Mango Salad Adventures – Part II & FREE GIVEAWAY!

FREE GIVEAWAY!!!

Raw for 30 Days DVD!!!

All you have to do to enter the raffle is leave a comment and/or subscribe to this blog!  (Pretty easy, huh?) I will draw the lucky name on March 27, 2010!!!

Now let’s get to those wonderful mangos!

Last night I began making a spicy powdered mixture for the Ripe Mangos I received from the universe.  I figured that was the best thing to do.

Initially I was going to go with an Japanese theme for dinner last night, however I ended up on an Indian note. I’ll explain…

There is a spice mixture used in Japanese cuisine called “Shichimi Togarashi”.  The ingredients are dried chilies, black peppercorns, tangerine peel, black sesame seeds, minced garlic, and white poppy seeds.

As I looked around my spice cabinet I realized that my memory had failed me once again…No white poppy seeds, and I was also missing  few of the other ingredients.  I went with all of the new indian spices I had purchased at India Sweet & Spice.

This is the mixture I made:

2 tbs.  red kashmiri dried chilis

1 tbs. tangerine peel

1 tbs. lemmon peel

1 drop organic lemon essential oil

1 drop organic orange essential oil

3 garlic cloves

2 tsp. nori

2 tsp. black sesame seeds

2 tsp raw hemp seeds

Preparation: Grind all ingredients and put in a small airtight dish to save.  This will make approximately 1/8 of a cup.

Next…

I cut the mangos into slices and placed them in a large bowl.  I added 1 large scoop of the spice mixture I had just made.

As I was experimenting with my next dish to serve with dinner last night I came up with a RAW BIRYANI RICE recipe!

What is Biryani? Biryani is a set of rice-based foods made with spices, rice (usually basmati) and meat, fish, eggs or vegetables. The name is derived from the Persian word beryā(n) (بریان) which means “fried” or “roasted”.

Biryani was brought to the Indian Subcontinent by Muslim travelers and merchants. Local variants of this dish are not only popular in South Asia but also in Arabia and within various South Asian communities in Western countries.

The spices and continents used in biryani may include but are not limited to: peas, beans, cumin, cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, coriander and mint leaves, ginger, onions, and garlic. The premium varieties include saffron.

The difference between biryani and pullao is that while pullao may be made by cooking the items together, biryani is used to denote a dish where the rice (plain or fried) is cooked separately from the thick sauce (curry of Meat or vegetables). The curry and the rice are then brought together and layered resulting in a dish of the contrasting flavours of unflavored rice(which has a hint of the aromas and juices of the curry) and intensely flavored sauce and meat or vegetables. (Wikipedia)

RAW BIRYANI RICE

1 Large Parsnip

5 Sund Dried Tomatoes

2 tbls Spicy Sambar Masala

1 tsp Tumeric

1 tbl. Cumin

1 Handful Fresh Cilantro

1 Large Handful Raisins

3-4 Cloves Garlic

1/2 cup pine nuts

1 cup cherry tomatoes

1 cup peas

Preparation:  Peel and chop parsnip.  Place the parsnip in Food Processor with “S” blade and process until it resembles rice.  Place in a bowl and set aside.  Place all other ingredients into the food processor.  It should be a very chunky and be extremly fragrant!!!! YUM!

Here is the Parsnip Rice…

The spice mixture before the rice…

Everything all mixed up and redy to serve…

Here is the final presentation…

I added the peas last, since I didn’t want them to get squished while I was mixing in the spice mixture into the parsnip rice.

My taste tester was quite pleased with this meal I must say!!!  He said he could smell the mangos and chili mixture from the kitchen while he was relaxing in the living room.  Very excited about this dish!  I will definitly be making this again!

Thanks for visiting my blog and don’t forget to ENTER THE RAFFLE!!!

Namaste!

Mango Salad Adventures – Part 1

CONGRATS REBECCA THE WINNER

OF THE FIRST

VEG888 BLOG GIVEAWAY!!!

The NEW GIVEAWAY IS…”Raw for 30 Days DVD”  Please comment and subscribe to any post and I will draw the winning name March 27, 2010!

It seems as though it has been a long time since I last posted…

Last week seemed a bit surreal.  My grandmother died and I was sort of I don’t know…I guess out of it???  Not depressed.  Just a bit reflective about life.  How beautiful it is.  The fact that DUALITY is a definite variable in life.

My grandmother was 98 years old and I felt as though; well, to be sad would have been greedy.   She was a beautiful woman.  I smile when I think about her hairline or when she would wear her hair in a long long braid.  Her braid almost touched the ground.  I remember being about 7 or 8 and watching her walk away in the mornings after my mother would pick up my cousin.  Danny (my cousin) and I were the same age.  We went to school together and my Grandmother would always walk him to the car.  Sadly both Danny and my Grandmother are gone now…

Sorry I digress…

As I was saying I was in a fog and I felt as though I needed to get some new and exciting recipes going, get some movement going on in the brain.  Go in a direction of newness rather then get stuck in reflective mode.  I thought if I was in “action mode”  I would be better suited to help my father deal with the loss of his mother.  Things haven’t been to interesting on the culinary side of life in a little while.  And so Recipe Development began a few days ago.

As I wrote down different ideas for new Menus I put it all out there for the universe to help me.  To help me make some life changes, help me accept new opportunities and even create some exciting new adventures.  Mangos were at the top of 4  recipes I had been thinking about and developing and finally jotted some things down last night.  I kept thinking about where I would buy them.  I figured I would go get the Mangos tonight and begin Mango Adventure week one.

I opened my shop as usual and began my day of taking care of bills, making lists and generally taking all that I need into consideration.  As I was sitting at my computer a gentlemen walked into the store and asked if I would like to buy some Mangos.  I smiled to myself.  I had just finished some recipes last night about Mangos.  How beautiful!  Pure Love! Pure Bliss!

These wonderful beauties will be used in a variety of recipes this week.

And now a bit of history of the wonderful mango!

MANGOS

The English singular form mango comes from the Latin Mangifera indica meaning mango-bearing plant from India.

The mango is a member of the Anachardiaceae family which includes poison ivy, cashews and pistachios.

Cultivated for over 6,000 years, the mango comes in over 50 varieties, ranging in color from greenish, yellowish, to reddish, often tinged with purple, pink, orange-yellow, or red.

Vitamins

Amounts Per Selected Serving %DV

Vitamin A 1262 IU 25%

Retinol 0.0 mcg

Retinol Activity Equivalent 62.7 mcg

Alpha Carotene 28.1 mcg

Beta Carotene 734 mcg

Beta Cryptoxanthin 18.2 mcg

Lycopene 0.0 mcg

Lutein+Zeaxanthin 0.0 mcg

Vitamin C 45.7 mg 76%

Vitamin D ~~

Vitamin E (Alpha Tocopherol) 1.8 mg 9%

Beta Tocopherol ~

Gamma Tocopherol ~

Delta Tocopherol ~

Vitamin K 6.9 mcg 9%

Thiamin 0.1 mg 6%

Riboflavin 0.1 mg 6%

Niacin 1.0 mg 5%

Vitamin B6 0.2 mg 11%

Folate 23.1 mcg 6%

Food Folate 23.1 mcg

Folic Acid 0.0 mcg

Dietary Folate Equivalents 23.1 mcg

Vitamin B12 0.0 mcg 0%

Pantothenic Acid 0.3 mg 3%

Choline 12.5 mg

Betaine ~

That is all the skinny on the Vitamins within the actual fruit.  Lots of Vitamin C, lots of  Vitamin A.  What a powerful house of vitamins!!!  There is also probiotic effects from the Mango!!! YAY!!!

Thanks for reading!

Namaste!