Mango Salsa

I’m a mango lover and a trip to Kerala in early May seemed to be a brilliant idea as the mango season was still on. The thought of gorging on limited edition mangoes made my mouth watery, you know what I mean, the ones you grow in your or someone else’s backyard, timely picked and ripened with much love and care for perfect texture, color, and smell that even the flies nor you want to be away from them.  

Then confronted by a real life situation of days moving like a breeze, typical of us visitors who pays yearly visit, we started getting acrobatic in scooter to catch up with friends and family and returning back home with those limited edition mangoes and no time to eat them.

Back home, the real deal were Pakistani mangoes. It is a dream of a mango, so sweet and cheap, having a couple of slices will make you think world is indeed a better place to be, and how blessed you are to savor them. I say it is a sweet swap for alphonsa mangoes. 

I skipped my dinners for mango mousse, a mid morning meal for a sweet bowl of yummy yummy fruit salad with some milkmaid to top it, you call it mango smoothie or mango milkshake, I am for it. This salsa has to be the healthiest thing I have done this mango season followed by a Mango Pulissery. I could have dressed a taco shell with mango salsa, and it would have been lovely. But then we are so used to fruit chaats, I ate it all by itself. I never tried pairing it with fish, chicken, or pork and wonder how that would be? For that experience, I cannot stretch my mangoes anymore. My fruit bowl is empty.  

By the by, do you think the topmost caption should be Ode to mangoes rather than a mango salsa?

Ingredients 

Chopped mangoes - 1 cup

Chopped ripe tomatoes - 3/4 cup

Chopped capsicum - 1 tsp

Spring onion - 2 tsp

Chilli flakes - 1/4 tsp

Oregano - 1/2 tsp

Salt to taste

Method

In a bowl, combine the mangoes and tomatoes. Lightly mash them with a spoon. Add capsicum, spring onion, chilli flakes, oregano, and salt. Mix well. Refrigerate for at least an hour before serving.

Black Bean Quesadilla

Ingredients
Garlic tortillas - 4 Nos.
Tin Black beans - 400 g
Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp
Dried oregano - 1/2 tsp
Dried chilli flakes - 1 tsp
Onion - 1/2 of one small sized onion
Capsicum - diced into cubes
Cheese, grated - as needed
Salt and pepper  - as needed
Olive Oil - 2 tbsp

For garnish
Coriander leaves - as per your taste
Avocado, cut into rough chunks - 1 No.
Limes - 2 Nos.
Pumpkin seeds - 2 tbsp

Method
Take a bowl, mix the drained black beans, cumin powder, dried oregano, chilli flakes, onions, pepper and grated cheese. Season this with salt and pepper. Keep this aside.

Now lay the tortillas on a flat surface. Halve the bean mixture between two of the tortillas and spread out to with a centimeter of the circumference. Sit the other tortillas on top and gently push down to compress.

Heat half of the oil in a frying pan and place one of your quesadillas. Give it 3 mins on each side, pushing down from time to time with your spatula. Flip the tortilla over using your hand as a guide and cook the other side, then turn it out and do the same with the other one, pouring in the remaining oil in between.

In a small bowl, toss together the coriander leaves, avocado, juice of one of the limes, and a pinch of salt.

Now toast the pumpkin seeds and tip into the bowl of coriander and avocado.

Cut your quesadillas into six and finish with garnishing of coriander leaves, avocado, and pumpkin seeds on top. Serve with lime on the side. Eat hot.  

Guacamole - The Mexican dip

Love me or hate me, but don't kill my spirits so that I can't rise and shine another day. If you are sensitive like me, or have gone through some traumatic experiences, I'm sure the phrases above have popped in your head at one point or another.

Though I'm a very sensitive person, God has filled in me an amazing bounce-me-back power. In short, nothing can dullen my spirits for long. The secret perhaps lies in the happy childhood that my parents gave me.

When you are all hurt and feel like you can't move past the hurt, yet have to feed your figures. What you do? 

Try my Mexicana Way!!!

1. Stop for a moment, take a deep breath, then say "cancel" to the happenings (really give it a quit). Here practice is the keyword. Overtime with practice you will say bye to stale things in life more easily. 

2. The making of this dip transforms me to a happy chef again. I don't know clearly if the squishing or squashing of avocados or the magical colours of green, yellow, and red involved give me the zen experience. Slowly but surely it brings a healing effect in me. 































Have your friends over for small talks with a bowl of tortilla chips and guacamole. I'm sure you will be heading to kitchen in no time, wanting to make more, forgetting the bitter experiences you have gone through.  

Give it a try. Did I nourish your body and soul with the power of avocados, let me know....


Ingredients
Ripe avocado - 2
Onion small sized, chopped - 1/2 of a onion
Tomato, chopped - 1/2 of a tomato, seeds removed
Lemon juice - 1/2 of a lemon
Garlic - 1 clove
Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp
Coriander leaves chopped - 2 tbsp
Green chilli chopped - 1, seeds removed

Directions
Reserve half of an avocado by cutting it into chunks. Scoop out rest of the avocados and mash them. Add onion, garlic, lemon juice, pepper powder, coriander leaves, and green chilli and mash them. Add tomato and reserved chunks of avocado (don't mash them all up, some chunks of avocados should stay there). Garnish with unflavored tortilla chips and some chopped tomatoes.

I am linking this to event conducted by My Food treasures @ http://myfoodtreasures.blogspot.com and Erivum puliyam @ http://www.erivumpuliyumm.com

Chilled Spanish Gazpacho/Cold soup

Does a cold soup exist? They sure do.

Growing up, I used to religiously watch Planet food and its lovely host Padmalakshmi. Padma requires a special mention for her ongoing works on endometriosis. Kudos to her. 

I was fascinated to hear about cold soup, gazpacho from their series on Spain. Andalusians use bread in their soup! It was a shocking discovery for someone whose knowledge of soups were limited to hot steaming chicken clear soup.

All these years I never thought it's worth a try, considered it yucky, but when I tried it ...... boy ..... it was shockingly tasty. I found myself overdosing on the soup for almost a week.

Lessons learned:- should never label something yucky until you taste it. Same like never judge anything by its cover.

Recipe source: Adapted from The Barefoot Contessa cookbook

Ingredients
1 Persian cucumber, halved and seeded, but not peeled
2 Red bell peppers, cored and seeded
4 plum tomatoes
1/4 of a small red onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 cups tomato juice
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
Salt as needed
1 teaspoon pepper powder

Directions
Chop cucumber, bell peppers, tomatoes, and red onions. Blend them into a coarse paste (Use blender carefully so that you don't end up with a puree). Pour them into a large bowl and mix them with minced garlic, tomato juice, vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Serve chilled. Enjoy the soupy drink with some croutons!

It stays fresh for a week in the fridge.

linking this to the event conducted by My Food treasures @ http://myfoodtreasures.blogspot.com and Erivum puliyum.@ http://www.erivumpuliyumm.com