Healthy Cilantro Rice (with Brown rice)

Recently I started watching a Telugu cooking show where the chef, a holistic nutritionist -- Sridevi Jasthi, shows recipes that incorporate whole grains, healthy fats and seasonally available ingredients. I like these kind of shows because they show a totally different perspective on cooking healthy everyday food.

I have tried quite a few of her recipes and they have all turned out great. I will be posting them here periodically.

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Instant Mango Pickle with Mustard & Jaggery for ICC

This month's Indian Cooking Challenge is a quick and easy to make 'Instant Mango Pickle with Mango & Jaggery'. Varada shared her mom's pickle recipe for all of us to try.

I made it yesterday and it tasted great. I made panchadhara avakaya with sugar and roasted mustard and fenugreek seeds. But this pickle has jaggery for sweetness and the spices used are not roasted. The pickle was not overly sweet, it is subtly sweet and you can definitely taste it in the background but it is not overwhelming. My husband's been eating it for every meal since I made it :-)

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Aam Panna (Green Mango Juice)

Blogging Marathon# 28: Week 2/ Day 3
Theme: Mango Special Dishes
Dish: Aam Panna (Panha) Raw Mango Juice

I'm used to making and drinking juices/ milkshakes and smoothies made with ripe mangoes only. So making this juice with raw green mango took me this long. I've seen recipes for aam panna (panha) on Nupur's blog, on Valli's blog and I bookmarked them to try, but kept postponing since I wasn't sure how it would turn out. Finally I took the leap and saved 1 raw mango to make this summer favorite drink.

I followed Nupur's recipe and since we like things a little sweet in our household I added a little more jaggery than recommended in her recipe. I'm so glad I finally tried it -- it's sweet, tart and oh-so refreshing. I'm sure it's the perfect drink on a sweltering summer afternoon.

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Raw Mango Masala Curry

Blogging Marathon# 28: Week 2/ Day 2
Theme: Mango Special Dishes
Dish: Raw Mango Masala Curry

For the 2nd day under "Mango Special dishes", I made Raw Mango curry. Like I said in my previous post, I have never tried any curry dishes with mango. So when I saw this being made on a Telugu cooking show, I noted it down knowing very well that I'll be trying it soon for BM. 

The highlight of the curry is the freshly ground masala (spice paste) that is added and it is flavorful and spicy. This masala can be used with other vegetables to make delicious curries.

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Raw Mango Salad with Moong Dal (Mango Kosambari)

Blogging Marathon# 28: Week 2/ Day 1
Theme: Mango Special Dishes
Dish: Raw Mango Salad with Moong Dal

We start our 2nd week of Blogging Marathon today and my theme for this week is "Mango Special dishes". It's not summer yet in our neck of woods, but nothing can stop us from enjoying mangoes. We get mangoes all round the year but the taste of summer mangoes cannot be beat, in my opinion. 

For this week, I have tried 3 new recipes with raw green mangoes that I've never made before. I usually make dal or rice or pickle with raw mango. But I wanted to try raw mango in completely different form for this week.

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Raw Mango Rice/ Mamidikaya Annam

"Cooking with Pedatha" is my go-to cookbook for Andhra style dishes. Even though I’m from Andhra and I cook my mom’s style (both my parents are from Vijayawada), I find that Pedatha’s recipes are slightly different in the spices added or the technique used. I’ve made a lot of recipes from the book and everything turned out delicious till now. 

So for day 2 of our BM# 7, I made this raw mango rice which is tangy, spicy and delicious. Adding the spice paste of coconut, mustard seeds and green chilies makes the dish extra special. Make it for a simple dinner or as a dish for an elaborate meal, this mango rice is sure to wow the crowds. 

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