Mango loaf

During my visit back home, I managed to meet up with three friends who I only know through food blogs and facebook. We've commented on posts, 'liked' stuff on fb, but never really met. I met Geetha of Fragrant kitchen, who is a super creative baker and makes some amazing cake decorations, Suma of Cakes and More, who would love to bake every single day if she could and SJ of Masala Vade, who is seriously super fun !



It felt a little strange at first, since all I knew about them was through their blogs or fb updates. I knew that food always helps to bond better and it turned out to be so wonderful meeting all of them
I met Geetha at her place and she was busy decorating fondant animals for a little girl's birthday. Had a nice time chatting away with some tea and chocolate muffins loaded with nuts
Met Suma at Coffee Day and chatted away for hours, discussing baking, blogging, kids, family,...everything. She gifted me a bunch of vanilla beans that she had got from Kerala
SJ invited my son and me for lunch and had a huge spread ready. The kids played and we chatted away. Had a really great time...

Over the weekend, SJ asked me if I would be able to bake Dorie Greenspan's fresh mango bread, and I was more than willing. I tried my best to follow the recipe, but along the way, I made my own substitutions, and fortunately, landed up with one moist mango-ey loaf !



Here's a slice for you...

Mango Loaf
See original recipe here

What you need -

2 cups chopped mangoes (I used 2 badami mangoes)
2 eggs
1/2 cup mango puree (I used the kesar variety)
3/4 cup oil (I used safflower)
2 cups APF / maida
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp zest of lemon
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup raisins

What you do with it -

In a deep bowl, mix the flour, sugars, baking powder and baking soda, clove powder, cinnamon powder and salt
Whisk the eggs, oil and mango puree, till it all comes together. You can skip the mango puree. I had it on hand and it made the loaf more moist
Pour the wet ingredients over the dry and mix till it blends well. In this recipe here, she mentioned that the batter will be more like dough, which it was, but the puree helped in bringing it all together
Add in the mango pieces, raisins and zest

Pre-heat the oven to 180 deg C and line a loaf pan with parchment paper. Leave a little extra paper coming out from the pan on all sides. Grease the paper, dust it with flour and pour the batter into it. I have tried this the last few times I baked bread in the loaf tin. It helps to keep the shape intact when you take the loaf out and also keep the loaf pan pretty clean
Allow to bake for about 80 mins or till done. I use the convection mode of my microwave to bake, so timing may vary with a regular oven. If the loaf starts to brown too much, cover with foil halfway thru the baking time
Allow it to cool for 5 minutes, then pull up the loaf using the edges of the parchment paper
Cut the loaf once its cooled to room temperature
Works great for breakfast with a cup of hot tea

Ambe Khol / Spiced mango curry

A favourite delicacy among Konkanis is Ambe sasam or curried mangoes. If its not the season for mangoes, then fruits like pineapple or grapes are used. Coconut, red chillies and mustard are ground to make a base for the mango curry and I, personally, do not care too much for this and always prefer eating the fruit as is



I've always believed that adding any spice to the fruits spoils the real taste of it, though I am slowly opening up to it now
My son was on a mango diet in Bangalore and totally enjoyed it. Then Ma made this ambe khol. This is different from the sasam - it does not have coconut, just slightly spiced.

My son enjoyed it so much, that I decided to finally give it a shot. Though I hate to admit, I actually enjoyed this. I may even give the sasam a try, with pineapple perhaps. The spices should work better with that !

Ambe Khol

What you need -

5 small mangoes (called goyant ambe in Konkani)
1/2 cup grated jaggery
a pinch of salt
1/2 tsp pepper powder
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1 red chilli, broken into 2-3 pieces
1/2 tsp oil
1 cup water
pulp of one mango (alphonso, badami or any other, based on availability)

What you do with it -

Wash mangoes and peel the skin off. Keep the mangoes aside
Add 1 cup water to the peeled skins and squeeze them well, taking as much pulp as you can and then discard the skin
In a pan, heat a tsp of oil, add the mustard seeds and the red chilli
Add the mangoes, squeezed out pulp, mango pulp, jaggery, salt and pepper powder
Bring it to a boil and then add adjust salt and jaggery, as required

Aamras / Mango puree

The best thing about the summers in India is the abundance of mangoes. There are almost 70 varieties of mangoes cultivated across India. In Gujarat, the mango season starts as early as mid March and goes on till the first few weeks of July. The kesar is my favourite one, which is as good as the famous Alphonso, but not as exorbitantly priced..
I love eating mangoes as is, but a favourite combination is Aamras (Aam - mango, Ras - Juice) with puris. This is quite a popular dish in Maharashtra and Gujarat.



The thali places in Ahmedabad have aamras on their menu every summer. In addition to all the little bowls of vegetables and kadi, there is a bowl of aamras, which is filled every time you are nearing the end. My son is too small to have an entire thali, so he always gets a little plate for the puris and a bowl for aamras. The people serving are extremely attentive to him, despite the unending rows of people seated to eat and they fill up his bowl with aamras every time they pass by. He is always overawed with their service.

Here's a picture of a regular Gujarati thali. You will have more farsaan and sweets, in a fancier looking thali, if its a more upmarket restaurant


Pic Source: Sanjiv Khamgaonkar for CNNGo.com

My little fellow has been having mangoes after every meal these last few weeks. Ma made aamras puri when my cousins came over for lunch last week. He had that and then mango ice-cream for dessert. He is on a mango diet these days and totally loving it !!

The Raspuri variety is the best for the pulp, or you can use Alphonso, or a combination of the two. This time we used one Alphonso to add to the sweetness.



Aamras

What you need -
(Serves 4-5 people)

8 ripe raspuri mangoes
1 alphonso mango (This adds to the flavour, or you can just make do with the raspuri)
1 tbsp sugar, if required
1/4 cup water
1 cardamom (optional)

What you do with it -

Soak the mangoes in water for about half an hour - this makes it easier to remove the pulp
Peel the skin off the mangoes and soak in the water
Remove as much pulp as possible from the mango as possible, using your hands
If using the cardamom, peel it and add the seeds along with the pulp
Blend the mango pulp with sugar. Use as much sugar as required
Squeeze the remaining pulp from the skin of the mangoes and add to the blended pulp
Blend once more for a smooth consistency
Serve with hot puris, or refrigerate for an hour and serve cold as a dessert

Mango smoothie

This Mother's day turned out to be a fun one ! My son made me a card thanking me for all the 'work' I do..I am glad that he acknowledges it this early in life :) He was quite insistent that I make a card for my mother, but I told him I would cook for her instead

My brother brought over lovely flowers and a delicious cake. My sister-in-law and I cooked up dinner. Our menu that day was mango smoothie, feta and fig salad, thyme roast potatoes and angel hair pasta with mushrooms in a creamy garlic sauce, with the cake and some chikoo ice-cream from Naturals for dessert



Ma has always been very open to trying different cuisines and she enjoyed this dinner. The photos don't do much justice to how tasty it all turned out. There were far too many complaints about how people had to keep waiting for food because I needed to click pictures for my blog...
I did start cooking pretty late that evening and so hurried up with the pictures and I just realized as I am typing this that I do not have any pictures of the angel hair pasta
Here's a sample of the rest of our dinner that night...



Starting with the easiest recipe here, will post the rest soon...
What did you do for Mother's day ?

Mango Smoothie
(makes 6 glasses)

What you need-

5-6 ripe mangoes (I used the raspuri variety)
1 ripe banana
1/2 cup curd / plain yogurt
1-2 tsp sugar, if required
10-15 cubes of ice

What you do with it-

Peel the skin off the mangoes and squeeze as much juice off the skin as you can
Cut the remaining to pieces
Peel and cut the banana
Add the sugar and curd
Put all these ingredients into the blender along with the ice and blend for 3-4 mins
Serve cold with a mint leaf for garnish

Mango in Coconut milk / Ambe Rasayan

The good thing about being here in Ahmedabad is that we get mangoes for almost 4 months in a year...The last of the season is the 'kesar' which comes from Junagadh in Gujarat and is almost as good as the famous Alphonso mango...They are really sweet and its still available in the market !!

If mangoes are not in season, you can make this with bananas, honeydew melon, or a combination of grapes and bananas



This is a classic Konkani recipe that uses mangoes, coconut milk and jaggery. Can be eaten as a dessert or as the main meal with puris.
Ma has made this when we were in Bangalore and my son relished the combination of the mangoes and coconut milk...

What you need -

2 ripe mangoes
1 cup coconut milk
2 tbsp jaggery (add more if you want it sweeter)
1 cardamom powdered

What you do with it -

Cut the mangoes into bite size pieces
Add the jaggery to the coconut milk and mix till it dissolves well
Add the mango pieces and cardamom powder
Mix well and refrigerate
Serve with hot puris