Kadanja Kathirikkai and my kitchen garden

I prepared this side dish with homegrown eggplant and tomato. Here are some pictures of my kitchen garden. I love gardening, especially kitchen gardening is always rewarding. This year we planted 6 burpee brand eggplant plants and we are blessed with loads of harvest and I thank God for this happiness. I cooked a lot of dishes with eggplant. Also the homegrown  tomato, basil, spinach gives us immense pleasure. I shared the eggplants with few of my neighborhood friends and still waiting to harvest more:)

Kadanja kathirikkai - Mashed brinjal in tangy tamarind and tomato sauce.

Bought them on May 20, 2013 from stop and shop.

One Tomato plant for  $3.99

This 6 eggplants pack is for $ 3.99 only....eggplants always comes in deal.

Our garden space.

First harvest

I got this recipe idea from Ms. Manohari of Arusuvai.com. Thanks dear, now I have learned another yummy Indian brinjal recipe.

Ingredients:
Eggplant / brinjal - 1/2 kg
unripe tomato - 1 or 2
tamarind - small lemon size
green chilly - 5
red onion - 1
turmeric powder - a pinch
asafoetida (hing) - a pinch
garlic - 5 cloves

To Temper:
coconut oil - 1 tbsp
curry leaf - 1 sprig
dry red chilly - 2
mustard - 1/2 tsp
urad dal - 1/2 tsp
cumin - 1/2 tsp

Method:
Extract the tamarind juice. Keep aside.
In a pressure cooker vessel add 1 cup water, finely chopped onion, chopped brinjal, finely chopped tomato, slit green chillies, peeled garlic, turmeric , hing, tamarind juice .
Bring to three whistles and switch off.

Add required salt and mash this using a spatula to a coarse state.
DO NOT mash in a blender.
Keep aside.
In a tempering wok, heat oil, add mustard and as it starts cracking, add cumin, urad dal, curry leaf, dry red chilly. Pour this over the mashed eggplant.
Kadanja kathirikkai is ready!

Serving suggestion:
Serve as side dish with dal rice, curd rice,roti,  idly dosa.

Ripe mango pickle

Recently hubby brought a pack of sweet mangoes from Asian stores and I prepared a sweet pickle using a few fruits. Cooking with fruits is very rare for my style as we like to eat them fresh. But during this Summer I wanted to preserve a few mangoes to get the taste of them for a few more months:) . I made this pickle just like raw mango pickle but added some more ingredients to intensify the sweetness and longevity.  The pickle has become our new favorite and it makes every meal more mouthwatering:) I shared this with some of my friends and they also appreciate the taste and this makes me more glad !

Sweet mango pickle

mambala urukai

mango slices

Champagne variety Mexican ripe mangoes.

Ingredients:
Ripe mango - 3
sesame oil - 2 tbsp
any oil - 4 tbsp
lemon - 1
vinegar - 1 tbsp
red chilly powder - 1 tbsp
jaggery (brown sugar) - 1 tbsp
mustard - 1 tsp
fenugreek - 1 tsp
sea salt - 2 tbsp (or more)

To fry and grind:
mustard - 1 tsp
fenugreek (methi seed) - 1/2 tsp
hing -a tiny piece

Method: 
Wash the mango, wipe and clean without any moisture. Peel the mango if it is very ripe. Otherwise cut it with skin. (I used very ripe mangoes, so I peeled them off). slice it into small cubes and keep aside.

Heat a drop of oil in a wok. Fry the mustard, methi and hing till mustard pops. Powder these together.

Now heat the 6 tbsp of oil in a wok. I mixed sesame oil with corn oil, but South Indian pickles are generally prepared with pure sesame oil only. Add mustard, fenugreek and let the mustard crackle.
Put the chopped mangoes and stir well. Then add the dry chilly powder, salt and saute till mango seems cooked (mushy). Put jaggery, prepared powder, juice of 1 lemon and mix well. Bring it to a boil and switch off. After few seconds add the vinegar and mix well. Check for salt and store in clean bottles. Let cool completely, secure with a lid and store for a month or two in room temperature.

Serving suggestion:
Serve as side dish with curd rice or any rice or roti.

Note:
Adding vinegar increases the longevity and shelf-life at room temperature.
If lesser oil is used or vinegar is not used, then keep it in fridge.
Sweet and sour mangoes make a very good quality sweet pickle (for example kili mooku/ parrot beak long mango variety). This is a good way of preserving ripe mango during season.