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by Vasanti - Copyright © 2008-2009 Signature Concoctions - All Rights Reserved. | the most colorful time of the year! |

In it’s various shapes and colors – green, yellow and orange, mango attracts foodshoppers all over the world… and me too! It usually jumps into my cart during [...]]]> Every season brings out the nature’s select fruits and/or vegetables, like Pumpkins for Fall, Asparagus for Spring and the Mango for Summer!

In it’s various shapes and colors – green, yellow and orange, mango attracts foodshoppers all over the world… and me too! It usually jumps into my cart during the months of May-September, when it’s in its best form.

The supermarkets around me usually have a few North American mango varieties – Tommy Atkins, Keitt, Haden from Florida or the Ataulfo mangoes from Mexico and Central South America. My husband and daughter love to eat those, but I am a little bit of a picky eater in this case. For me, its gotto be the “Ratnagiri Alphonso” from my homeland, Maharashtra!

This year, we finally got hold of a dozen of the indigenous fruit at a local Indian market and enjoyed it’s out-of-the-world taste after many years of missing the season back home!

Summer’s long gone but the “mango madness” in my house just got over! It all started in June this year with the green mango, followed by a variety of sweet and savory concoctions using the sweet, succulent ripe fruit of the season – the ‘real’ Mango. Of course, we ate most of the fruit straight up, biting in to the vibrant, golden flesh underneath the multi-colored skins and the pulp running down our fingers and hands. But I managed to save some for my kitchen experiements

So join me and experience the mango madness yourself!

Mango Guacamole

Cool, sweet jalepeño-infused guacamole is one of the most delicious and refreshing Mexican dips thats perfect for snack or appetizer… And then if you add some mango to it, it takes it to a whole new level!

To make mango guacamole, simply mix in some mango chunks to my basic recipe. Try making this simple and colorful guacamole and enjoy it’s melt-in-the-mouth taste with tortilla chips.

…

Chipotle Chicken Panini with Avocado and Mango

Sweet-tart mango and cool-creamy avocado should be perfect to balance the spicy heat of chipotle chilies?! This was my thought process behind creating this delicious panini for lunch one weekend. My Southwestern-style panini is made  by grilling two slices of bread with shredded chicken and chipotle chillies in adobo sauce along with mango and avocado slices in between. In just 5 mins on each side, the panini is off the screaming hot grill pan and on to your plate.  Ready for lunch?!

Makes 4 paninis

1 tbsp oil

½ yellow onion, sliced

1 small garlic clove, minced

½ can of Chipotle Chillies in Adobo Sauce (use the sauce and dice the chillies)

1 cup shredded cooked chicken (store-bought Rotisserie or oven-roasted at home)

1 baguette, cut into 8-10 slices of ½ inch thickness (or individual panini rolls)

mayonaise (optional)

butter or olive oil

1 ripe mango, sliced, pitted and skin removed

1 ripe avocado, sliced, pitted and skin removed

½ lime (to prevent avocado from darkening)

salt

freshly ground black pepper

Heat oil in a small frying pan and add the onions and garlic. Season with salt and sauté for a couple of mins, making them sweat a little. Stir in the chipotle chillies with the adobo sauce and mix well.

Continue heating the sauce for another min or so and then remove from heat. Mix in the shredded chicken and set aside.

Preheat the grill pan on medium-high heat.

For each panini sandwich: Spread a thin layer of mayonnaise inside the bottom slice of bread. Spread the chipotle chilli sauce with chicken and then lay 1-2 slices of mango and avocado and close the sandwich with the other slice of bread. Brush olive oil or spread butter on to the top outer side of the sandwich. Grill the sandwich with the buttered side down for 4-5 minutes. While the bottom side grills, butter the other side of the panini and flip over for 4-5 mins on this side so that both the sides of the bread are toasted with nice golden grill marks.

Serve immediately and enjoy!

…

Mango Mousse

Our obsession with tropical fruit continued through the end of the Summer, almost going into Fall. I decided to put an end to the madness by making a luscious creamy mousse with the last batch of mangoes I had picked up at the supermarket.

Mangoes process well into smooth, creamy filling for desserts like this incredibly soft and fluffy mango mousse. This is a basic recipe, made with mango puree folded into whipped cream with a bit of gelatin. The top layer is simple mango jello that holds the berries in place and prevents the mousse from falling inside. The dessert sets up over a few hours in the refrigerator and has a soft and silky texture that melts in your mouth!

Makes 4 individual servings of mango mousse, about ¾ cup each

Mango Mousse

2 cups of mango slices (about 4 mangoes)

¼ cup simple syrup

¼ cup heavy cream (for mango purée)

scant ¼ cup Triple Sec (or any other Orange liqueur)

½ tbsp (½ pkt) unflavored gelatin powder (Knox)

½ cup heavy cream (for whipping and folding into the mousse)

Mango Jello Topping (optional)

½ cup clear mango juice (such as Frooti or Mazaa)

½ tbsp (½ pkt) unflavored gelatin powder (Knox)

you choice of berries, about 4-6 per dessert cup

Alternatively, use mango flavored gelatin

Mango Mousse

Purée the mango slices, simple syrup and heavy cream together in a food processor. Strain and keep aside.

Sprinkle gelatin over the orange liqueur in a heat proof glass bowl and let it soften for about 10 mins. In the meantime, take about ½ cup water in a small saucepan and bring it to a gentle simmer. Place the bowl on top of the simmering water and stir continuously till the gelatin dissolves completely. Let it cool down and then mix it well with the mango purée.

Whip the ½ cup of heavy cream till it forms soft peaks (kinda like meringue). Add it to the mango-gelatin mixture and gently fold the whipped cream.

Pour into dessert cups and set it in the fridge for 3-4 hours.

Mango Jello Topping (optional)

Sprinkle the gelatin on to the mango juice in in a heat-proof bowl and often for ten minutes. Place it over a small saucepan with simmering water. and stir continuously so that the gelatin dissolves completely. As soon as the gelatin melts, the solution will become clear. Let it cool down to room temperature.

Remove the mousse from the fridge and top it with the berries. Pour the mango jello over the mousse and berries and return to referigerator for a couple more hours. Serve chilled.

by Vasanti - Copyright © 2008-2009 Signature Concoctions - All Rights Reserved. | mango madness |

(...)Continue reading diyas for diwali on Signature Concoctions (62 words)

by Vasanti - Copyright © 2008-2009 Signature Concoctions - All Rights Reserved. | diyas for diwali |

A couple of weeks ago, I was browsing the New Books aisle at my local library when my eyes caught a book called Grilled Pizzas and Piadinas. First of all, the idea of grilling pizzas seemed a bit unusual to me! and what’s a piadina?! I wasn’t sure but I definitely wanted to find out!

As I dug in, I learned all about a specific subset of pizzas that the author, Chef Craig Priebe, was talking about - those baked on the grill.  The book shows how passionate he is about his pizza and that grilling pizza on a grill (indoor or outdoor) is truly an art!  The first chapter is on grilling gear and then the book moves on to steps for making the crust. Great cookbooks, like this one, are all about technique; you can play with the ingredients and create your own toppings! For those of you who prefer a step-by-step approach, there are a variety of specific recipes as well.

For me, the beauty of this book lies less in those specific recipes and more in the grilling technique. I found it to be a truly inspirational cookbook that taught me to create a unique and innovative pizza; wanna see how my pizza and piadina turned out?!

Grilled Pizza with Roasted Garlic, Sausage, Onions, Mushrooms and Cherry Tomatoes

(Indoor Grilling Method using a Cast-iron Skillet)

Chef Craig Priebe, in his first cookbook, Grilled Pizzas & Piadinas, gives his innovative take on the world’s favorite food – pizza. Most of his pizza creations call for familiar ingredients in unexpectedly surprising combinations! But the bottom line is that by grilling the pizza base you don’t get the melted cheese on top like the “regular” pizza. Instead, Chef Priebe focuses on the earthy, lightly charred curst of the pie and plays with the fresh toppings.

The book even includes a basic pizza dough recipe but if you are in a rush (like I am most of the times!), Priebe recommends store-bought fresh or refrigerated Pillsbury Pizza Dough for the crust. So with this for the base, I created a white pizza sprinkled with Parmesan cheese and topped with sautéed chicken sausage, mushrooms, onions, roasted garlic, cherry tomatoes, and basil confetti. Give it a try and you’ll fall in love with pizza all over again!

Makes 4 personal pizzas

Topping

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil  + for Herbed Grill Oil

4-5 garlic cloves, smashed and skinned

2 fully cooked chicken sausages, diced

6-8 button mushrooms, sliced

1 small yellow onion, sliced

salt

freshly ground black pepper

8-10 cherry tomatoes, quartered

5-6 basil leaves, julienned

Parmesan cheese, grated and shaved

Pizza Crust

1 pack of Pillsbury Pizza Dough

Making the topping

Heat a nonstick skillet over medium heat and dry roast the garlic cloves till they turn light brown in color. There is no need to add oil since the natural oil released by the cloves is enough for the roasting process. Remove the garlic and set aside.

In the same pan, heat a tbsp of olive oil and sauté sausage till it turns light brown. Remove the sausage and set aside.

Add the remaining tbsp of olive oil and sauté onions and mushrooms till they turn light brown in color. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.

Assembling the Pizza

Wipe the pan with a paper towel moistened with olive oil. Preheat the pan over medium-high heat for 5 mins.

Open the dough packet and spread open the dough on a lightly floured surface. Depending on the size of the grill pan cut the sheet of dough into smaller squares, so that they fit on the grill pan. Pick up the piece of dough with both hands and lay it in the hot pan. The crust should bubble on top within a min. If not, turn the heat up a little.

After 2 mins, check the crust by lifting an edge with your tongs. When bottom turns brown, remove it to the cookie sheet. 4. Turn the crust over and brush it with Herbed Grill Oil.

Preheat your broiler.

Sprinkle some grated Parmesan cheese, followed by about 1/2 to 3/4 cup of Sargento Italian cheese mix. Spread the sausage, mushrooms and onions along with halved cherry tomatoes evenly over the base and garnish with basil and roasted garlic.

Reheat the grilling pan for about a min. Slide the pizza back into it and brown the bottom until crispy, 3-5 mins.

When the bottom is golden brown and crispy with grill marks, transfer the pizza onto a cookie sheet and place it under the broiler for about a min until the top is sizzling hot.

Transfer the pizza to a plate. Garnish with julienned basil and Parmesan shavings. Serve immediately.

…

Piadina with Carmelized Onions, Goat Cheese, Arugula and Roasted Red Peppers

After the grilled pizzas, the author moves on to a mouth-watering section of grilled piadinas in the cookbook. Piadina is a popular Italian flatbread sandwich  that can be filled with almost anything! Traditionally, piadina dough is unleavened but Chef Priebe shares his secret with the readers . Piadinas using pizza dough! He says that if it’s made this way, it will be a thicker and a slightly softer version of the traditional unleavened flatbread, but will have the same look and feel! The book suggests a regular store-bought pizza dough, but I used the Pillsbury thin crust pizza dough and rolled it to make it even thinner than usual.

So with the cookbook as my userguide and a semi-homemade shortcut, I created my very own piadina with carmelized onions, goat cheese, peppery arugula and sweet roasted red peppers. Go ahead, take a bite!

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Makes 2 piadinas

herbed/plain goat cheese

2 jarred roast red peppers, diced

handful of arugula leaves

Carmelized Onions

2 tbsp olive oil

1 large yellow onion, thinly sliced

1 tbsp sugar

garlic salt/reg salt

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

The Flatbread

1 pack Pillsbury Thin Crust Pizza Dough

Carmelized Onions

Heat the olive oil in a deep skillet on medium heat and add onions along with sugar and salt. Cook, stirring frequently, until they turn light brown, for about 15-20 mins. Reduce the heat to low and splash with balsamic vinegar. Cook for a couple mins till the vinegar vaporizes.Remove from heat and let it cool down a little bit.

Preparing the Flatbread

Preheat a flat griddle over medium-high heat for 5 mins.

Break open the packet of readymade dough and roll to make it even thinner, about 3-4 mm of thickness. Depending on the size of the griddle, cut the sheet of dough into smaller pieces.

Lay the rolled dough on the hot pan and cook for about a min or so, till bubbles form on the surface.

With a pair of tongs, check the bottom side to make sure it is golden brown and flip to grill the other side.

Cook for about a min until golden brown and remove from the pan.

Stack the cooked breads on a paper towel and wrap them so they stay warm.

Assembling the Piadina

Spread the flatbread evenly with goat cheese and carmelized onions. Top it with arugula and diced roasted peppers. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Fold the bread over to secure the filling and serve along the side of chips and a drink.

by Vasanti - Copyright © 2008-2009 Signature Concoctions - All Rights Reserved. | a cookbook – grilled pizzas and piadinas |

For Maharashtrians living out of the country, these words virtually take them back home, from where ever in the world they may be! The most popular festival of Maharashtra is presently being celebrated with lot of enthusiasm [...]]]> “Ganpati Bappa Morya, Pudhchya Varshi Lavkar Ya” … and Ganpati Bappa is back!

For Maharashtrians living out of the country, these words virtually take them back home, from where ever in the world they may be! The most popular festival of Maharashtra is presently being celebrated with lot of enthusiasm and excitement. Ganesh Utsav is special to me too; it brings back many wonderful memories from my childhood.

And today, I relive those memories and keep the spirit of the festival alive by making Ganpati Bappa’s favorite - steamed Modak!

Modak

(Steamed Dumplings with sweet and spiced Coconut Filling)

If I were to give an exact definition of a ”modak“, I would say that they are a traditional Maharashtrian steamed rice-flour dumplings with a sweet filling made with grated coconut, jaggery (palm sugar) or sugar and some spices. The dumpling dough made out of rice flour is not sweet but in fact is slightly salty and compliments very well the saccharine filling inside. As delicious as it sounds, making the dough for outer covering from scratch seemed a little tough for me, given the time I had to spend in the kitchen on Ganesh Chaturthi, this past Sunday. So, I came up with a semi-homemade shortcut and put my own spin on this very traditional sweet dish. I used some “wonton wrappers” and stuffed them with the classic coconut filling ;)

To my surprise, my “dim-sum”  modaks turned out great – very similar to the authentic ones  Try my recipe and I guarantee, you won’t be disappointed!

Makes 21 mini “dim-sum” modaks

21 round dumpling/wonton wrappers (you should find these at any Asian stores or the speciality section of a regular supermarket)

some cold water in a bowl and basting brush

The Filling

1½ cups grated coconut (thawed if using frozen)

¾ cup powdered jaggery (i.e. palm sugar) or brown sugar (dark or light)

¼ cup light cream or half ‘n’ half (or even whole milk)

1 tbsp white poppy seeds (khus khus)

1-2 tbsp Everest Milk Masala (alternatively you can coarsely grind together- 4-5 green cardamom pod seeds, 1-2 saffron strands, couple pinches of ground nutmeg, 4-5 pistachios, 4-5 cashews and 4-5 almonds)

Special Equipment

Traditional Indian Modak / Idli Steamer or a Chinese bamboo steamer

Making the Filling

In a small saucepan, combine all the ingredients and place it on the medium low heat. Cook covered for 15-20 mins till the jaggery is completely dissolved, milk is absorbed and the coconut is cooked through. Stir occassionally to make sure it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan.

Assembling the Dumpling

Place a wonton wrapper on a clean flat wooden board or surface. Dip a brush in cold water and tap it on the side of the bowl to remove excess water from the bristles. Lightly brush the wonton wrapper with water and then drop about a tablespoon of the filling onto the center of a wrapper.

Lift the the edges of the wrapper up, gather them around the filling and twist the top with your fingers to seal. The sides will naturally pleat, leaving the top part of the wrapper and the filling inside. Tap the dumpling on the table so the bottom is flat and it stands upright. Repeat with the remaining wrappers and filling.

Cooking the Dumplings

Lightly oil the plate of the steamer you are using and stand the dumplings in the steamer in a single layer and don’t let them touch. Bring 1 to 2 inches of water to a boil in a steamer pot. Set the steamer plates inside the pot, then cover it with the lid. Steam for 10 to 12 minutes.

Serve immediately.

by Vasanti - Copyright © 2008-2009 Signature Concoctions - All Rights Reserved. | ganpati bappa’s favorite |