Fast, Healthy and Vegan. Chickpea, Mango, and Coconut Salad.

   Sometimes you just want something to be easy. Sometimes you just wanna say what the hell, I'll nuke something, or open a can, or whatever. This last week was one of those weeks for me. I'm nearly halfway through my chemo, still firing on all cylinders. In fact on Sunday I did three miles. The problem was Monday. Monday I felt lower than whale shit. The chemo side effects and I tangled for a couple of days, now I'm pretty much back to normal. Pretty much means I didn't want to do a whole lot of cooking. I wanted things that were nourishing and above all EASY! That's where this salad comes in.
 
   If one has the time and the inclination, one can soak ones garbanzos in tepid water for 24 hours, which sounds more suggestive than it is. Then comes the boiling and simmering and voila!  Salad ready chickpeas. Or, you can do what I did and open a can of organic chickpeas from Whole Foods and be done with it. If you do that, you can be dining on this salad in like 20 minutes. So here how to do exactly that.

Chickpea, Mango, and Coconut Salad

Here's What You Need:
1 16oz can of chickpeas
2 tsp coconut oil
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp urad dal
1 dried red chili pepper
1 tsp chopped curry leaves
2 Tbs grated fresh or dried unsweetened coconut
1 serrano chili minced
1/2 green mango peeled and cut into slices, plus more for julienning
1 handful of grapes
grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 Tbs chopped cilantro
1 pinch of hing (asafoetida)
1/4 cup of roast unsalted whole peanuts (optional)

Here's What To Do:
If you're using canned chickpeas, rinse them in cool water, and drain them. You may need to rinse them gently several times.
Heat the coconut oil in a saute pan or kadhai.
When the oil is hot add in the mustard seeds and urad dal.

When they start to sizzle and pop, toss in the dried red chili.and curry leaves.

Stir everything around for a minute or so, then add in your drained chickpeas...

...1/2 tsp of salt, and a pinch of hing.

Saute everything together for about 3 minutes then take the pan off the heat.
Add in the coconut...

...Mango julienne...

Chopped red grapes...

And finally the zest...

...and juice of 1 lemon...

...and finally the peanuts.

Stir everything together well.
Then peel and thinly slice your mango.

Arrange the peeled slices fan like on a plate.
Add the chickpea coconut salad mixture to the top of that.
Sprinkle with a bit of chopped fresh cilantro and serve it up.

   It's that simple, that fast, and a perfectly tropical relaxing treat for when life seems to be kicking you ass. Coming up next, more very easy dishes that can be made quickly, without too much muss and fuss. Follow along on Twitter at @kathygori

Evvvvverybody Loves Mango!!

  
   Whenever I'm planning any sort of Indian feast at our house I always try to keep things balanced. Hot, sweet, sour, bitter, crunchy, mild. I try to get all the flavor experiences in there. Since all the courses at an Indian meal are served all at once (except dessert) it helps to have a wide range of stuff on the table. One dish that always does double duty on my table is something cool and sweet with a hint of tart and a bite of chili, and that is Mango.
 I know I'm probably dating myself, but every time I pick up and peel a mango I can't help but think of this guy:

   And yes...who doesn't love mango? Sliced diced, in ice cream, on salads, mango seems to get along with everything. It's the non-diva fruit. One of my favorite uses of mango is as a side dish salad, mango curd. Mango curd works especially well with spicy South Indian food, but wait…it also goes beautifully with  good old barbequed chicken. Actually it tastes so good you might want to just eat a bowl of it all by it’s lonesome. If you’ve got a blender or food processor it’s also very easy to put together. Once it’s pureed and mixed with yogurt, then hit with a spicy chaunk, it’s ready before you know it.

Mango Raita

Here’s what you need:

Ingredients

 2 mangos

 2 Tbs of grated fresh coconut, or dried if you cannot get fresh

 4 green seeded chilies

 1 tsp of cumin seeds

 A bit of water

 2 cups of yogurt

 2 Tbs of chopped fresh cilantro

salt to taste
 1 tsp of vegetable oil

 1 tsp brown mustard seeds

 1 dried red chili broken in half

 4 curry leaves 

Here's What to do:

Peel and chop 1 of the mangos and place it in a food processor or blender along with the coconut, green chilies and cumin seeds.

Add a bit of water and blend everything into a fine paste.

Put 2 cups of yogurt into a bowl and whisk it smooth.

Add the contents of the blender along with salt to taste.

Now for The Chaunk:

 Heat the teaspoon of oil in a small pan.

When the oil is hot, add in the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, the red chili and the curry leaves.

 When the mustard seeds start to pop, pour everything into the yogurt mango mixture.

Peel and cube the other mango and mix the pieces into the yogurt mango puree.

Scatter a few chopped cilantro leaves over everything and serve it up.

This is a great side dish great with any Indian meal vegetarian or not, but also does double duty alongside any spicy American-style barbeque.

   So there you have mango, short, sweet, and easy to make (rimshot goes here).  And now that mangos are in season and relatively cheap almost everywhere, what's stopping you?

 Coming up next, a great use for all the tomatoes that are coming into season right now. Follow along on Twitter @kathygori

Fast ,Cool ,Mango Salad!

On a hot summer day one wants to spend as little time n the kitchen as possible, but also it's great having family and friends over. And they must be fed? How do you accomplish both of these tasks with a minimum of muss and fuss..so today I'm going to suggest a few things to do with yogurt.
Indian meals almost always contain a nice cooling yogurt dish, or raita...considering that many Indian dishes can be on
the hot and spicy side something cool at the table..besides you..always helps.
A raita can be simple just yogurt and seasonings, maybe a shredded cucumber tossed in
or a vegetable, such as spinach or tomato can be added but for a treat of treats a big favorite at our house, try a fresh mango chopped up and mixed with spices and some shredded coconut.
There are great deals on mangos right now, so have your own cash for clunker salad and trade in your coleslaw, or greens at the barbecue for this stunner.
This recipe is my adaptation of a Madhur Jaffrey recipe that she credits to a Mrs. Bidapa, but mango salad recipes are mango salad recipes and they're found all over southern India. Most have the same basic ingredients.
Mango Salad:

!.) Get One large ripe mango, or if you can't find one use two smaller ones.
2.) Peel and chop it/them into chunks, of about 1/2 inch to 1 inch in size
3.) grind up 3/4 tsp. of brown mustard seeds.
Now get out your plain yogurt. One can use full, or non fat..whatever you've got.
4.) Put 1 cup of plain yogurt into a bowl. Whisk it up make it nice and creamy smooth
5.)Add the ground up mustard seeds
6.) Add either 1/8 tsp. or 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne....it's up to you how hot you want this.
Here's an optional ingredient.
7.) Add 1 Tbs, finely grated fresh coconut if you can get it.
When we lived in LA I always had a bag of frozen fresh coconut from the nearby Indian market Baharat Bazaar
in the freezer. Here in Sonoma..not so much. I have found that finely grated dried coconut UNSWEETENED mixed with a bit of water to moisten it up works just as well. As I said this step is optional..but it's sooooo good.
8.) Add 1 tsp of sugar
9.) !/4 tsp of salt.
10.) stir in the mango chunks and mix it up.
Now for the Chaunk!
I've talked about this final step before and it's what gives this salad it's tasty kick.

So, Chaunk:
In a small skillet heat a bit of oil..usually about 1 Tbs.
1.) when it's hot add 1/4 tsp. of whole brown mustard seeds
2.) As soon as they start to pop toss in 1 whole dried red chili
3.) When it starts to turn dark, toss in a small shallot that's been peeled and thinly sliced
4.) Stir it all all till the shallot is browned, then pour it all into the bowl of mango salad...
Hear it hiss..listen to the deliciousness! Stir it up well and mix it all in.
This can be served..cold or at room temperature. It'll feed 4 to 6 people

Either way when cooking Indian, always remember ,man or woman does not live by heat alone and what gets hotted up always has to be cooled down one way or another.