Cooking With Seeds Event(CWS) : Mustard Seeds

Dear friends/visitors of Sumadhura,I am very happy to announce that for the month of May 2011,Cooking With Seeds Event(CWS) started by Priya Suresh is being guest hosted by me with the star ingredient as "Mustard Seeds".Thank you Priya for giving me the opportunity to host this wonderful event.(Rules of the event are posted at the end of the post).

Star Ingredient : Mustard Seeds 

Mustard seeds are very widely used in Indian cuisine and also equally in world cuisines.The seeds are usually about 1 or 2 mm in diameter. Mustard seeds may be colored from yellowish white to black. They are important spices in many regional foods.The seeds can come from three different plants: black mustard (Brassica nigra), brown Indian mustard (B. juncea), and white mustard (B. hirta/Sinapis alba).

It is known that the existence of mustard seed dates back to 5th century BCE and is also mentioned in many religious quotes.I am happy to know that mustard is very native to India and has spread from here to rest of the world.

Culinary Uses

Mustard seeds are used as a spice,and by grinding and mixing them with water, vinegar or other liquids, are turned into the condiment known as mustard or prepared mustard. The seeds are also pressed to make mustard oil, and the edible leaves can be eaten as mustard greens.Mustard is often used at the table as a condiment on meat. It is also used as an ingredient in mayonnaise, vinaigrette, marinades and barbecue sauce. It can also be used as a base for salad dressing when combined with vinegar and/or olive oil. Mustard is also an emulsifier which can stabilize a mixture of two or more unblendable liquids such as oil and water. Added to Hollandaise sauce, mustard can reduce the possibility of curdling.Dry mustard, typically sold in cans, is used in cooking and can be mixed with water to become prepared mustard.

Storage and Shelf Life

Because of its antibacterial properties, mustard does not require refrigeration; it will not grow mold, mildew or harmful bacteria.Unrefrigerated mustard will lose pungency more quickly, and should be stored in a tightly sealed, sterilized container in a cool, dark place.Mustard can last indefinitely, though it may dry out, lose flavor, or brown from oxidation.Mixing in a small amount of wine or vinegar will often revitalize dried out mustard. Some types of prepared mustard stored for a long time may separate, causing mustard water, which can be corrected by stirring or shaking. If stored for a long time, unrefrigerated mustard can acquire a bitter taste.

Nutritional Value

As a condiment, mustard averages approximately five calories per teaspoon.Some of the many vitamins and nutrients that mustard seeds are high in are selenium and omega 3.

Alternative Uses

There has been recent research into varieties of mustards that have a high oil content for use in the production of biodiesel, a renewable liquid fuel similar to diesel fuel. The biodiesel made from mustard oil has good cold flow properties and cetane ratings. The leftover meal after pressing out the oil has also been found to be an effective pesticide.

An interesting genetic relationship between many species of mustard has been observed, and is described as the Triangle of U.

When talking about the regional usage of mustard seeds in India,it is as follows:

Aavakaya (Telugu: ఆవకాయ),Kadugu (Tamil: கடுகு),  or sasive (Kannada:ಸಾಸಿವೆ), a variety of Indian pickle consisting mainly of mangoes, red chilli powder and aavaa pindi (powdered mustard seed) preserved in mustard oil, is popular in South India with its origin in Andhra Pradesh.

These mustard seeds are known in Hindi/Urdu as sarson and in Punjabi as sarron. These are used as a spice in North India and Nepal. The seeds are usually roasted until they pop. They are also planted to grow saag (greens) which are stir-fried and eaten as a vegetable preparation, sarson ka saag (sarron da saag in Punjabi).

In Maharastra, it is called as mohari, and is used frequently in Maharastrian recipes.

Sarson ka tel (mustard oil) is used for body massage during extreme winters, as it is assumed to keep the body warm and moist.

P.S: All the above information has been gathered from wikipedia(Mustard Seeds,Mustard Plant,Mustard).

 Here's what you need to do :

 

1. Prepare any vegetarian dish using Mustard Seeds and send them to me between May 1st and  May 31st.(Only vegetarian, no eggs please).

2. Please link back your recipes to this event announcement and Priya's event page.

3. Use of Logo is appreciated.(To access the logo, left click on the picture and save it to your computer)

4. E-mail me at kjsumadhura@gmail.com with the following info :

Subject as : CWS - Mustard Seeds

Your Name:

 Blog name:

 Recipe Name:

 Recipe URL:

Picture of the Dish :

4. Archived entries are accepted ,but make sure to link it to My Event Announcement Page and to Priya's.

5. Multiple entries are accepted.

6. Non-bloggers too can participate in this event,send in your recipes by Email. 

So get your cooking gear ready and start preparing your outstanding recipes with mustard seeds(as powder, or paste or just as seeds) and fill my inbox with your delicacies.

For recipe ideas using mustard as primary flavoring you can checkout my recipes here and here .

Spicy Avocado-Coconut-Mango Chutney

To all the Malayali Friends/Visitors of Sumadhura :

നവവത്സര  ആശംസകല്‍

This is another healthy chutney I made yesterday that turned out  very delicious.This chutney is a combination of healthy ingredients - Avocado,Coconut and Mango.This tastes great with warm rice,as a spread for bread toast,and also as a spread for veggie wraps.We tried it all the three ways and we enjoyed it,hope you would too.

Let's see how this delicious and healthy chutney is made------

Main Ingredients :

----------------------

Ripe Avocado.......................2(pitted and peeled)

Coconut................................1/2 cup

Green Mango........................4pieces(3" size with peel on)

Green Chilly..........................4(to your taste)
Garlic....................................3 cloves

Corinader.............................handful
Lemon Juice........................2 tbsp

Turmeric...............................1/8 tsp

Salt......................................to taste

Seasoning Ingredients :

--------------------------

Canola Oil........................1tbsp

Chana Daal......................1tsp

Urad Daal........................1tsp

Cumin Seeds....................1tsp
Coriander Seeds..............2tsp
Mustard Seeds................1/2tsp
Methi Seeds....................4seeds
Red Chilly........................1
Asafoetida.......................pinch

Preparation :
----------------

Add all the main ingredients to a blender and blend them well.

Now place a pan on the stove on medium high heat and add oil to it.Once the oil is hot add the seasoning ingredients and when the seeds start to splutter,add asafoetida and switch off the stove.

Keep a little seasoning aside and add rest of it to the avocado mix in the blender and blend  so that flavors mix in well.Remove the blend mix into serving bowl and add the remaining seasoning to it.

Delicious Avocado-Coconut-Mango Chutney is ready to be served.

Note :
----------
1) I used frozen coconut and frozen green mango pieces.The mango pieces were 3 inch size and had the peel on them.

2) As the mango was not very sour ,I used lemon juice.If your mango is sour you can skip the lemon juice.Chutney was not very sour,but if you like yours sour add more lemon juice.

3) The addition of corinder seeds to the seasoning enhanced the flavor of the chutney.

Dondakaya Pachadi/Tindora(IvyGourd) Chuntey

To all Tamil Friends/Vistors of Sumadhura :

 இனிய  தமிழ்  புத்தாண்டு  நல்வாழ்த்துக்கள்  

Now coming to the recipe posted........Ivygourd/Tindora/Dondakaya Chutney is very easy to make and delicious to taste.This chutney tastes good with rice,roti,paratha,dosas and idly too.Let us see how this chutney is made------

Main Ingredients :

---------------------

Dondakaya/Tindora.................2cups(cleaned & cut)

Seasoning Ingredients :

------------------------

Canola Oil.........................6tsp

Chana Daal.......................2tsp

Urad Daal.........................2tsp

Mustard Seeds.................1/2tsp

Cumin Seeds....................1tsp

Methi Seeds.....................4

Garlic Cloves...................3

Dry Red Chilly.................2

Tamarind Paste................2tsp

Turmeric..........................1/8tsp

Asafoetida/Hing...............1/8tsp

Salt..................................to taste

Preparation :

---------------

Place a pan on the stove on medium high heat and add oil to it.Once the oil heats up add chanadal,uraddal,mustard,cumin,red chilly,methi seeds and garlic cloves to the hot oil.

Once the seasoning ingredients are golden in color and start to splutter add hing and remove the seasoning ingredients into a bowl.

To the remaining oil in the pan ,add the cut tindora and turmeric.Cook covered till the rawness in the tindora is gone.Don't forget to stir in between.

Once the tindora is cooked switch off stove and add tamarind paste to the hot tindora.

Once the tindora is cooled,transfer it to the blender along with tamarind paste.Add the fried seasoning ingredients(save a little for later) and salt to the tindora and blend well.

Remove the blend chutney into bowl and add the rest of the seasoning to it.Delicious Dondakay/Tindora Chutney is ready to be served.

Spicy Sesame Powder/Nuvvula Podi

Today I am sharing a simple and easy to make spice powder with sesame seeds.This powder tastes very delicious when mixed with warm/hot rice and ghee/oil.Not only that, you can use this powder as a topping for curries instead of using chilly powder.I will post the curries later but for now let us see how this delicious powder is made.

Main Ingredients :

--------------------

Sesame Seeds......................1cup

Dry Red Chilly......................6

Salt.......................................to taste

Preparation :

------------------

Place a pan on the stove on medium high heat.Once the pan is hot add the sesame seeds and  dry red chilly and start toasting them.For the first 5 minutes you don't have to stir it often.

Once the seeds start to  change color stay near the stove and keep stirring on and off so that the seeds don't burn.We need to keep toasting till the sesame seeds turn into golden color and the red chillies get crispy.

Now we can switch off the stove and transfer them to a plate and let them cool down.Once the seeds cool down tranfer to a blender/mixie ,add salt and grind it to a coarse powder.

Delicious and spicy Sesame Seeds Powder is ready to be served.Try it and you will love it.

Note :

---------
1) Do not brown the seeds or burn them.If you over toast the seeds the powder might taste bitter.

2) You can use white or brown sesame seeds for making this powder.When using brown sesame seeds keep an eye on the seeds while toasting because the color might be deceiving.

3) Use red chilly according to your taste.You can increase the spice or reduce it too.

4) This powder stays fresh for 15 days.

Tried and Tasted on Tuesdays (3T's)

Dear Friends , today I am sharing with you a recipe that I tried from one of our very active and creative blogger friend's blog.She is none other than Priya Suresh.Not only stove top cooking ,she makes baking look so easy too.Today I am sharing with you one of the cake recipes I bookmarked from her blog.

Without further delay here is the tried and tasted recipe of the day-----

Eggless Easy Chocolate Cake from Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes by Priya Suresh.

I followed the entire recipe as is from her blog except that I used Baking Cocoa instead of Chocolate Bar.As we all know that each oven is different it took 35 minutes to bake the cake in my oven.I used a loaf pan for baking the cake.This is the first time I used flaxmeal (as egg substitute) for making cake and it turned out very delicious.Thank you Priya for sharing this delicious eggless chocolate cake recipe with us.

Visit Priya's blog for the recipe I posted today and for many other delicious dishes she has shared with us .Will be back with more tried and tasted recipes next Tuesday.

I am sending this to Bookmarked On Tuesday's Event hosted by PriyaY and Aipi .

Amaranth-Bottlegourd Stew flavored with Mustard Paste/Thotakura-Anapakaya(Sorakaya) Ava Pettina Pulusu

This is another delicious and healthy stew made in my family since generations.If you are one of those people who enjoys the spicy hot flavor of mustard,this dish is for you.Not only that ,this is a great dish to enjoy during winters as the mustard gives nice heat to the body and helps our body to be safe from the seasonal colds.It is good during winters does not mean you can't make it in other seasons, you can try this dish anytime you have all the right ingredients handy.

Let us see how this delicious stew is prepared---------------

Main Ingredients :

--------------------

Amaranth Greens...............1 big bunch

Bottlegourd........................1 small

Mango Pieces....................5(frozen)

Green Chilly.......................3

Water................................enough to cover the veggies

Mustard Paste Ingredients :

-----------------------------

Green Chilly........................1

Mustard Seeds....................2tsp

Raw Rice...........................1tsp(soaked in water for 5minutes)

Sesame Oil.........................1tsp
Turmeric............................pinch
Tamarind Paste..................1tsp
Water................................2tsp

Seasoning Ingredients :

-------------------------

Sesame Oil.........................2tsp

Mustard Seeds...................1/2tsp

Cumin Seeds......................1tsp

Red Chilly..........................1 large(broken)

Asafoetida/Hing.................1/8 tsp

Tamarind Paste..................3tsp

Turmeric...........................pinch

Rice Flour.........................2tsp(for thickening)

Salt...................................to taste

Preparation :

----------------

Wash the veggies under cold water.Cut the amaranth greens including the stalks and place them in a cooking pan.Peel the bottlegourd and cut it into small cubes and add them to the pan of greens.Now add water,slit green chillies,mango pieces and turmeric to the veggies and cook them covered on medium high till the veggies are cooked.

Once the veggies are cooked make a paste with the rice flour and water and add it to the boiling stew.Also add the tamarind paste and let it cook for few more minutes.Meanwhile place all the ingredients mentioned under Mustard Paste into the blender and blend them well to make a fine paste.

Add this ground mustard paste and salt to the simmering stew and mix well.Let cook for 5 more minutes.

While the stew is simmering make the seasoning/tadka by adding oil to a pan.Once the oil is hot add mustard seeds,cumin seeds,red chilly and hing.Once the seeds start to splutter add it to the simmering stew and switch off the stove.

Delicious Amaranth-Bottlegourd Stew Flavored with Mustard Paste is ready to be served with warm rice and papad/gummadi vadiyalu/dahi mirchi.This stew is a tasty side dish for rotis too.

Note :

---------

1) I had some frozen mango pieces handy so I added them,if you don't like it you can omit it .

2) You can use spinach instead of amaranth in this stew.

3) Do not make dishes with mustard paste very often as it might cause over heat to the body.

Reposting for CWF-WF/WV:Tomato Event guest hosted by Sanyukta.

Hi friends , in 2 days the CWF-WF/WV:Tomato Event being guest hosted by Sanyukta is coming to an end.Please send your delicious and creative tomato recipes to her before the event ends.

I am reposting the following recipes for this event-----------

1) Bottlegourd and Tomato Rice(Healthy & Lowfat)

2) Tomato-Perugu Pachadi/Tomato Yogurt Chutney

3) Simple Tomato-Cucumber Daal

Tomato & Bottlegourd(Lauki) Peel Chutney/Tomato & Sorakaya(Anapakaya) Pottu(Thokkala) Pachadi

This is yet another delicious and healthy chutney that can be enjoyed with warm rice and ghee or as a side for dosa,idli and rotis/chapatis/parathas.This chutney is very easy to make and delicious to taste.

Let us see how this delicious chutney is made---------

Main Ingredients :

--------------------

Bottlegourd Peel...................from 1medium sized bottlegourd(cleaned and cut)

Tomatoes.............................2 medium size(cut into chunks)

Green Chilly.........................3(to taste)

Dried Mint...........................1/4cup

Seasoning Ingredients :

--------------------------

Sesame Oil............................2tbsp

Red Chilly.............................1(to taste)

Chana Daal...........................1/2tsp

Urad Daal.............................1/2tsp

Mustard Seeds......................1/2tsp

Cumin Seeds.........................1/2tsp
Coriander Seeds....................1tsp

Asafoetida/Hing.....................1/8tsp

Turmeric................................1/8tsp
Garlic Cloves........................2(optional)

Tamarind Paste......................2tsp(to taste)

Salt.......................................to taste

Preparation :

----------------

Place a pan on the stove on medium high heat and add 1tbsp oil.Once the oil heats up add all the seasoning ingredients except tamarind,turmeric and salt.Once the seasoning is ready take it out from the pan and keep it aside.Now add the remaining 1tbsp of oil to the pan and to this hot pan add the slit chilly and the cut bottle gourd peel and let cook for few minutes.

Once the peel is cooked a little, add the cut tomatoes and turmeric and cook for few more minutes till done and switch off the stove.Add tamarind to the warm veggies.

Once the cooked veggies are cooled transfer them  to a blender and add salt ,dry mint and half the seasoning to it and blend well.Remove the blend chutney into a serving bowl and top it with the remaining seasoning.

Delicious Tomato & Bottlegourd Peel Chutney is ready to be served.

Note:
--------
1) In this chutney along with the bottlegourd peel ,I used the soft white pulp with the tender seeds too in the chutney.

2) You can use fresh cilantro or fresh mint instead of dry mint.

This goes to CWF-WF/WV:Tomato Event guest hosted by Sanyukta and started by me .

Happy Ugadi,Gudhi Padwa ,Cheti Chand & Yugadi !

My Hearty Wishes to all the Visitors of  Sumadhura who are celebrating UGADI,GUDHI PADWA, CHETI CHAND & YUGADI today.May this NewYear bring you more patience and perseverance,strength to bear the joys and sorrows alike and shower you all with good golden health.

To all my Telugu friends ------

 మీ అందరికీ శ్రీ ఖర నామ సంవత్సర శుబాకాంక్షలు !

To all my Marathi friends ------

गुदिपाद्व्याचे  हार्दिक  शुभेच्चा !

To all my Sindhi freinds ------

चेती चाँद  ज्यों लाख लाख वदयुं अठाव  !

To all my Kannada friends ------

ಯುಗಾದಿ  ಶುಭಾಶಯಗಳು !

Wish you all a Happy & Healthy Year Ahead.