Monday, December 17, 2012

Event entry and reposts

Divya Pramil of  'You too can cook'  and Priya of 'Cook like Priya' are hosting an event for Christmas. Here are my entries for their fabulous event. Happy hosting friends!

I am sending the following entries to Divya's 60 days to Christmas Event.

1. Indian whole chicken fry
 2. Hyderabad chicken briyani
 Hyderabadi Chicken biryani in vibrant coloration.

The following entries are for Priya's 60 days to Christmas Event.
1. Christmas fruit cake

2. Carrot cake

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Cranberry pickle

Cranberries are abundant during Thanksgiving and Christmas. Making a sweet sauce with cranberry is traditional here. I always make spicy pickle with cranberries and it tastes exactly the same as mango pickle (YES!). Xav likes it very much and I try to keep this in fridge during season. Last month I bought 2 packs of cranberries from Aldi, pickled them and stored in fridge. It is always cheerful to see him choosing from one of my homemade pickles:) Hope you all enjoy this pickle too!
Cranberry pickle in a jar.
Ingredients:
Cranberry - 1/2 lb
corn or Sesame oil - 1/2 cup
(we can reduce the oil , if we are refrigerating the pickle)
Red chilly powder - 2 tbsp
fenugreek (methi / venthayam) - 1 tsp
mustard seeds - 1 tsp
hing (asafoetida) - 1/8 tsp
sea salt - to taste (approx 1.5 tbsp)
white vinegar - 2 tbsp

Method:
Wash and clean the cranberries. Wipe with a clean cloth and dry it in open air to remove any moisture for an hour or more (overnight).
Heat the above said quantity of sesame oil (any cooking oil) in a kadai (wok). Add the mustard seeds and let them start to crackle. At the same time add hing , fenugreek seeds and wait till it gets red. Immediately add the cranberries and  saute till they starts cracking. Cranberry will get thick and mushy now. Add salt.
When the oil starts showing off the edges, add the red chilly powder and stir well till the raw smell of red chilly powder goes.  Mix vinegar.
Switch off the flame and let the pickle get cool. Store in glass bottles.
Cranberry pickle is ready! Keep it refrigerated.


Serving suggestions:
Serve as side dish with curd rice.
We can  mix some of this pickle with white rice to prepare a quick cranberry rice for lunch pack.