mango stories

Mangoes have lot of stories to tell.  Yesterday my husband bought mangoes from Salem during one of his official trip.  Two of the varieties were
Alphonsa  and malgova.   I had made smoothies with the Alphonsa.  It was very sweet and fleshy. I felt so grateful to have this superior variety.  I said a big thanks to the unknown who planted and nurtured the tree.  I had proudly served it for my guests.  It's superb and heavenly taste.
The most easiest drink to make with mango is mango smoothie.
After thorough washing peel and cut into small pieces.  Blend it with some water.  If you need a thick puree do not add water.  If you need add some sugar and some cubes to it.  Through this method we won, the lose the fibres.

These mangoes have some connection with the colonial era.  The Portuguese had introduced these varieties to India by grafting method.  Naturally it's named after a man who helped to establish the Portuguese colonies. That great man behind this melting sweet fruit is Afonso De albuqurque.  It's fascinating to know the stories behind great taste.

Ada

The most tempting kerala dish mostly in sweet form. It's welcoming smell of rice flour,  jaggery,   coconut everything makes it purely ethnic dish of kerala.  It's very nutritious too.
Its cooked in steam. It's an apt snack with tea.  It can also be consider as a breakfast item.
I had made this with rice flour.
We have to make batter with roasted rice flour. It must be prepared with hot water. Add some salt also.  Filling prepared with grated coconut,  jagged,   ghee and two pods of cardamom.
It has always a smell of plantain leaves.  It's time consuming also.

Whenever I make such dishes I will recreate the aromas and taste to my little ones.  We had called this dish as nalumani palaharam.  Plaharam means snack and nalumani means tea time. 

In my childhood days it was not tedious to get plantain leaves from our own yard.  

My amoomma allowed me to clean the leaves.  

The most time consuming portion of this dish is the spreading of the batter.  My grand mother had so much patience,  she had spread the batter so evenly and the ada was so delicate.  It was her passion to make such everlasting taste to her children.  Perfection can be attained only by passion,  patience and hard work.  This post is a dedication to my grand mother who had taught me to make dishes filled with love will last forever.

It's our custom to make ada on karutha vavu. These adas are called vavada. 

On thiruvonam we make poovada to welcome thrikkakkara appan.   In that ada we fill with grated coconut and sugar.