A table for three @ Manasi’s Kitty!

"Just you waait 'enry 'iggins, just you waait!" was screaming Audrey Hepburn in "My fair lady"...oh what a movie. Always a pleasure to watch classic musicals, isn't it?

Similarly , its such a refreshing change to experiment with all these authentic recipes that I have grown up eating. Of course , I can never get any close to my mother's tasty delicacies , but this project is giving me a fair chance to put myself into "tried , tested & achieved" category.Hopefully , by the end of 240 days ,there would be many more like me with an enriched feeling.

Following the mood of the " Old classics" and made "Khamang Kakdi" (cucumber salad) and Bread pudding (aai made it as quick breakfast for my baba) & paneer-corn-bell peppers for my friends Karishma & Riddhi who would be at my place for lunch today. The first two recipes have been inspired from Ruchira , while the third one is my own recipe (which would be posted later).

"Khamang Kakdi" is peanut-green chili-cucumber based salad , prepared for most of the ceremonies.

Ingredients

• 1 cucumber-peeled and very finely chopped (कोचलेली) or shredded.I prefer traditionally finely chopped cucumber.
• 10 roasted peanuts,peeled and crushed manually to form a coarse powder.You may choose to grind it too.Traditionally, it is crushed using the "pestle & mortar" (खलबत्ता).I used my tongs to crush it!
• Salt and Sugar to taste
• Cilantro or Coriander
• Shredded fresh coconut (I skipped this one!)
• juice of 1/2 fresh lemon
• 3-4 green chilies-chopped finely
• 1/2 tsp dried parsley powder (my addition)
• 2 tsps roasted cumin and coriander seeds , manually powdered. (my addition)
• 3 tbsp of low fat yogurt (my addition)
• cumin seeds ( जीरे) and special kinds of cumin seeds called "shahajeera" (शहजीरे)
• 1/2 tsp of asofoetida
• 3 tsps of ghee for tadka.
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Mixing it Up

This is easiest of all salads and extremely tasty.The first step was to mix all the dry ingredients together. I mixed cucumber , peanut powder ,lemon juice , parsley , roasted cumin & coriander seeds crushed together with green chilies & salt manually .I prepared “tadka”consisting of asafoetida ,chopped green chilies and cumin seeds which crackled in 3 tsps of ghee.

I poured the hot tadka over the cucumber mix.One needs to mix it just before serving.However , I prefer this salad with Yogurt or curd in it and whisked it through with the curd.The salad seemed a little fatigued due to less salt and sugar ,so added them to revive Khamang Kakdi.

The tasty,healthy & spicy Cucumber is at your service with little dash of make-up (coriander).