Fruit and Nut Raita

Raitas are always served to cool the effect of hot curries or spicy Biryani. And as we all know that the cucumber and mint raita or raita with nicely cubed raw vegetable are best combinatins and and the most common raitas.But have you ever had a fruit and nut version of it? If no...then you should try this one.It has a distinctive flavour with a little bit of sweetness and and with nice flavour from the roasted cumins.

FRUIT AND NUT RAITA

Ingredients:
2 cups plain yougurt,
100 grams green seedless grapes,
2 firm bananas,
1/2 cup shelled walnuts,
1 tsp granulated sugar,
salt to taste,
1 tsp freshly ground cumin seeds and
1/4 tsp red chilli powder to garninsh.

Method:
Place the yogurt/curd in a bowl and add the grapes and wlnuts. Slice bananas directly into the bowl and fold in gently before the bananas turn brown.

Add the sugar, salt, ground cumin and gently mix together. Chill and just before serving , sprinkle the chilli powder and garnish with few extra grapes and walnuts.

Beef Vindaloo

Vindaloo - yummm...just the name 'vindaloo' makes me hungry anytime. The first time I ever tasted it was when I made this Lamb Vindaloo and I can still remember the taste and the effect it left on my tastebuds :) And this beef version is equally awesome and tasty. Actually the lamb vindaloo I had posted earlier has more gravy and this is more like a dry version and also the spices used in this recipe are different. Do try it and believe me you will be craving for more.

Tradionally this fiery Goan dish is made with wine. But still substituting the wine with vinegar and blending the vinegar with aromatic spices gives this recipe a distinctive flavour.



BEEF VINDALOO
Recipe source- Best Ever Indian cookbook

Ingredients:
1 kg lean beef-cut into cubes,
1 tbsp cumin seeds,
4 dried red chillies,
1 sp black peppercorns,
cardamom seeds-from 5 pods,
1 tsp fenugreek seeds,
1 tsp mustard seeds,
1/2 tsp salt,
1/2 tsp demerara sugar,
4 tbsp white vinegar,
2 tbsp of cooking oil,
1 large onion-finely chopped,
1 tbsp ginger paste,
1 tbsp garlic paste,
1 tsp coriander powder and
1/2 tsp turmeric powder.

Method:
Put the cumin seeds,red chillies, peppercorns, cardamom seed, fenugreek seeds and mustard seeds into a spice grinder and grind to a fine powder. Spoon into a bowl and add the salt, sugarand vinegarand mix to a thin paste. Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a heavy pan and fry the onion for 10 minutes. Put the fried onions and the spice mixture into a food processor or a blender and make a coarse paste.

Now heat the remaining oil in the pan and fry the meat cubes for about 10-15 minutesuntil lightly browned. Remove with a slotted spoon and keep aside.In the same remaining oil add the ginger -garlic paste and fry for 2-3 minutes, add coriander powder and turmeric powder and stir for another minute. Add the spice and onion paste to this and fry for 5 minutes.Now return the beef cubes to the pan with 1 1/2 cup of water. Cover and simmer for around 1 hour or until the meat is tender. Serve hot with plain and yellow rice or with naan/chapathi.


Note:
You can just serve this with plain rice or if you want to serve as in the picture above. Infuse a pinch of saffron strands or dissolve little turmeric in a tbsp of hot water. And stir into half of the cooked plain rice and mix the yellow rice into the plain rice.