Ahchar Bless You

One of the things we love to eat is achar (pronounced uh-char). Basically it's pickled something. Whether it's mangoes, lemons, vegetables, eggplant, or chilies , we have it at every meal. Everyone else prefers aam ka achar (pickled mango), but I prefer the chili achar. The mango has this bittery sweet taste that I just can't quite get around. Instead of making two separate achars, we just make the mango and chile achar together and then everyone can eat whichever they prefer. Except I am the only one that eats the chilies so there is always more for me. Yum!

Lately I have been on a recipe kick. I go through this phase every so often. I just collect recipes. I love to cook, but don't get to the way I did before I got married. Bizarre but true so I live vicariously through recipes and dream about the day when I will get to make them. I thought I would use my Across the Pond series to maybe share some of them with you and compile them for myself so I will always have a copy that I can actually find as opposed to being lost amongst my other ramblings.  Also this week I have a few guest posts to sort of kick off August. I haven't quite got sorted out yet so until I do I thought I would have some very cool writers stop by. Maybe give you some ideas for your Fall reading lists. Be sure to stop back by and check them out.

Here's the recipe. Hope you enjoy:

Aam ka achar (Pickled Mango)

Ingredients:

• 3 Raw Mangoes (medium sized)
• 4 tbsp Red Chili Powder
• 4 tbsp Mustard seeds
• 3 tbsp Salt
• 200 ml Sesame Oil
• 1 tbsp Fenugreek Seeds (roasted)
• 1 tbsp Curry leaves

How to make Mango Pickle:

•  Clean and wipe dry the mangoes.

•  Cut them into halves along with the seed.

•  Remove the pulp from the seed.

•  Dice the mangoes ensuring that the hard shell is there in each piece inside.

•  Heat oil in a pan, splutter mustard seeds and curry leaves.

•  Add red chilly powder, salt, and fenugreek powder.

•  Remove from fire. Add the mango pieces and mix well.

•  Take dry earthen jar and put the mango cubes into it.

•  Add sesame oil to the mango cubes and mix them well.

•  Put the jar in sunlight for 3-5 days.

•           Mango Pickle is ready to eat.

Note: Once your achar is ready to eat, you want to stir this once a day especially if you're not eating it daily like we do. This will keep the mango pieces fully coated with the oil and spices which act as a preservative

Sorry about the false starts blogger was being a pain

Your Very Own Slice

(source)

Pizza is one of my favorite things to eat, but I hate the greasy crust and tons of sauce that is usually dumped on it. Even though I ask for light on the sauce, heavy on the cheese, I usually end up with just the opposite. By using pre-made garlic bread, I found that I could make a quick and easy personal pizza just the way I liked.

You can make your own garlic bread, but I just usually buy whatever is on sale that week at the store, throw it in the freezer, and pull it out whenever I am in the mood for pizza.

I do make my own sauce, but you can easily use a storebought can of pizza or spaghetti sauce to make this recipe even simpler.

Ingredients for sauce:

1lb ground beef

2 tomatoes

1 tablespoon tomato puree

1 green pepper diced

1 onion diced

4-5 mushrooms diced

2-3 green chilies diced (leave out if you don't like spicy)

1 garlic clove crushed and minced

1/2 tsp Oregano

1/2 tsp dried Basil or 3-4 leaves finely chopped

2-3 Bay Leaves

Salt to taste

Black Pepper to taste

Directions for making the sauce:

Heat a couple tablespoons of cooking oil over medium heat. Then add your diced onions. Let onions cook until translucent but not browned. Then add tomatoes. Once tomatoes have cooked down and a gravy mixture starts to form, add in all of your spices (oregano, basil, bay leaves, garlic, salt and pepper). Cook for a couple minutes then add in all of your veggies (peppers, chilies, mushrooms etc). Make sure to coat all of the veggies very well with the tomato/spice mixture. Then add in your ground meat. Cook meat until browned all the way through. Then I add a tablespoon of tomato puree and 1/3-1/2 cup of water. I don't like my sauce runny. I prefer it to be a bit thicker however if you like more of a thinner, tomatoey sauce, then add more water and more tomato puree until it reaches your desired consistency.

Simply spoon the sauce over the top of the garlic bread and top with shredded cheese. I use a mexican 4 cheese blend, but whatever cheese you prefer is fine. You can also top with pepperoni or for a vegetarian pizza, make the sauce as directed above just don't add the meat.

After you have the sauce prepared, the kids can each make their own individual pizza. You can always puree a few veggies and add into the sauce. It is a great way to get kids to eat veggies without knowing they are eating them.

After you have your bread topped, simply place in a preheated oven until cheese melts and bread is toasty. It shouldn't take more than a couple minutes so make sure to keep an eye on it so it doesn't burn.

There are also endless ways that you can make your pizza. You can use meatballs, ground chicken or turkey instead of beef, shredded chicken instead of ground. This is also a great way to get rid of any left-overs you have especially if it's not enough for a whole meal but enough you don't want to just let it go to waste.

 Linking up with Meals on Monday at The Blog Entourage

Please visit my recipes page for more quick and easy recipes.