Kakdi Tamatar Koshimbir/Maharashtrian Salad

What is Koshimbir?

It is a typical Maharashtrian salad. Usually made with cucumber, tomato and crushed peanuts, with tempering of asafetida. It is a must for Maharashtrian thali meal. There are varieties of koshimbir relished by Maharashtrians. The asafetida in the tempering makes it a good digestive aid and gives a fantastic aroma to it. A Maharashtrian thali consists of a lemon wedge, koshimbir (Salad), chutney, papad, Bhajiya (Pakora), Varan(dal), Bhat (rice), Bhaji (Sabji), Poli (chapati) and taak(chaas).  There is a way of serving the thali. At my home, we still follow the rule of serving thali. Everything should be in the correct place. My mother (aai) made sure that I serve correctly and eat clean. Probably that’s a part of our culture and I absolutely love it.

For a basic koshimbir, all you need is

SERVINGS: 2

INGREDIENTS:

½ cup Cucumber, chopped

½ cup Tomato, diced

1 green chilli, chopped

2 tbsp Peanut powder (crushed peanuts)

2 Tbsp onion, chopped (optional)

½ tsp Sugar

¼ tsp Salt

1 Tbsp Lemon Juice

For Tempering-

1 Tbsp Oil

½ tsp Mustard

¼ tsp Asafetida (Hing)

1/8 tsp turmeric

3-4       Curry Leaves

Coriander for garnishing

METHOD:

1.    In a bowl add cucumber, tomato, green chilli, onions, salt, sugar and peanut powder. Toss the ingredients well.

2.    Now add lemon juice and give it a mix.

3.    For tempering

·       Heat oil.

·       Add asafetida, curry leaves, turmeric.

·       Allow it to splutter

4.    Pour the tempering over the salad.

5.    Give it a final mix, add coriander and serve it. 

Note- Serve it immediately as if you keep it for a long time, salad releases its juices.

Enjoy this simple preparation with Varan-Bhat.

 

Hey Friends! If you like my blogs kindly post your comment below the post and do share your response. Looking forward to some new innovative recipes. Thanks for reading. HAPPY COOKING!! :)

Mango Tomato Chilli Pickle

click - for the video recipe

India is a pickle nation. We have varities of pickles. We make it in almost every season. I can’t imagine my thali without pickle. It is a must to have with Dal-Chawal or with Paratha’s. This recipe I learnt from a friend. For this, we need already prepared mango pickle. (So we are making a pickle from a pickle.) And another thing is I am using Sesame oil which gives a nice nutty flavor to it. It is flavorful, aromatic, spicy, tangy and lip-smacking pickle. My mouth is already watering imagining about it. Folks! Do not miss this recipe, try it today! All you need is-

INGREDIENTS-

½ cup Mango Pickle

1 Tomato, diced

4-5 garlic cloves

3-4 dry Red Chilli

2 Tbsp Oil

1 Tsp Mustard seeds

½ Tsp Asafetida

1 Tsp Onion seeds (Kalonji)

7-8 curry leaves

1 Tsp Kashmiri Red Chili powder

¼ Tsp Salt

For Tempering-

¼ Tsp Oil

1 Tsp Mustard seeds

1 Tsp Fenugreek Seeds (Meethi Dana)

1 Tsp Onion Seeds

¼ Tsp Turmeric

METHOD:

Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds, onion seeds, dry red chilli, garlic and curry leaves. Fry it for a minute on a medium flame. Add asafetida. (For pickles we need a generous amount of Heeng)

Now add in the diced tomato. Mix it well and sauté it. Now cover it with lid and cook the tomatoes. Make sure the flame is low. It takes around 5 minutes for tomatoes to get completely cooked. 

 

Once it is done remove it from the flame and cool it. 

In a blender add the above tomato mix, mango pickle, Kashmiri red chilli powder (It gives a nice colour to the pickle) and salt. Adjust the quantity of salt as mango pickle already has salt in it. Now blend everything into a smooth paste.  Remove this blended pickle into a bowl.

Now time to turn up the spice quotient by tempering the pickle-

Heat oil in a tadka pan, add mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds and onion seeds. Allow it to splutter. Add asafetida and turmeric. Here you can also add curry leaves and red chilli powder if you wish. Now pour the tempering over the pickle. 

Give it a nice mix and allow it cool. 

Now store the prepared pickle into a sterilized jar (Give some asafetida smoke to the jar). Make sure the jar is dry. There should be no moisture content in it. Otherwise the pickle will get spoiled. And there is a saying in hindi-"Jiska Achar Bigda Uska Saal Bigda".

Remember because it contains tomato, the shelf life of this is 1 month. It can stay more if refrigerated. Though I bet you will finish it soon because it is delicious, lip-smacking, spicy, tangy, tasty and yummy.

Note- Use sesame oil or ground nut oil, it gives a fantastic aroma to the pickle.  Also, you can use fresh red chili instead of dry red chili.

Hey Friends! If you like my blogs kindly post your comment below the post and do share your response. Looking forward to some new innovative recipes. Thanks for reading. HAPPY COOKING! :)