Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Jamming with mango

After relishing and taxing your tummy with mangoes through the season, most definitely you would want to try out other dishes using mangoes. Lovely it will be if we can make some mango-based dishes that can be preserved for at least some time. Among the many types of tasty mango dishes, one easy to do & preserve dish is mango jam. 


Ingredients:
  • 1-2 ripe mangoes (you can pick any variety but ensure they are not very tangy)
  • 1-2 cups of sugar
  • 1 cup of water
Method:
  1. Boil the mangoes until they become real soft (can boil the whole mango or the pieces)
  2. Cool and peel the skin. Strain any excess water
  3. Mash the pulp and keep it aside
  4. In a pan, add the water and the sugar. Over a low flame, allow the sugar to dissolve by constant stirring. Then bring it to boil over medium flame until the sugar syrup gets formed as thin threads. 
  5. When this consistency is reached, add the mashed mango pulp and boil it till it thcikens into a semi-solid state
  6. Allow it to cool and store it in an air tight container. Preferably refrigerate it.

Monday, July 22, 2013

Pan Pizzzzzaaa @ Home

Pizza, though not my most-desired food, I don't mind it once a while; especially with my all-time-favorite Jalapeno topping. But I've my close ones who love to have pizza any time and this has been a long-pending request from my little princess Aman:) So, having decided to make some pizza at home, I wanted to make it from the scratch instead of using the readily available pizza bases. While browsing, I accidentally got the recipe to make pizza using a non-stick tava instead of an OTG / Microwave.

Thanks to the lady who shared this recipe, it surely worked out to be an easy-to-make method and with very minimal and easily available ingredients. Along with one of my partners in crime, @ Sangeeta, ventured into making these yummy pizzas and have succeeded twice so far...It's been  vanishing into people's tummy :)


Ingredients:

Base:
All purpose flour (maida): 2 medium-sized serving spoons 
Yeast (dry / instant): 1-1.5 tspn [Note: If its dry yeast, soak it in warm water with sugar; allow it for 5 mts & then use it]
Salt : as per taste

Oil : 2-3 tspn (we used refined oil but recommended by many is olive)

Topping: (that we used)

Capsicum - 1 medium sized : Green
Baby corn - 1 small
Mozirela cheese - Grated
Amul cheese - Grated or sliced
Mixed herbs - for flavor
Olive - as many numbers as you like
Onion - 1 small sized
Tomato - 1 small sized
Panneer (Cottage cheese) - grated

Sauce:
Onion : 1 big or 2 medium sized; cut into small pieces (would suffice for 2 small pizzas)
Tomato: 2-4 medium sized; 2 cut into pieces & 2 ground as tomato pure
Garlic  : 2-4 pods; cut into small pieces
Salt: to taste
Sugar: 1/2 tspn (depending on the sweetness of the tomato)

Method
Steps to prepare the base:
  1. Mix the flour with yeast, salt, sugar, oil and make a dough. Use warm water to make the dough as smooth as for rotis
  2. Apply a bit oil on the dough and cover it with a cloth
  3. Allow it to soak for 1 hour
Steps to prepare the sauce:
  1. Cut onion, tomatoes (half the number), and garlic into tiny pieces
  2. Pure the remaining tomatoes
  3. In a pan, add a spoon of oil (refined), followed by garlic, onion, salt and saute it till they become golden brown
  4. To this mix, add the sliced tomatoes and saute it for a minute. Then add the pure, followed by sugar
  5. Stir till the water is absorbed and the sauce consistency is obtained
  6. Remove from fire & allow it to cool
 Steps to prepare the topping:
  1. Cut the capsicum, baby corn, onion, tomato into small pieces
  2. Saute capsicum, baby corn, and onion separately for a minute or two (to ensure they are slightly cooked before adding to the pizza; don't add any salt to this)
  Steps to prepare the pizzas:
  1. Keep a non-stick pan, close it with a lid and heat it up for a minute or two. It's similar to pre-heating the OTG or microwave but should be medium hot. 
  2. Meanwhile, portion the dough into sizes that you would like for making a small or medium pizza
  3. Spread it and make a base similar to rotis but should be a little thicker
  4. Place this in the pre-heated pan, close it and allow one side to cook till its golden brown
  5. Reverse the pizza and slow the fire
  6. Now, on the top of the cooked side, first apply the sauce evenly. On top of it, you can do the dressing in the desired manner - we applied cheese, then each vegetable, cottage cheese, then topped it with more amul cheese.
  7. Close the pan and allow the cheese to melt. 
  8. After a minute, when the bottom-side of the pizza is brownish, and the cheese has begun to melt, you can remove it from fire
  9. Allow it to cool and then slice it
  10. Spray some oregano, mixed herbs, and chillie flakes
Yummy home-made pizzas are now ready for your tummy! Can be relished without / with any sauces / chutneys that you prefer.


1 hour of soaking time for the base flour is the maximum time. In the next 10-15 mts, you can start having your hot-pan-pizzas. Try it out!