Mango pickle

Nowadays many of us are not including pickles in the daily menu. But there were days when we wanted to have some pickle everyday along with that paruppu kulambu and rice:) In such situation homemade pickles are better. My mom used to make these mango pickles during the mango season in smaller batches and it would always vanish in a day or two:) she would keep a small piece of some kind of pickle in our everyday lunch boxes, so that we consume the rice without any hesitation. Those were very little incidents but her care and thoughtfulness always amazes me.

Here is an instant mango pickle for those picky eaters:)

Ingredients:

Unripe mango - 1 (1/2 kg)
red chilly powder - 4 tbsp
mustard seed - 1 tsp
fenugreek seed (methi/venthayam) - 1 tsp
turmeric - 1 tsp
salt - to taste
sesame oil - 1/4 cup
hing / asafoetida - 1/4 tsp

Method:

Select unripe mango with lesser sour taste (like pacharisi maangai or kilimookku - Tamil).
Finely chop the mango.
Heat oil in a kadai.
Add the mustard and fenugreek and wait till mustard finishes popping.
Slide in the chopped mango with enough salt and turmeric.
Add the hing powder too.
Stir continuously and wait till the mango gets cooked.
Then put the red chilly powder and let it cook in low heat till the oil oozes.
Instant mango pickle is ready!

Serving suggestions:

Serve as side dish with curd rice, sambar rice or paratha.

Tips:
To increase the shelf-life add 2 tbsp of vinegar or juice of 1 lemon after the pickle cools and store in a dry jar. If handled with a clean dry spoon and care, this pickle can stay for a week in room temperature.
If refrigerated, this lasts longer even without vinegar or lemon.

Tandoori chicken drumstick

Almost a few Kms away from my dad's house , a couple started a restaurant solely for north Indian non-veg dishes in a place called Ponnakudi. That restaurant grew very fast and became a center of attraction for many tourists and passers by. Till now its unbeatable there, though not famous like a chain of restaurant. My elder brother used to buy this for us and I absolutely love this smoky flavored tandoori chicken which was rare at that time.
One day I expressed my wish to the owner to see that oven. It was a small restaurant at that time and the lady of the house gracefully took me to the kitchen and surprisingly it was extremely clean like our homely kitchen. Marinated chickens were kept in lidded vessels. Kitchen was spotlessly clean and workers were threading the whole chickens into the oven with much care. I was thrilled to see such an enormous oven and it was much interesting to see their clay oven baked naan and whole chickens. As my mom was not that much attracted to restaurant foods we rarely enjoyed that chicken whenever my brother comes home.

Earlier I posted another detailed post on an authentic tandoori chicken and that's how it is meant to be. Click to see that post on a regular tandoori chicken.

Then I customized that original recipe to my needs and started preparing drumstick tandoori or whole chicken tandooris. Hope you all like it.

Tandoori drumstick chicken served with lemon wedges.

Pat dry the chicken after washing it.

Ingredients:

Chicken drumstick - 5

Marination:

vinegar - 1/4 cup (or) lemon - 1
curd - 1/4 cup
olive oil / butter - 1 tsp per piece
salt - as per need (1/4 tsp per piece)
red chilly powder - 2 tbsp
garam masala powder - 1 tbsp
ginger garlic paste - 2 tbsp
all purpose flour - 3 tbsp
turmeric powder - 1 tbsp
black pepper powder - 1 tsp
cumin powder - 1 tsp
Red food color - a pinch (I won't suggest it)

Method:

Wash the chicken drumstick and pat dry using paper towel.
Make 3 to 4 slits per drumstick and keep aside.
Mix everything given for marination in a large mixing bowl.
Put the chicken pieces and mix well.
Cover and refrigerate 6 hours or keep marinated in room temperature for 3 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 deg F.
Line a cookie sheet or baking tray with aluminum foil.
Apply a tbsp oil over the foil.
Keep the marinated chicken pieces with some spacing.

Turn after 15 minutes.
Let it bake both side for 10 minutes.
Then turn the oven to broil mode and keep for 3 minutes both sides or till we get red color.

Tips:

If needed add some red food color while marination.
BBq will also yield a similar quality tandoori.
If oven is not preferred, then shallow fry the pieces with very little oil and make it red by putting over hot dosa tawa.

Serving suggestion:

Sprinkle some chaat masala before serving.
Wrap a piece of aluminum foil at one end to make it holdable:)
Serve hot as side dish with biriyani, paratha etc.
Lemon wedges, onion slices or raitha are often served along with this tandoori.
It can be reheated by Microwave or using a dosa tawa.
The left over can be made into a gravy.