One day I was cooking in my own kitchen pampered with an array of cutlery, a pantry filled with aromatic spices and the summer heat pervading through the dish. Two days later, I was cooking in a kitchen in the southern hemisphere where winter was rife. With bare minimum utensils and a kitchen shelf peppered with a few important spices to suit the Indian palate, the creative mind awoke with a jolt to turn every bit of fruit, flower, seed and vegetable into a quick to make, palatable dish.

A ready-to-cook dhokla mix was a savior in the first week of our stay in New Zealand. But there was always that nostalgia for the tamarind-dates chutney. With no dates or jaggery available anywhere around where we lived, the creative mind kicked in a fruity idea.

Adding a play of colour and experimenting with minimum off-the-shelf spices, I dished up a now-family-favourite chutney for dhoklas – all with juicy strawberries. It takes under 10 minutes to cook and needs just basic spices to magnify the flavours.

For the Red strawberry Chutney you will need:

100 gm strawberries chopped into small pieces

50 gm strawberries pureed

1 teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoon water

Red chilli powder

Salt to taste

Heat a flat pan, add one teaspoon of sugar and stir continuously until it begins to melt. Then add the chopped strawberries and stir continuously on medium flame until the juice begins to ooze. Once the pieces get tender, add the strawberry puree, red chillie powder depending on your spice level, and salt. Stir them well and let the mixture simmer on medium flame for three minutes or until the strawberry pieces are cooked. Turn off the flame and mash the pieces lightly with a ladle.

A fruity chutney is all ready for your khamman dhoklas

              

Being a vegetarian can be quite a bane in a country that prides in its meat production. The small variety of vegetables often restricts cooking. Over a few weeks, I realized I was cooking the same dishes over and over again, which made mealtimes quite boring. When I chanced upon two ripe guavas hiding in the back of the refrigerator, I couldn’t but help experimenting with a recipe I once heard from a friend.

For the Guava Curry you will need:

2 ripe/ overripe guavas cut into medium sized cubes

2 medium sized tomatoes

1 capsicum

Red chilli powder to taste

Pepper powder to taste

½ teaspoon dry mango powder (optional)

½ teaspoon turmeric powder

Salt to taste

1 teaspoon oil

½ teaspoon of mustard seeds

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

Pinch of asafoetida

Heat oil in a wok. Splutter mustard seeds. Then add the cumin seeds and asafoetida. Once the cumin seeds turn mildly brown, add the capsicum and stir on medium flame until it begins to cook. Then add the tomato pieces and stir fry until it begins to soften and ooze its juice. Toss in the ripe guavas. Add turmeric powder, chilli powder, pepper powder and salt.

Guava Curry

Note: if you are cooking for a child and wish to avoid chilli, you can increase the quantity of pepper powder alone to suit the child’s spice taste.

 

Author's Bio

Keerthana is a journalist & digital marketing professional who juggles between being a mom to a creative Foodsee daughter & a blogger. You can read more of her writing at thisshortstory.wordpress.com