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Appemidi (Appe mango – Karnataka) Pickle
Appemidi is a variety of mango available in Uttara Kannada District of Karnataka. It is famous because of its unique fragrance, which remains for a longtime. It is has gained popularity nationally and internationally because of its taste. Appe is variety of mango and midi means tender mango.
Ingredients:
Appemidi mango – 100
Salt- 750gms
Red chilli powder -500gms
Fenugreek- 4 tsp
Mustard- 50 gm
Asafetida – 1 and 1/2 tsp
Black pepper 1 and ½ Tbs
Sesame oil – 5 Tbs
Method:
Wipe the mangoes with a clean cloth. Take a few mangos at a time, coat them well with the salt, and keep them in clean dry container. Repeat this until the entire mangos are over. If there is any remaining salt it can be added on top of the mangoes
After one week, remove the mangoes from the tub. It leaves the salt water. Boil this salt water for 20 to 25 minutes in high flame.
Dry fry fenugreek, black pepper and asafetida. When they start popping, remove from fire and grind them .
Add this mixture to the boiled salt-water when it become cold and add the red chilli powder. Mix it well. Now add the mangoes to this mixture.
Pour 1-inch sesame oil above it and cover it with a lid. Tie a neat thick cloth over it and store it.
After a week taste the pickle. If salt is less add little more salt and keep it for a day or two.
Appemidi pickle is ready to serve with curd rice, idli, dosa and with lunch and dinner.
Avakkai (Cut Mango) Pickle: (Andhra and Tamil Nadu style)
Ingredients:
Raw green mangoes – 3 medium size, each cut into 6-8 pieces (sour variety) approx 4 cups
Mustard seeds powder – 1 cup (sun dried- less than 1 cup mustard seeds)
Red chili powder – 1 cup
2 Tbs fenugreek seeds
Salt – 3/4 cup powdered white crystal salt
Gingelly oil – 1 1/4 cups
Methi seeds – 1 1/2 tsps
Method:
Wash raw mangoes, remove any dirt and dry the mangoes.
Wipe the mangoes with a cloth and cut them into pieces with the kernel intact.
Grind the sun dried mustard seeds to a fine powder. Set aside.
Grind the crystal salt to a fine powder. Set aside.
Take a large wide vessel or bowl and add red chili powder, mustard powder and salt and mix well with clean, dry hand. Add fenugreek seeds and 3/4 cup oil and mix well. Add mango pieces and mix well, let the mixture coats the mango pieces *.
Place the spice coated mango pieces in the jar. Now add remaining spice powder.
Pour 1/4 cup oil on top and cover the pickle jar with the lid.
After 4 days open jar and using a clean spatula mix the content. Pour 1/4 cup oil on top as the pickle needs to be covered in thin layer of oil. Cover the jar with lid. Let the pickle marinate for another 4 days.
After 8 days recheck the jar and taste the pickle. If needed add little more salt. The mango pickle is ready for consumption.
Serve avakkai with breakfast items or lunch and dinner items.
* If you are fond of Garlic, while preparing pickle add few cloves of garlic for the pickle.
Punjabi aam pickle is rich in flavor and color has all good ingredients. It is easy to make and can be stored for longtime.
Ingredients:
2 kg mango -Cut into small size
100 gm fenugreek seeds
50 gm coarsely ground red pepper
60 gm onion seeds
100 gm fennel seeds
2 Tbsp black peppercorns
50 gm turmeric powder
300 gm salt
Half to one liter mustard oil
Method:
Mix all the spices together and add half a cup of oil to the mix. Sprinkle a little of this mixture into the jar.
Take some mangoes and add into spice mixture, mix well. Place another layer of mango pieces and add spice mixture. Repeat this till the mango pieces and spice mixes used up. If there is any spice mixture left, add it on the top of the layers.
Add remaining oil on top of the contents so that, the mango pieces and spice mix has to cover with oil.
For about a week, keep the jar under the bright Sun.
After a week remove the jar from Sun. Punjabi pickle is ready to serve with rotis, paratha or chapatti.
Mangoes have many health benefits – Prevents Cancer, Lowers cholesterol, clears the Skin, good for eye health, alkalizes the body, helps in normalizing insulin levels, contains rich vitamin E & is aphrodisiac, good for digestion, cools down the body and prevents stroke and it contains vitamin C, A and carotenoids that helps to boost immune system. Tender mangoes that are used in pickle has similar benefits because of their mild sweet and more sour taste.
Indian gooseberry Pickle is very tasty and delicious. It is easy to make. Gooseberry or amla as it is commonly known has several health benefits. Indian gooseberry is taken by mouth for high cholesterol, hardening of the arteries, diabetes, pain and swelling of the pancreas, cancer, upset stomach, eye problems, joint pain, diarrhea, dysentery, osteoarthritis, obesity. It is also used to kill germs and reduce pain and swelling caused by the body’s reaction to injury or illness (inflammation).
Ingredients:
1 kg Amla
350 gm salt
240 gm/1 cup mustard oil
1 Tbsp mustard seeds
1 Tbsp chilli powder
2 Tbsp asafetida
Method:
Boil the amla till the skin looks tender.
Leave to drain in a colander until all the water drains out.
Heat some oil and add the mustard seeds, asafetida and chilli powder. Mix well.
Add amla and salt to the mix. Make sure that all amlas are completely coated with spices.
Cool and store in a clean jar.
Serve with main course or with rice dishes of your choice.
Are you worried about those extra pounds sitting in your body? There are many exercises to burn that fat, but based on our body strength we need to choose which exercise will suit us. Once we find out which work out is good for our body to get rid of those stubborn fat then we have to make up our mind to be regular with exercise. In fact, the more you do, or the harder you do it, the more benefit you accrue. Many significant health benefits has been achieved by many by going from a sedentary state to a minimal level of physical activity; however, the programs involving higher intensities, greater frequency and durations provide additional benefits. To start with, first understand your body fat percentage by using body mass index calculator.
This calculation helps you to select the exercises and to set your goal. You can use BMI Calculator App for check your achievements Exercise properly, eat healthy food, sleep well and learn to manage stress – all this will help to have a healthy body. Here are few fat burning work outs one can follow based on their body structure and the amount of weight one has to lose. Look at the benefits that each exercise has to offer and try it yourself.
Recently, a bright green powder namely Matcha is gaining lot of attention in Western countries due to its flavor, color and rediscovered health benefits. Unlike traditional green tea or regular black tea, researchers claim that Matcha delivers more nutrients for the consumer. Matcha comes from the same species of the plant as green leaf teas. The difference is – it contains more green chlorophyll production. The enhanced production of chlorophyll gives richer green color to Matcha tea.
Matcha means “powdered tea”. Matcha (or maccha) is a finely ground, bright emerald-green tea powder. Matcha has always been a part of Japanese tea ceremony that has a history of more than 900 years. The Buddhist monks honored matcha tea as the ‘health elixir’ because of its health benefits including enhancing the metabolism.
Matcha originally refers to a green tea, the leaves of which are grown under shade known as Tencha. The tea bushes are sheltered to avoid the exposure of direct sunlight, which reduces the pace of photosynthesis and slows down the growth of the plants. This provides the leaves with a darker shade of green and stimulates the production of rich chlorophyll and amino acids. These dark green leaves are then delicately handpicked and laid flat to dry. After drying leaves are de-veined, de-stemmed and finely ground into a powder which is then called “tencha.” This high-grade tencha has an intense sweetness and round richness that is unparalleled. Tencha is the only tea that qualifies to be a true matcha in Japan. However, because of the high cost involved in the production of tencha, in western countries many tea suppliers are selling another tea namely ‘sencha’ under the name of brand matcha. Sencha has more strong flavor and tannin content. Quality wise matcha is far better than sencha.
Real Matcha should have two qualities:
1) Bright green color
2) Creamy taste
Preparation:
To make a cup of matcha tea add hot, but not boiling water (temperature between 155 to 175 F). Traditional preparation requires a bamboo whisk to create creamy froth. It can be consumed as smoothie, ice tea, with almond, soy or rice milk. Cow milk can be also used but it seems to bind to catechins of the tea and seems to reduce the health benefit of match tea.
Researchers claim the following benefits of matcha tea for its consumers:
One of the branded tea company research findings say that matcha contains 137 times as of an antioxidant called epigallocatechin gallate or EGCG (Rishi Tea co., Ecotrend Ecologics Ltd, Starbucks Corp.). According to president of consumerlab.com Tod Cooperman EGCG content is about two to three times more in matcha than regular green teas (WSJ, December 15th, 2015).
The preparation of matcha traditionally involves meditation by Bhuddhist monks and is known as Zen. Sipping this meditated tea helps people to slow down in a good way – it reduces stress hormone levels which is nothing but cortisol that is also responsible for belly fat !
Matcha also believed to reduce stomach inflammation.
Adulterated, Fake Foods – How can we test adulterated food?
Adulteration of food commonly defined as ‘the addition or subtraction of any substance to or from the food so that the natural composition and quality of the food is altered. Adulteration of food can be intentional or unintentional. When intentional -food is adulterated by either adding or removing something from the food so that the texture of the natural food is totally changes. Unintentional adulteration happens because of careless or lack of facilities while handling or manufacturing the food.
The common person unfortunately remains largely unaware of these adulteration facts and will be subjected to misery. It can act on consumer’s health and can risk children life. Some of the common foods that gets adulterated are milk, milk products, flour, condiments, edible oils, coffee, tea, confectioneries, curry powder, besan powder, baking powder, non-alcoholic beverages , vinegar, cereals and pulses. Consumer awareness is one of the solution to make public aware of these adulteration of food. FSSAI, of India has come up with several Quick test for Some adulteration of common foods. Let us see how we can detect adulteration of few foods.
