Konkani Ambe Upkari

My last blog post was Ambe Sasam. Today I am back with another Konkani savory sweet recipe with mangoes. Upkari in Konkani is a less spicy veggie stir fry with coconut. This is a Mango Upkari recipe where mangoes are cooked in a similar way. I have used Mexican Champagne Mangoes which are easily available here in US.

Ingredients:
Mangoes - 4 medium
Grated Coconut - about 3 tbsp
Green Chilies - 1 or 2
Dry Red Chilies - 1
Mustard Seeds - 1/4 tsp
Urad Dal/Split Black Gram - 1/4 tsp
Fenugreek/Methi Seeds - 1/8 tsp
Curry Leaves - a sprig
Asafetida/Hing - 1/4 tsp
Turmeric/Haldi - 1/8 tsp
Jaggery or Brown Sugar - 1 tsp
Oil preferably Coconut Oil
Salt

How to cook Konkani Ambe Upkari:

Wash curry leaves and pat them dry. Wash and peel the mango skin.
Heat about 1 tsp oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds, urad dal, fenugreek seeds, curry leaves, red chillies (break it into 2 - 3 parts) and asafetida. When mustard seeds pop, add the peeled whole mangoes and about 1/2 cup water. The Urad (Udid) Methi tempering is optional.
Also add grated coconut, lengthwise slit green chillies, salt and jaggery. Cook it covered till mangoes turn soft and pulpy. Add jaggery based on the sweetness of the mangoes.

Serve Ambe Upkari as a side dish with meals.

Indian Dal / Lentils

Lentils, known as Dal are a staple in an Indian diet, especially vegetarian. For me, dal is comfort food. 5 different dal varieties - Toor, Moong, Chana, Masoor and Urad are commonly used in Indian sweet and savory delicacies. You can cook dal with just one kind or a mix of two or more. I generally cook dal with 1:1 Toor and Moong dals. But then, we like Panchmel or Panchratna Dal too, which is made of all five. Most dal recipes have Toor dal as the primary ingredient. It is also known as Toovar or Arhar dal or Split Pigeon Peas . Some of our family favorite dal recipes are Dalitoy (Konkani Dal) Tadka Dal Among all lentils, moong dal and masoor dal take lesser time to cook. Moong dal is also known as Split Green Gram or Split Mung Bean . Moong dal is also used in making sweet dishes like Mung Dal Kheer Mung Dal Puranpoli Chana dal is also known as Split Bengal Gram or Split Chickpeas . Chana Dal takes a little more time to cook as compared to toor dal....

Naval Kol Bhaji / Kohlrabi Stir-fry

Green Kohlrabi called as Navalkol in Marathi and Navilkosu in Kannada, belongs to the cabbage family. My Mom used to make this stir fry very often. Just like cabbage, this vegetable in available in two colors - green and purple. I was quite hesitant about the purple one, as I haven't seen that back in India. Anyway, I picked the green bulbs and Navalkohl Bhaji with Chana Dal was part of our healthy vegetarian meal today.

Surti Val Papdi Bhaji

My Mom used to make Val Papdi Bhaji in a simple way with few ingredients. This is the first time I gave it a try here in my US kitchen. This stir fry does require little more oil, as no water is added for cooking. Dal Rice tastes great with this sauteed Papdi. I tried this Bhaji once with frozen Surti Papdi and I was not happy with the result. I prefer fresh Papdi for this recipe, which I can only find in the local Indian store. I am not sure if Val Papdi is called as Navy Bean or Fava Bean in English.

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