Mavinakayi Chithranna/Raw Mango Rice:

Chithranna is one such dish,which can be relished for  breakfast, lunch or dinner. It is a tangy, seasoned rice dish. Usually tanginess comes from addition of lemon juice,bitter lime juice(citron) or Raw mango. Some times we use tamarind too.

Mangos are in season now. My daughters love to have raw mango rice in their tiffin box and this preparation of mine is one of their favourite rice items.

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Ingredients:
To make rice: Rice – 2 cups, Salt – 1 tsp, Ghee – 1 tsp, Water – 4 cups.
Grated Raw Mango – 1 cup
Green chillies – 4
Turmeric powder – ½ tsp.
Salt
Capsicum – 1
Grated coconut – ½ cup
Chopped coriander leaves – little.
Seasoning : Oil – 2 tbl sp , mustard – 1 tsp ,urad dal – 1 tsp, chana dal – 1 tsp, jeera – ½ tsp ,asafoetida – ¼ tsp ,red chillies – 2 ,curry leaves – 2 springs .
Method:
– Take one cooker vessel, Wash rice and pour 4 cups of water, ghee and salt. Keep this vessel in a cooker. Cook for 1 whistle and keep it in a simmer for 4 min. You will get perfectly cooked rice. After cooker cools down, remove cooked rice and spread the rice in a bigger vessel to cool.
– Now take one kadai, prepare seasoning by putting oil . When it is hot add mustard. When it starts to splutter add urad and chana dal, red chillies .When dal becomes little red ,add jeera and asafoetida, curry leaves ,chopped green chillies and capsicum.
– After capsicum becomes soft, add turmeric, salt, grated coconut and fry for a while.
– Now add this seasoning, grated mango, chopped coriander to cooled rice.

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– Check for the salt and mix this mixture by using your hand.  Keep this for a while, so that rice will absorb all the seasoning.

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– Serve this seasonal mango rice either with any fritters or as it is.

Roasted Red pepper Pasta with Pine nut Sauce:

It is colourful, simple, yet bursting with flavour, very satisfying one pot nutritious meal.

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How I proceeded with the recipe-

Ingredients:

Whole wheat pasta – 1 pack

Pine nuts – ½ cup

Milk – 1 to 1 ½ cup

Onion -1 (sliced)

Red bell pepper-3

Yellow bell pepper – 2

Green bell pepper -1

Red chilli flakes

Oregano

Olive oil – 1 table spoon

Garlic salt – as required

Grated cheese – 3 table spoon

Garlic greens or spring onion greens – little

Method:

  • Wash Red peppers and apply some oil to the outer surface.

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  • Soak pine nuts in milk.
  • Slice onion, green pepper and yellow pepper.
  • Cook pasta in sufficient water by adding little salt and oil. When it is cooked, drain the water and reserve this water to further use.
  • Pre heat oven to 200 C and keep the setting to Grill Option.
  • Make 4 quarters of red bell pepper and remove seeds, arrange this in a butter paper lined cookie tray.

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  • When oven is pre heated and ready, keep this tray in an oven and grill this for 10 minutes and then bake this further for 10 minutes.
  • (if you grill at first, you can avoid oozing of the water content from the bell pepper and it will be firm and juicy)

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  • When bell pepper is ready, make a paste by adding the pine nut and milk which has been soaked, with the bell pepper, and grind it in a mixer jar.

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  • Keep one wide mouth tawa, add olive oil or butter, when it is hot add sliced onion and fry for 2 minutes.

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  • Add sliced green and yellow bell pepper, little garlic salt, red chilli flakes and oregano. Fry for a while and add ground bell pepper paste.
  • Adjust the consistency by adding drained water which you reserved.
  • Check the taste and adjust salt, seasoning, red chilli flakes.

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  • When it is cooked, add grated cheese and mix in drained pasta and mix nicely. Serve by garnishing with garlic or spring onion greens.

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Note:

-If you don’t have garlic salt, add chopped garlic to the hot oil while adding onion.

-You can use any nuts of your choice.