Burmese Style Cucumber Salad

While I was looking for salads from Burmese Cuisine,I came across this simple and delicious Cucumber Salad.Immediately I tried and it was very tasty and delicious.This is a very nice way to make the watery cucumbers more tasty.I got this recipe from here and this recipe calls for use of fruit vinegar,as I did not have fruit vinegar ,I used red vine vinegar.

This is how we make this simple and delicious cucumber salad---------

Main Ingredients :

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

English Cucumber........................1medium size

Celery.........................................1stick

Green Chilly................................2

Seasoning Ingredients :

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Sugar.......................................1/2tsp

Red Vine Vinegar.....................2tsp

Sesame Seeds..........................1tsp(toasted)

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

Preparation :

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

Peel the cucumber and remove the seeds from it.Cut the cucumber into thin strips and place them in a bowl.Add sugar , vinegar and mix well and keep aside.

Now toast the sesame seeds and cool and crush them a little.Cut the green chillies and celery into small pieces and keep them aside.

When you are ready to eat add the celery pieces,cut green chilly ,toasted and crushed sesame seeds and salt to the bowl of marinated cucumber and serve.

Delicious Burmese Style Cucumber Salad is ready to be served.

This goes to AWED : BURMA guest hosted by Swathi and started by DK .

 

Note :

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1) When serving for kids omit the chillies.

Yellow Cucumber with Mustard Paste/Dosakaya Aava Pettina Kura

This dish is very popular in traditional vegetarian families in Andhra Pradesh.Mainly, making some special dishes for festivals and special occassions with Mustard Paste is a tradition.We make pulihora and some other vegetable curries on special days with this mustard paste.When made with mustard paste the dish has strong flavors , not everyone can enjoy this taste.It sure would be out of the world if you like the pungent flavors of mustard .This is a favorite dish of our family and a favorite dish of my Dad.

Yellow cucumber is a vegetable that can be lightly sour or bland in taste.It might sometimes be bitter too.When bitter do not use it.Dosakaya cooked with mustard paste results in a very delicious flavored curry.

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

Main Ingredients :
--------------------
Dosakaya(Yellow Cucumber)............2(med. size)
Green Chilly.......................................2(slit)

For Mustard Paste :
----------------------
Mustard Seeds...............................2tsp
Green Chilly...................................1
Raw Rice.......................................1/2tsp
Tamarind Juice...............................1tbsp(or as needed)

Seasoning Ingredients :
-------------------------
Canola Oil....................................2tsp
Cumin Seeds................................1tsp
Mustard Seeds.............................1/2tsp
Red Chilly.....................................1
Curry Leaves................................1sprig
Asafoetida/Hing.............................pinch
Turmeric........................................pinch
Salt...............................................to taste

Preparation :
---------------
Rinse the dosakaya or yellow cucumber under cold water and remove the peel.Cut the cucumber ,remove the seeds and dice it into cubes .Sometimes the cucumber might be bitter, taste it before you cook.

Place a pan on the stove on medium high heat and add oil to the pan.Once the oil  heats up add mustard seeds and cumin seeds.Once they splutter add chana daal , urad daal,red chilly ,hing , slit chilly's and curry leaves.

Once the seasoning is ready add the cubed dosakaya/yellow cucumber pieces ,turmeric and stir well.Cook covered.While it is cooking blend all the ingredients under mustard paste and get the smooth mustard paste ready.

Now add the mustard paste and salt to the cooked dosakaya/yellow cucumber pieces and cook covered for 2 more minutes and switch off the stove.

Delicious Dosakaya Ava Pettina Kura/Yellow Cucumber with Mustard Paste is ready to be served with hot rice and a drizzle of ghee.You can eat it as a side with roti too.

Note :
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1) Please check the yellow cucumber for bitterness before you cook.

2) I did not have curry leaves so I did not add but curry leaves do enhance the flavors of this dish.

3) I forgot to take a picture after grinding the paste with green chilly and tamarind juice but still they are a must in this dish and I used them in the dish.

This goes to I Love My Dad event hosted by Jay.

Dosakaaya Mukkala Pachadi(Simple & Easy Yellow Cucumber Chutney)

This is one more special dish of Andhra Pradesh.The dish I am going to prepare today is made with Dosakaaya(Yellow Cucumber).This vegetable belongs to the cucumber family.This tastes similar to the regular cucumber we use for salads, except that this Dosakaaya/YellowCucumber is thick in size and less watery than the regular cucumber.These both cucumbers can sometimes be bitter.The seeds of salad cucumber are very tender and soft but the yellow cucumber seeds are little tough to chew and can sometimes be bitter.So everytime we cook with this Dosakaya/YellowCucumber we should always check for bitterness by tasting a piece of cucumber and the seeds too.If you don't taste any bitterness go ahead and prepare this wonderful mouth-watering chutney.

We can use this Dosakaya to make many dishes like daal,pickle,curry and chutney in many different ways. Today I would like to introduce you to one of the favorites of our family----Dosakaya Mukkala Pachadi. Let's start preparing this healthy, simple and easy to make chutney-----------

Main Ingredients :

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

Dosakaaya......................1(small)

Green Chillies..................4

Turmeric.........................1/2tsp

Tamarind........................2tsp(pulp)

Cilantro..........................1/2 bunch

Seasoning Ingredients :

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

Red Chilly......................1

Mustard seeds...............1tsp

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

Fenugreek.....................1/4tsp

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

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

Asafoetida....................1/2tsp

Olive Oil.......................1tbsp

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

Preparation :

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

Wash the yellow cucumber and peel off the skin and cut a piece and taste it for bitterness.After cutting the cucumber remove the seeds and if it is not bitter,cut the cucumber into small cubes and keep it aside.

Place a pan on the stove on medium heat and add oil ,chana daal,mustard seeds,urad daal,cumin seeds,methi seeds,red chilly and asafoetida in the order mentioned here.Once the seasoning ingredients are nice and golden switch off the stove.

Now take a mixie/blender/food processor jar and add green chillies,cilantro,toasted red chilly from seasoning and grind it coarsely.

Now add cubed yellow cucumber(Dosakaaya),salt,turmeric,tamarind and rest of the seasoning and pulse them in the mixie jar for a minute.The cucumber pieces should be intact not to be pasted.It's okay if few pieces are crushed while pulsing.

The Yellow Cucumber Chutney/Dosakaaya Mukkala Pachadi is ready to serve.This goes well with hot rice or can be eaten as a condiment with any daal.This is a good combination for rotis and parathas too.

Try this healthy recipe and let me know your comments.

Note :

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1)If you are using tamarind flakes use 5 to 6 flakes and grind it along with the seasoning first and then continue with the rest of the process.

2)We can add the seeds to the chutney while grinding if they are not bitter,but I prefer to leave them as it is hard for kids to eat.

3)Again each family has a different way of making this recipe.You can make changes according to your family's appetite or taste.

4)You can substitute regular cucumber for this yellow cucumber and make the chutney same way(but it would be more watery).

Simple Tomato-Cucumber Daal

This recipe is for all the newbies in kitchen so that they don't have to worry too much about what to do next.Kind of one-pot dish.

Tomato and Cucumbers are a world-wide favorite.First,I started out to make daal with tomato but I saw that there was half a cucumber in the fridge and added that too.Hence the Tomato-Cucumber Daal recipe.This is a very simple and easy recipe.

Traditionally vegetables and daals(pulses/legumes) are cooked separately and then finally combined and seasoning is added ,that gives us an authentic feel and taste.Well , I am going to break the tradition a bit here and try to speed up the things a little bit as time is a factor these days.Enough talking let's start the recipe.

Main Ingredients :

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

Toor Daal..................1cup

Tomatoes...................2(medium size)

Cucumber..................1/2

Green Chillies.............2

Water.........................3cups

Seasoning :

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

Mustard Seeds...........1tsp

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

Red Chilly..................1(broken into 2)

Asafoetida/Hing..........a pinch

Curry Leaves..............1 sprig
Tamarind Pulp............2tsp
Turmeric.....................1tsp

Garlic.........................2 cloves

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

Ghee..........................1 tsp

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

Garnish :

---------

Cilantro

Preparation :

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

Take toor daal in a steel vessel that can fit in a pressure cooker and rinse it very well till the water is clear.Now soak the daal in water for 15 minutes.Meanwhile let us prep the vegetables.Wash the tomatoes,cucumber,chillies,curry leaves and cilantro.Dice the tomatoes and de-skinned cucumber into small cubes.Slit the chillies and keep them aside.

Now drain the water from the soaked toor daal and add 3cups of water,diced tomato,cucumber and slit chillies to the toor daal.Now to this mix add the turmeric,tamarind and required amount of salt.Once everything is put in the vessel, take the vessel and place it in the pressure cooker and on medium heat cook it for 6 whistles.

Once the pressure in the cooker is down take the vessel with the cooked daal out and place it aside.In a pan add the oil and ghee and once it heats up add mustard seeds,cumin seeds,red chilli,asafoetida(instead of asafoetida you can use chopped garlic in the seasoning) and curry leaves.Once the seasoning is ready add it to the tomato-cucumber daal mixture and let the daal boil for 5 more minutes so that all the flavors blend well.

Switch off the stove and pour the daal into a serving container and garnish with some cilantro.
This daal goes very well with rotis,chapatis,pulkas and hot rice.

Note :
------

1)It is always said that when you add salt and tamarind in the daal and try to pressure cook, the daal will not  be cooked.I disagree with this, as when I am short of time I place all the ingredients together and pressure cook for 6 whistles and the daal is very well done.

2)To make it a one pot dish I take a small pressure pan ,first I add the oil and seasoning then I place the  water,daal,vegetables,turmeric,salt and tamarind.Close the lid and cook for 6 whistles.Ta-Da the entire dish is ready to serve .

3)Some might like to add onions to this dish.You may do so but sweetness of onion will dominate the flavors of tomato and cucumber.

4)I added only 2tsp of tamarind pulp in the daal so that the original flavors of the vegetables are not compromised.If you want it more sour add 2 more spoons of tamarind pulp.

I am sending in this recipe to Cooking Basics Event conducted by Mahimaa of http://www.indianvegetariankitchen.com/2010/02/cooking-basics-event.html