. With our kites and threads, with our favorite Bollywood tunes, the loudest speakers we could find, and with chikki to snack on, we made our way up to the rooftop.

There is no feeling like it -- looking at a colored confetti filled sky, eating chikki, flying kites, all while you take two days off school or work! How better to speed winter away and welcome spring.

Now -- about the chikki! There are some childhood foods that stay with you forever, and this is one of them for me. My mom would make chikki a day or two before, and I was the happiest kid on the block when I smelt the melting sugar! Chikki is a brittle made of: pure Indian cane sugar called jaggery or gud, ghee which is clarified butter, and then there are three common types, with either peanuts, sesame seeds, or puffed rice.

I do miss Kite Flying Day so much, and I want my husband Brian to know the flavors I remember. We can't be in Gujarat today (someday, though!) but I decided to make all three types of chikki.

1. First is the mamra chikki, which is puffed rice brittle. Mamra chikki are rolled up into balls so you can hide a rupee coin inside, then give them out to the less privileged as a secret donation. Now no coins are going into my food! So in my recipe, I feature the healthy surprise of a toasted almond :) Mamra chikki are way better than any Rice Krispies® treat!

I used:
1 cup roughly chopped jaggery/gud. You can replace with regular white sugar.
2 cups puffed rice approximately. You want just enough for a thin coat of sugar.
1 tbspn butter
handful of toasted almonds

My method:
1. Bake the puffed rice on a baking sheet at 350 F (175 C) for 5 minutes or until it's slightly crispy.
2. On medium heat, in a non-stick pan, melt the butter.
3. Add the sugar or gud until it melts and bubbles. Stir to make sure there are no lumps!
4. Add the baked puffed rice gradually, and stir quickly to evenly incorporate the sugar into the rice. Take it off the heat, but don't let it harden!
5. Dip your hands in room temperature water, and shake off the excess. This prevents you from getting burns from hot sugar, a trick I learnt from my aunt!
6. Now take about a 1/3 cup of puffed rice and quickly roll into balls. You size them the way you like, as long you work quickly. You can hide an almond or treat inside as you form these balls.
7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 quickly if you want to roll them into balls. If you'd rather not handle hot sugar with bare hands, set your chikki in a greased baking tray and cut out squares right away. Work with your hands at your own risk, and don't suffer!

2. Next is the tul chikki or sesame seed brittle, my all time favorite! My mom made this sometimes out of the gud and sometimes out of regular, granulated white sugar. I used regular sugar and it turned out just fine. Here it is!

I used:
1 tbspn butter
1/2 cup regular white sugar
1 cup sesame seeds approximately. You want just enough for a thin coat of sugar.

My method:
1. Bake the sesame seeds on a baking sheet at 350 F (175 C) for 5 minutes or until slightly toasted.
2. On medium heat in a non-stick pan, melt the butter.
3. Add the sugar or gud until it melts and bubbles. Stir to make sure there are no lumps!
4. Add the sesame seeds gradually, and stir quickly to evenly incorporate the sugar into the seeds.
5. Quickly take the soft mixture off the heat, don't let it harden, and place it on a greased cutting board. For this, a plastic cutting board works better than wood.
6. Roll it out to about 1/3 inch -- or whatever thickness you like, but make sure it's even.
7. Take a knife and cut squares out of the rolled out brittle. Don't worry about cutting all the way through. As soon as it hardens, you'll be able to lift and break it at the point you made the knife marks.
8. In 10-15 minutes the sugar should be hard enough that you can break it into pieces. Use a spatula to lift it off the cutting board if necessary.
9. Store at room temperature in an air-tight container.

3. The third type is a classic and I know it exists in many cultures -- the singdana chikki or peanut brittle. For this, my mom also made it with whichever sugar was available to her. I used the gud again and it was great. You can use pretty much the same recipe as for the sesame seed brittle above.

These treats used to seem so difficult to make. I would watch my mom make them every year and wonder if I could ever work that fast. In the last few years, I tried to make them, but I blundered and thought I would never try again. Well this time there were no struggles, it all worked out fine. I guess the "watching the experts" and enough practice has paid off. I am hoping my mom will be proud to read this :)

A note I want to add is that from home to home, chikki ingredients were always the same but they tasted slightly different. That was the feeling I got today, too -- my chikki tasted like nobody else's I've tried before, yet still it was just how it was supposed to be. For the first time, I feel like I accomplished a traditional dish without having to get a second opinion whether it was good enough -- because it was!

As the people of Gujarat celebrate the end of winter under a colorful sky, and I anticipate the end of a gloomy, damp winter in Seattle, I am happy to have such fond memories of Kite Flying Day with my 3 kinds of chikki! We did not fly any kites today, but we ate plenty of chikki. Later my mom called from India to say she bought us kites from vendors in Gujarat, as much requested by my husband. We are looking forward to flying those this summer!

I leave you with these gorgeous shots of the festival from an Indian Flickr photographer. I found her through this Wikipedia entry which tells you more about the festival of kite flying in India. Below are more photos of my process and the chikki:

Dates back to my childhood ...

When I was a kid, around this time of year my mom made a traditional treat of dates dipped in amazing, home-made ghee with sweet spices and nuts! It was what you ate in Winter, as it was supposed to make you strong & smart ;) yeah right! In season, I ate them with milk every morning before going to school.

It is true that dates have some nutrients which may aid in strength of body and/or mind, such as iron, potassium, calcium, vitamin B-complex, and most of all: high natural sugar for high energy. No wonder they call dates "marathon runners' food." When you add the nuts, they're even better for you!

Here in Seattle, I have been searching for good dates for a while now. Finally when I saw them at my market, I bought in bulk -- organic, Medjool dates!

These Medjools were big, juicy, & great for stuffing. Following the core ingredients of my mother's recipe, I worked sugar, cardamom, pistachios, and almonds into a ghee-cream. It's very much like the butter cream you see in frostings, except ghee is clarified and therefore better than butter.

To keep up with my new feature -- sharing one of my mother's traditional recipes every month -- here are Winter Dates, done slightly differently I will admit! as I dressed them up. I am looking forward to being a kid all over again, though, as I grab a date before work every morning, & appreciate how lucky I am to have been born into a family of great cooks!

Winter Dates

I used:

2 dozen Medjool dates, slitted, pits removed
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup ground raw pistachios and almonds
2-3 tablespoons cold ghee (clarified butter)
a couple pinches of ground cardamom

My Method:

1. Whip up a cold ghee-cream, by beating the ghee and sugar to this consistency:

2. Mix the cardamom, pistachios, and almonds with the ghee-cream. Cream the ghee further while working the mixture in, one quarter cup or so at a time, until it is stiff and ready for piping:

3. Pipe the filling into slit and pitted dates. I filled a Ziploc® bag with the filling, then snipped off a bottom corner for inexpensive and easily controlled piping. Refrigerate your Winter Dates.

I now have two dozen stuffed Medjool dates, updated from my childhood, easing me into Winter workdays or a holiday party :) Thank you, Mom - Enjoy the Indian Winter!!!

Mom's Carrot Halwa & A Happy Diwali

Diwali is one of the biggest & brightest festivals in India, but even with the Indian population increasing in the U.S., Diwali it is still kinda missed around here. I really miss India for the number of festivals we have in a year.

I wish America did more to celebrate Diwali, but for now it's just another day at work or school. This year, we've decided to create our own festivities and invite all our local, immediate family to a feast at our house! My in-laws have had no experience celebrating Diwali, so it's kinda exciting to share a bit of my culture with them, right before I enjoy the American Thanksgiving dinner at their house :) We can't legally have fireworks here, but we'll have lamps, a nice fire, some great food, music, and lots of stories to share.

You can read more about the story of Diwali online, but if you were in India you would see lots of lights, oil lamps, fireworks, and amazing food! To me, the meaning of Diwali is in taking time to feel good, appreciating and spending time with your loved ones, and celebrating life. Sounds like American Thanksgiving, right?

Diwali is also a time for starting all things new -- making new ideas into new ventures, like this blog for example ;) The next day after Diwali is the Indian New Year, and I look forward to a great year ahead.

One of my goals this year is to master as many amazing Indian dishes as I can from the most amazing cook in my family -- my mom. I plan to feature one of my mom's recipes every month on this blog, as I had started last month with Mom's Peace Kheer. Here is another great recipe from my mom. You can't have Diwali without great Indian sweets! It's a dessert that warms up your heart, whether you eat it hot or cold. I personally love to dig into it as soon as you turn off the burner.

Below are carrots we used, straight from the source -- via the Ballard Sunday Farmers' Market. You may not always cook with 100% organic, 100% local, or even 100% fresh foods at home -- but it helps any recipe a lot if you use the best version available of the featured ingredient(s).


:: Mom's Carrot Halwa (Gajar Halwa) ::

She used:

• 3 cups freshly grated, organic, local carrots
• 6 cups warm whole milk (or 2 cups evaporated milk)
• 1 tbspn ghee (clarified butter)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 8-10 thinly sliced almonds
• 8-10 thinly sliced pistachios
• 1/2 tspn ground cardamom powder
• a pinch of saffron

Her method:

1. In a thick sauce pan, melt the ghee.


2. Add carrots and cook for 5-7 minutes.


3. Add warm milk and stir often, till the mixture thickens and all the milk is soaked up. Do NOT let it stick to the bottom of the pan! It's lot of work stirring this one, but it's worth it!


4. Add sugar, saffron, and stir some more, till the halwa starts to come together and leaves the sides of the pan.


5. Add cardamom and mix it properly.


6. Top it off with the nuts, and you are ready to serve in any dish.


7. Alternately, you can also spread the halwa in a baking pan, add nuts, let it cool, and then slice into squares.

Dish out my Mom's Carrot Halwa, light up a candle or a little fire, put your feet up, and enjoy!

Oh! and don't forget to thank my mom for creating this easier and lower calorie halwa recipe ;)

Here are more photos from this year's Diwali snacks :


Happy Diwali and a Happy New Year to all!

Mango :: King of Fruits

I searched all Summer for great mangoes in Seattle, and I have to say they were hard to find. Read on for information on finding mangoes in Seattle, Indian mangoes in New York City, mangoes in India, serving suggestions, and finally some nutrition information.

Mangoes in Seattle
The best mangoes I found were the "champagne" variety, with the best among them at Pike Place Market and seasonal produce stands like Top Banana in Ballard. Champagne mangoes are sweeter and have fewer fibers than most Mexican mangoes. A prime example is pictured above.

Indian Mangoes in New York City
Indian mangoes are still far better than these, however. In New York City, Indian mangoes are expensive but are now supposed to be available, in season, like at Patel Brothers. Indian mangoes arrived in the United States this past May, 2007 for the first time in 18 years, but I wonder if they all arrived on the East Coast and never left!

We saw a YouTube video of 2 greedy Indian brothers who somehow got their hands on boxes and boxes of Indian mangoes, when they first arrived in the U.S. in the middle of the night in New York City -- so, who are these people and why has this been video since been taken down?? Are they hogging all the Indian mangoes? I think so!

Check this out: well-reputed restaurants like Tabla in NYC here - stocking up on Indian mangoes (look at the stacks he's got!). In that post, they are rightly called the "Mango Mafia." If this "Mango Mafia" continues, how will other Americans or Indian-Americans get their hands on them? It isn't fair! The U.S. and Indian governments need to step in, and make sure these divine fruits go straight to local grocery stores and markets like Wegmans, Safeway, Giant, QFC, et al., for everyone to enjoy! If Indian mangoes are only available to a few wealthy (greedy) people eating in fine restaurants, their popularity and shipments will not increase as they should.

Mangoes in India
If you are in India, it's a completely different story. There mangoes come straight from your grandfather's or aunt's farm, or perhaps you picked them yourself from a local tree :) India, the homeland of mangoes & Mango Power Girl, produces half of the world's mangoes. There are varieties you can't imagine, more than 1,000 of them!

The peak of mango season in India is May, and the season lasts from March to August, depending on the region and variety. During those months Indians eat mango in every form. The best way is just by itself, or as a side dish to the meal. Other popular ways include freshly squeezed mango pulp, lassis, shakes, ice creams, raw mango pickles, chutneys, spices, and the list goes on!

My favorite variety growing up in India was Alphonso mango, which originally came from the region I grew up in, Gujarat and the neighboring state of Maharashtra. Alphonso is the variety reportedly now available in the U.S., although again I have not yet found it in Seattle.

Serving Suggestions
I make the most of my mangoes by serving them with complementary fruits, by topping vanilla ice cream (my favorite combination!), or by making a mango shake. Mangoes are best matched with strawberry, kiwi, peach, and pineapple. You can also just cube and eat!



If you feel ambitious and would love a rich mango dessert, try out my fellow blogger, Applemint's Mango Phirni. For our household a nice orange Mango Pie will be next!

For now, I'll be cubing and freezing as many mangoes as I can get for Winter :) Here is some of my frozen crop ... It was hard not to eat all of it fresh, but when I think about how much I'll pay for Trader Joe's frozen mangoes in Winter, it's easy to freeze :-P

Good for you, too! ... Nutrition Information
Mangoes not only taste great, they are great for your health.

Ripe mangoes have enzymes that aid digestion. For this reason, Indians tend to eat mangoes along with a meal, and use dried mango powder as a protein tenderizer and spice blend.

As you may have guessed from their bold color, mangoes are rich in antioxidants and anticardiovascular properties. They are high in iron, beta carotene, magnesium, and potassium. Mangoes top the list of foods recently discovered to fight some cancers. Finally, mangoes are considered perfect food for pregnant women, kids, and just about everyone!

Enjoy mangoes and feel good about it, too!

Outsourced [to eat mangoes!]

If you haven't already seen Outsourced, it is a must-see in the line of Bend it like Beckham, Monsoon Wedding, and other great fusion, Indian-Western movies. This film does a brilliant job of capturing the emotions that run with the outsourcing era both in India and the USA. Outsourced also offers real cultural insight, many hilarious moments, and a touching story.

The filmaker has shown exactly what it feels like to be a foreigner in India. My husband, Brian could identify with scenes such as being hounded by cabbies as soon as you land in Mumbai -- except that Brian (lucky boy!) had a Hindi-speaking wife to get those locals off his back ;)

There are many food-related lessons in Outsourced, including:

1. How to eat a mango like Indians do ... my favorite scene :D

2. Indian hospitality surrounding food - No matter how little you have in your home, you offer the best of what you have to your guest, first before yourself.

3. Indians never throw food away. You personally give leftover food to the poor, to anyone in need, or to animals. The fact that millions are living in extreme poverty and hunger in India is felt honestly in this movie. Showing that is a part of the film without dominating the story.

Go see it! For Seattlelites: Outsourced is currently playing at the Majestic Bay in Ballard.

p.s. I also love how Outsourced is about a guy who is based in Seattle. Most of the film is in India, but you do see glimpses of our local city life including Pike Place Market, Westlake Park, our Central Library, mountain views, etc. You hear tuneage from local artist Eddie Vedder. The Indian music was also great, it made me wanna dance!

Mom's Peace Kheer

"Go Veg!" and "Love Peace" are two simple mottoes I live by. Today, October 1 is World Vegetarian Day, the kick-off of worldwide Vegetarian Awareness Month. Tomorrow is the birthday of one of our greatest peacemakers - Mohandas Karamchand "Mahatma" Gandhi.

An essential part of Gandhi's personal recipe for peace was being vegetarian. I hope Mango Power Girl helps you learn about and enjoy vegetarian food.

To honor Gandhi and all peacemakers around the world, I give you my mom's recipe for Kheer. Kheer is the popular rice pudding often found in Indian restaurants.

She used:
1 tspn ghee (unsalted, clarified butter)
1/4 cup rice
1/2 cup water (washed and soaked)
2 cups milk
1/2 cup sugar
a pinch of saffron
1/8 tspn or a pinch of nutmeg
1/4 tspn crushed cardamom
some thinly sliced toasted almonds
some thinly sliced toasted pistachios

Her method:
1. In a sauce pan, roast the rice in ghee, on medium heat, until slightly brown.
2. Add the water, cover, and let the rice cook until it is almost cooked, but not completely.
3. Add the milk, bring it up to a simmer, and then turn the heat to low.
4. Add the saffron, nutmeg, cardamom, sugar, and cook some more on low heat until the Kheer thickens. It should really come together with a porridge consistency.
5. Add the nuts and serve hot; or, chill in the fridge and enjoy cold!

Today at a peaceful protest with local monks and students in Seattle, I signed a petition to try and stop the current atrocities in Burma/Myanmar. It was a small act of peace but if you look around, online or in your daily life, you will find many opportunities of your own.

Enjoy this Peace Kheer, and while you do, think: what will you do to stand up for peace? As Gandhi said, "We must be the change we wish to see in the world."