A Nice Vegetarian Meal

The first sentence is always the hardest for me to write. I sit and stare at the screen for a few minutes, type in something, delete, type again and then out of frustration just say something lame like "here is a nice recipe". There are many posts of mine which are just like that: sooooo flat. I like blogs where the writer spends time giving each post a personal touch, giving its readers a view into his or her life. Mine on the other hand can be a bit disappointing at times. I think the reason that happens is that unlike today, most times i'm blogging during a very busy schedule, after work, late at night trying to check everything off my list. What I need is a repertoire of recipe drafts with pictures ready to go. Then all I have to do is write how that recipe came about, a funny anecdote and post. Blogging is my favorite pass time, a great hobby. I don't want it to become a chore. Every new recipe, pictures of food and just everyday cooking has found new light in my world since I started this blog. When i'm stressed out I can just get onto my blog and go through my recipes and I feel nice recollecting the dishes i've cooked.

O.K with no connection to the blabber above i'm getting down to this meal. Yesterday, my husband's friend and his wife were supposed to come over for dinner and stay the night with us on their way back from their vacation. So I wanted to make a nice vegetarian meal kinda thali style.Thali means plate in india and a thali meal has lots of dishes served making a complete meal. So here is what I made. Most of these dishes i've already posted on this blog so i'm linking back to them. For others i'm posting the recipe below. You know what the sad part is though. Our guests got delayed and couldn't make it to our place till 1 am and didn't eat dinner!! Anyhow Nits and I really enjoyed this wholesome meal.

Chapatis
Rice
Dal
Bharleli vaangi (stuffed eggplant)
Mixed vegetable
Carrot Koshmibir (carrot peanut salad, recipe posted here)
Gulab Jamun (from the box: I cheated)
Aamras (recipe posted here)
Pickle
chutney
a wedge of lime (recipe posted here...ha ha...just kidding!)

Here are recipes to a few things on my list

Aamras



What do you do with a ton of mangoes from going bad: make aamras!! Aamras literally means mango juice and this is served with the meal.

Ingredients

3-4 large mangoes (I used the south american mangoes you get in the Indian store: Marathon or Kent or Hayden)
1/2 cup milk
cardamom seeds 3-4
3-4 tbslp sugar
strainer

Method
Wash mangoes well. Then peel the mangoes. Don't throw the peel. Place peel in the milk. Meanwhile using your hands (yes gets pretty icky so make sure before you start you clean your hands well) and squeeze out all the pulp into a bowl. The big mango seed: add that to the milk as well and get as much pulp out of the seeds and peel into the milk. Throw out the peels and the seeds. Add the milk to the mango mixture. Crush the cardamom seeds. Add sugar and cardamom to the mango. Blend the mixture using a hand blender to make a smooth pulp of mangoes. Strain the mixture through a sieve to get ready of most of the fibrous stuff. Place in a serving dish. Sprinkle some ground cardamom on top and refrigerate. Serve cold.

Carrot Peanut salad


You'd be surprised how many people like this salad. Although common in the maharashtrian community not a lot of other people have eaten this kinda salad. I love the peanut in this salad combined with the sweet carrot and tomato.My favorite!

1/2 packet baby carrots
1/2 cup ground roasted peanuts
1 tomato chopped
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1 green chilly
lime juice
salt
sugar 1 tbslp

In a food processor finely shred baby carrots. I use baby carrots coz they're sweeter. Add to a bowl. Add all remaining ingredients. Mix well and serve immediately. You can make the salad minus the salt, sugar and lime juice beforehand. Just add the seasonings before serving.