Mango Bread

Mangoes are back in season! Woohoo! The downside is that this means that summer's here in full force - in April! At an average temperature of 95 deg F, Madras is way way too hot! But... you can't be really too frustrated with the heat when you have gorgeous juicy mangoes to fill you up!

Is there anything better than mangoes with vanilla ice cream? Well, maybe this mango bread! Have you ever visited Joy the Baker? Her blog is absolutely incredible with beautiful photographs. Do take a look, if you haven't already.

This recipe was inspired by her Mango Lime Bread. I made a few changes. Actually, quite a few changes - I omitted the ginger and apples and added walnuts instead. It was simply an amazing bread!


Mango Bread

2 1/2 cups Whole Wheat Flour
1 cup Sugar
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Cinnamon Powder
1/4 tsp Salt
3 Eggs
3/4 cup Oil (try to use a flavor-less oil, like Safflower)
1 1/4 cup Mango pieces (I had to chop up about 1 1/2 mangoes)
3/4 cup Raisins
1/2 cup Walnuts, chopped

Preheat the oven to 180 deg C.

Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, sugar and salt. Crumble in the brown sugar. Add the wet ingredients (oil and eggs). Mix till fully combined. This might be a little difficult but keep stirring and it will come together. Fold in the mango, raisins and walnuts.

Transfer the dough to a greased and floured loaf pan. Bake for 1 1/2 hours or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Remove from oven and let cool 5 minutes. Turn loaf out from the pan and let cool completely on a wire rack before slicing. Enjoy the wonderful smell in your kitchen!

Mango Salsa

Mango Madness is right ... more like Mad that there aren't any mangoes yet! I guess according to the mangoes, summer hasn't truly begun (the weather begs to differ...!). I bought one mango, fully ripened at Rs. 20 (about $0.50), which is still a lot for a mango - just because I couldn't wait any longer. And I used it to make this mango salsa!!

So here goes a precious mango over to Arundati at Escapades for her WBB's Mango Madness. Hopefully, by the time the round-up happens, there'll be lots of mangoes in the market to use! WBB was originally started by Nandita at Saffron Trail.



Mango Salsa for Breakfast

For the Salsa:
1.5 cups ripe Mango, diced
1 red Onion, chopped
1 Cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced
1/4 cup fresh Cilantro, chopped
1 tbsp Brown Sugar
1 tbsp Hot Sauce (I used Sriracha)
Salt and Pepper, to taste

For the Wrap:
3-4 Rotis/ Chapattis or Tortillas
3-4 Eggs, scrambled soft

Mix everything together for the salsa. Let it rest covered in the refrigerator for about 1/2 hour for the flavors to combine.

To assemble, just lay some eggs in the middle of a tortilla. Cover with mango salsa. Enjoy.

Didn't realize that mango salsa would taste good with eggs - it does! The only thing I would change next time is to dice the mango and the cucumber a little smaller.

Mango Curry

This is a perfectly simple Kerala dish, combining the sweetness of the mango and the tartness of buttermilk. And what I made for the Chennai Bloggers Meet.



Mango Kalan

1 ripe Mango, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 pinch Chilli powder
1 pinch Turmeric Powder
3 tbsp Shredded Coconut
1 tbsp Cumin
2 Green Chillies
11/2 cups Buttermilk

Seasoning:
1 tsp Mustard Seeds
2-3 Red Chillies
3-4 Curry Leaves
1 pinch Fenugreek Seeds

Cook the mango together with the chilli powder, turmeric and salt in a little water. Separately, grind the coconut, cumin and green chillies.
Add the ground mixture to the cooking mango.
Allow it to come to a boil. Turn off the heat and add the buttermilk.
In a separate pan, add some oil and add the ingredients for the seasoning. When the mustard seeds start to splutter, add the seasoning mixture to the mango curry.


(photo courtesy Valli)

Serve over rice, idiyappams or (Lakshmi's wonderful suggestion!) curd rice!