February 27, 2008

PINEAPPLE LEMONADE, MIRCH BAINGAN


Coffee from "The spice cafe" blog's "Monthly Blog Patrolling" event has been rejuvenated which is a great news for us bloggers. It is fun to patrol the blogs and make something delicious from the other blogs. Sig from "Live to eat" has opted to continue this event and has chosen "Mixed Drinks". Pooja's Pineapple Lemonade is my choice, enjoy and thanks for hosting Sig!:))


I wanted to make one of Sig's various cocktails,specially the Lychee one that she has in her blog but she said it's better not to pick from the host! Bummer!!;D
Ever since I saw Pooja's Pineapple Lemonade in her blog (click on the link below to see the beautiful looking original drink), I wanted to try it since Pineapple is one of my favorite fruits and I like the Lemonade too. Her Lemonade has a great color than mine, mainly because I used canned Pineapple with it's juice. I also added a bit of salt and pepper to it to enhance the flavor. It's a delicious and refreshing beverage to have even in Winter. Thanks Pooja, loved it!:))

Pooja's delicious Pineapple Lemonade:


To make it:
I followed almost the same recipe with few additions of my own. Follow the original recipe in her blog if you use fresh Pineapple.

1. I used one 15oz can of Pineapple cubes with it's own juice.
2. In a blender, add Pineapple cubes with it's juice, 1 tsp Lemon juice (add more if Pineapple is sweet), 2 tbsp powdered sugar or to taste , pinch of salt which brings out the flavor and few grinds of pepper which makes the Pineapple juice delicious. (You could add a few fresh Mint leaves too if you like as garnish while serving it.)
3. Blend until very smooth, pour in a jug and chill. Serve adding a few ice cubes and Mint leaves to the juice.
(I didn't strain the juice since my powerful Sumeet mixer makes a very smooth juice or in other words, grinds the heck out of the Pineapple!:D)

Enjoy!:)

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Mirch Baingan is my contribution to Pooja of "creative Pooja" blog's "Vegetable of the week" event although it has become monthly event now. She has re-started the event after a long time and chosen the beautiful "Brinjal or Eggplants" as her vegetable this month. Thank you for taking time to host Pooja!:))


Brinjals/Eggplants are my favorite vegetable. I don't like the one we get here usually, one of those huge US style purple ones at the regular grocery store. I will have to go to the upscale grocery store to the buy the expensive Japanese or Italian Eggplants or go to a Indian store to get the Indian ones. When I do get them, I thoroughly enjoy cooking different dishes with these. Mirch Baingan or Chilli Eggplants is very simple but delicious tasting dish cooked with coarse red chilli pd mixed in a besan/chickpea flour and yogurt gravy with minimal spices and I served these with Rajgaro-Wheat flour Bhakris.

Mirch Baingan:

To make Mirch Baingan, you need:
3-4 long green or purple Asian Eggplants, cut into 3" long pieces,keep them immersed in the water until you are ready to cook,
1/4 tsp turmeric,
2 tsp Coriander seeds powder,
1 tsp coarsely ground dry red chillies or chilli pd,
1 tbsp Besan/Chickpea flour,
3 tbsp plain Yogurt,
Cilantro to garnish.
salt and sugar to taste.
To season:
1 tbsp oil, 2 tsp butter or ghee,
1/2 tsp Mustard seeds.

How to:
1. Heat oil and butter in a non-stick pan. Add mustard seeds. When they pop, add drained Brinjal pieces to the pan and fry until they are half way cooked. Sprinkle Besan and stir fry for a minute.
2. Pour in the yogurt by 1 tbsp at a time and keep stirring until well mixed. Now, add all the other dry spices, salt and a bit sugar. Simmer on medium heat, add (not more than) 1/4 cup of water if needed, but not necessary if it has some liquid already, gravy should be think and clinging to the Brinjals.
3. When Brinjals are cooked well but not mushy, dish is ready. Adjust the spices and add cilantro.

Rajgaro-Wheat flour Bhakris (Rotlo) with Mirch Baingan:

To make Bhakris:
1. Mix 1 cup Rajgaro (Amaranth flour) and 1/2 cup of wheat flour, 1 tsp of salt and enough water to make a stiff dough. Cover and let it rest for 15 mins or so.
2. Make Tennis ball sized rounds out of the dough. Place a ball on a piece of foil sprayed with no-stick oil, press or roll out the dough to 6" circles.
3. Bake on a griddle or tawa until both sides are cooked and you see the speckled red spots.
4. Tastes great served hot with mirch Banigan dish with a tsp ghee on top.

Hope you try, have a great rest of the week!:)

54 comments:

sunita said...

OOOH! I love the look of that brinjal dish...will definitely give it a go..thanks Asha...you enjoy the rest of the week too :-)

FH said...

Sunita, this is one of my quickest dishes I make in a hurry, tastes great.Try it!:)

Shilpa said...

Baingan dish looks yummy Asha. I too don't like the huge baingans from American grocers. I use them occasionally for bharta. But the Indian baingans are very tasty. I will have to try your dish sometime soon.

FH said...

Thanks Shilpa. Those big purple ones just tasteless and so tough to cook I use them for pachadi too since they have lot of pulp!:D
Sometimes, I get these Italian Brinjals which are so yummy!:)

Sia said...

i am drooling at baingan dish:) IMO, udupi gulla badane will taste great using the same recipe. i am gonna make this when i visit india :D
and beautiful pic of pineapple lemonade too. i know u have many mixed drinks in ur blog. gotto make something for sig soon.

Pravs said...

I will start with that lemonade and finish with that plate of food. I am hungry !! :)

FH said...

Sups, I know! Gulla will be perfect for this. It's hard for me to get good Asian badanekai here, if I do, very expensive, $4 per lb!! I miss green B'lore badanekai so much!:)

Pravs, it is one whole meal! I never thought of that when I posted it!:D
Enjoy. Baingan dish is so easy.

Anonymous said...

Hi Asha,
i am going to try ur pineapple lemonade as i have fresh pineapple.
mirch baingan looks mouthwatering.

shalini

Uma said...

wow, wonderful lemonade and mirch baingan. So mouth-watering. Love the pics too.

Sagari said...

this is a very new way for me to cook eggplant ,nice recipe ashaji love it and love your pinaapple lemonade too

Mansi said...

wow, loved the baingan and also the rajagra no rotlo! it was our staple food with aloo-bhaji during fasting days:)

Cham said...

Brinjal is my all time favorite :) It is tempting .I will really end up my meal with your pineapple lemonade :)

FH said...

Shalini, thanks. Add a bit of pepper to Pineapple! My mom would always do that with cubed Pineapple!:)

Try one of them Uma, you will love it!:)

Sagari, when I don't have much time to grind the masala and all that, this is how I stir-fry it. Try and see if you like it!:)

FH said...

Mansi, Rajgaro flour is Gujarati too, I didn't know that. Well.. great entry for Pooja then!:)
I have another Rajgaro dish coming at FH shortly, love the nutty flavor. Glad I bought a packet without knowing what it is!:D

Cham, Pineapple Lemonade was very tasty, we loved it.I will make a jug full in Summer, even better chilled in hot weather. Hope you try!:)

Richa said...

aha! there it is, i tried accessing this post yest ;)
those bhakri's look great, love them! masala baigan makes a good combo w/ it.

vimmi said...

Hi Ashaji,

Thats a easy recipe for baigan. I will try it. I make mine with onion tomatoes and ginger garlic and that take a lot of time. This looks so yummy. I have small baigans at home, so wll try with those.

The lemonade looks good.

Laavanya said...

That pineapple lemonade looks great.. I'l probably try it since I have a big pineapple sitting on the counter! :)
The mirchi baingan looks great too.

VINI said...

Pineapple lemonade sounds exciting. My hubby likes pineapple drinks...must try this. Your brinjal dish looks mouthwatering...yummm.

Seema said...

Lemonda looks delicious & with Pinapple juice a perfect start for a great meal of Rotlos & Mirchi Baingan - Loved the baingan curry.. looks yum!

FH said...

Richa, I was typing the recipe halfway y'day and accidentally published it instead of saving!:P
I do that sometimes, thanks for your patience!:)

This is a quick fix recipe for me Vimmi. Try it and simple ingredients too, make it more spicy if you like!:))

FH said...

Laavanya, fresh Pineapple would be great. Make a lot and chill, wonderful to have with dinner!:)

Hope you try Vini. You can strain the juice just for kids too. I personally like the thick pulp!:)

FH said...

Thanks Seema. Perfect combo indeed, chilled juice and spicy Baingan, what more could you ask for!:))

Rina said...

Will surely enjoy Pineapple Lemonade. Baigan wo be mirchwali, definely my type.

DK said...

I almost forgot that Vegetable of the week event! You are one amazing woman! God know where u find time with kids even! I am barely managing - and thats why dont go 'blog patrolling ' that much - Your baingan dish luks wonderful - I have some now - will make that for dinner today :-D

I also have 'oft repeated to the brink of boredom stuff' for you at my blog. Not a big deal for you but my way of expressing some one to ones :) with you.:)

Anonymous said...

Good looking entries Asha! Love the look of those Bhakris!

bee said...

man, it's so hard keeping track of you on your two blogs. now, please start a third one with your schedule on both your blogs. :D

Dhivya said...

WOw!pieapple lemonade looks really qwesome asha..i am going to try that for sure..brinjal dish looks yummy..

Meera said...

I loved that baingan recipe, Asha. Lemonade looks so refreshing. I too do not like eggplants here. only rely on Indian stores. this spring, i m planning to plant some. let's see what happens!! :-) If I am lucky, I will cook lots of eggplants dishes during the summer time. fingers crossed!! :-D

Sig said...

Thanks so much for the entry Asha... Love the pineapple lemonade, some vodka will go nicely with it :)

The baingan dish looks great... I don't have too many recipes with eggplants, this looks like a nice and easy one to add to my list...

TBC said...

Pineapple lemonade looks wonderful. I have to try adding pepper when I make this. Sometimes, small things like this make such a nice difference to the taste. :-)

EC said...

Pineapple Lemonade looks so delicious...

Seena said...

Asha,It has been a habit that I happen to know all the blog events from here only! Really appreciate your interest in participating the events.. Love the B dish.. :)

KonkaniBlogger said...

Simply Superb Baingan dish with the rajgaro and refreshing drink to wash them down..Yummy...

Unknown said...

hi asha! that baingan looks ready to pounce on...must be gr8 taste wise also.lemonade looks really divine will surely try that:)

Purnima said...

Left a comment, not sure whether saved! I shall try canned pine.a juice to begin with, the post reminded me of my vacations in native, where we used to eat cashew fruit, pine.a pcs, watermelon pcs too with salt pepper..mmm yummmy..loved the baingan(wanted to know if its gulla) looks spicy-yum! Rotis look gr8 paired wt MB!

FH said...

Try it Rina,both are good recipes!:)

DK, as long as kids are in school,I get time to cook and blog. Their spring break ic coming next month, so I will be off blogging for a month. It is hard to blog patrol everyday indeed! Take your time, say hello when you can just to keep in touch. Got a dish for you today at FH!:)

Thanks Latha, hope you try!:)

FH said...

LOL! Bee, it's hard for me to keep track on myself these days!
I know it's crazy to cook for every event but I can't "NO" girl, my biggest problem!! But I will be off blogging for a month, so it's all good so far!:

Thanks Dhivya,they are yummy together. Enjoy!:)

Meera, sow them late in the Spring. They need atleast 75F to sprout, anything before will die in the ground. I plant every year. Long Purple ones are the best, all those white fancy ones give you about 6-8 for the whole Summer. Good luck. Take a look at my Garden posts at FH, there are 2 of them!:)

FH said...

Sig, Vodka! That's a great idea!! Why didn't I think of that? See, you are really good!! I will add next time, kids can have their Sun Kist as usual!;D

tbc, my mom used cube Pineapple and sprinkle some pepper on it and give it to us, tastes wonderful. Try it!:)

Thanks EC, color was not as good as Pooja's, it was light yellow but tastes great!:)

FH said...

Thank you Seena. I cook as usual for us and if any events match the dish, I will post. Few times, I will make something just for the events. I love cooking! But there are so many events now I really have to choose from now on!:)

Thanks Maya. Spicy meal and chilled drink, great combo!:)

Thanks Saswati, hope you try girl. They go very well together or with just with chapatis too!:)

Purnima, only Kannadigas add pepper I think to Pineapple, right? Cashew Juice, YUM!! We all have the same memories!:)
No, Gullas are not available here. They are small, long greenish Brinjals, I think from Thailand, I am not sure! I am lucky to get those here, I love any kind of Brinjals!:)

Finla said...

Asha you are so fast in these events, i am still looking for making something. The drink looks so good and the picture is looking do beautiful.
Aubergine dish looks so good, would love to have them. Hans and shyama are not a fan of aubergine, and making for me alone that is something i never do

Pooja said...

Lovely idea, I just cant stop staring at the baingan dish . it looks so yummy ! easy to prepare and tempting too . thank a lot for lovely entry Dear :) .
Pineapple lemondae is lookinf nice too, i think the color diff is due to frsh and forzen ones only, i too add salt in lemonade but didnt add it while making it with pineapple .wiht pepper and salt i think the taste must be one level superior now. lovely twist too .
As Mansi said rajgaro is a major part of fasting days ,we make SHira of it too, i think kajal has it in her blog.
also mom used to make puris to accompany raswale aloo ki sabji on fasting days, in that was fasts were party for us :))
Thanks a lot for sharing and participating once again , hugs to you ...

Purnima said...

Ok..green long ones..shall buy them next! I wasn't knowing this post was at aroma!4 reply I searched all brinj. recipes at FH!!Now, just googled n found it here!!!U r making me dizzy...2 blogs, loooooooooots of info, events , reading, movies,family, blogging!!!!!!hw do u manage? what potion u drink!!(my parents r frm karkala-mulki,hence the influence! they both speak n read kannada fluently as they studied there!we r konkani GSB's.)those vacations where we used to pluck cashew,run home only 4 salt n pepper!!mmm...
Ashakka, is ur pet back? hw is your vision now post few months Lasik? n Rogue must b gr8 to drive, isn't?
Also i love the way u use different crockery every time 4 every single dish in a spread, very colorful!!

Anonymous said...

wow!! asha i loved the baingan pic...looks so slurpable!! if there is a word like that!! and so simple to put together!!

Annu said...

Hello asha,the pineapple lemonade and baingan really good.Our daily dinner is Chapathi,so today I am going to make this recipe.Thanks for shareing....:-)

If you like chilli pepper then try chilli pepper curry Which I posted in my blog.

FH said...

F, whenever I cook I take photos and whenever I have a event, I post! Hahaha! My kids don't eggplants as well, I will make it anyway, they have to eat! You should cook just for you when Hans goes out of the country and enjoy it girl!:)

Pooja, that is true, fresh Pineapple has more color and flavor too.I n Summer, I will use fresh one, I really liked it, thanks!:)
Glad you liked my entry. Check the FH today Pooja, surprise Pooris!;D

FH said...

LOL! Purnima, many people do that too. They don't know sometimes I have 2 blogs!:)
This blog is just for events entries.FH is my real blog, so zi didn't want to post every single day there, opened this one. If you go to recipe index, you will see all the side dishes in one place.
Yeah, somebody brought back the dog in the afternoon, they see him walking with kids everyday. Little dogs are hard to control! My eyes 100% okay now, I can read and see far without glasses now,such a relief! Rogue is doing well, seat warmers are a great thing on cold days!;D

Arundati, whatever word you use is okay by me, I will get the point!:D

Enjoy Annu. I get Brinjals once in 2 weeks or so, I love to cook with it. I will check that recipe of your's too. Visit FH too, great recipes this week there!:)

Vanamala Hebbar said...

super recipes asha :) really love it all...pics are beautiful!!

FH said...

Thanks Mala, hope you try. They are pretty easy too!!:)

Red Chillies said...

Mirch Baingan is new to me. I am so used to make either palya or with coconut. Now adding besan is new to me. Good one to know.

FH said...

RC, I usually make eggplants like you too, palya, Ennegai etc. This is like a quick fix palya, very easy to make when I have just few small Brinjals. Try it, besan tastes great with any rottis!:)

Unknown said...

Hi Ashakka, how've u been?? long since I visited Aroma. I've not been so okay these days :(.... NOt everything going my way... Adikke jaasti blog madthilla. But your pineapple lemonade made me feel good again!!! It sounds and looks so refereshing....

FH said...

I am doing well, busy cleaning the house for Spring!:))

Take your time and come back when you can, no worries. Blogging adds to the stress, so take it easy.
Pineapple always makes me feel good too, add pepper,it reminds me of home!:)
Hugs to you, have a great weekend.

Deeba PAB said...

O boy Asha..that drink does look utterly refreshing! BEAUTIFUL picture too. Brinjal is one thing I never seem to get done right...will try yours! Have a great week too!

FH said...

Hi girl, thank you. Brinjals are my favorite. Don't cook them too much, just enough until they are soft inside, hope you try!:)