Cooking with ingredients you hav: Karonda Mirch is Cranberry Jalapeno here in US

My mother belonged to the generation of cooks that cooked with ingredients they had. If a recipe called for something that was not on hand or not available or was too expensive, she could easily find a good substitute.

Since moving out of India, I am trying to apply same principle to my cooking. There is definitely a huge variety of fruits, vegetables and spices available here, but every now and then I am reminded of a fruit or vegetable that is just not available here. 'Karonda' is one such berry that I have not found in US. Here is a wikipedia page describing this berry.

At my house, Karonda was used to provide tartness to chutneys and also cooked with green chilies in a quick 'karonda-hari mirch' pickle. In the tradition of cooking with ingredients one has, I have found cranberry to be a good substitute for Karonda. During Thanksgiving time, when it is hard to miss cranberry in the store, I cant resist making this cranberry relish the way my mother made karonda-hari mirch. Just a warning, this hot and tart relish is totally opposite of what one would expect from a cranberry relish during Thanksgiving dinner. I made this yesterday and used Jalapeno peppers that were not that hot. I cant stop eating it ever since. I ate with my dinner, spread on toast with cheese this morning for breakfast and also scopped it as a side for lunch!

Ingredients - 20-25 green chillies (I used Jalapeno, slit in half and cut in small 1/2 inch pieces
- 2 cups of cranberry washed
- 3 tbsp mustard oil
- 1 tbsp black mustard seeds
- 1/4- 1/3 cups ground fennel seeds
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- Salt

Method
- Heat the oil in a wok.
- When hot, add mustard seeds
- After mistard seeds splutter, add green chili
- Add turmeric, fennel seeds and mix
- Mix and let mixture fry for couple of minutes
- Add cranberry, salt and mix
- Cook for another 7-10 minutes till cranberry collapses and cooks.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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