Half Ripe Mango and Lime Margarita

The margarita is a Mexican cocktail consisting of tequila mixed with triple sec and lime or lemon juice, often served with salt on the glass rim. It is the most common tequila-based cocktail in the United States. The drink is served shaken with ice, on the rocks, blended with ice (frozen margarita) or without ice (straight up).

Variations
Margaritas come in a variety of flavors and colors.

The IBA (IBA Official list of Cocktails) standard is 7:4:3, that is, 50% tequila, 29% Triple Sec, 21% fresh lime or lemon juice.

Other than triple sec, other types of orange-flavored liqueur are sometimes used, such as Patrón Citrónge (produced in Mexico), Controy (produced in Mexico), Cointreau (produced in France), blue curaçao yielding the blue margarita.

The "top shelf," "grand", "royal", or "Cadillac" margaritas often contain a premium citrus liqueur such as Grand Marnier or Gran Gala. Such higher quality or "top shelf" margaritas will usually use a premium grade of tequila as well. When sweeter fruit juices or freshly puréed fruits are added to the margarita, the amount of orange-flavored liqueur is often reduced or it is eliminated entirely. In addition to orange-flavored liqueurs, secondary liqueurs may occasionally be added to the cocktail, including Melon-flavored MIDORI, black raspberry-flavored Chambord.

Fresh squeezed lime juice is the key ingredient. The most common lime in the U.S. is the thick skinned Persian lime. However, margaritas in Mexico are generally made with Mexican limes (Key limes). These are small, thin skinned limes and have a more tart and an often bitter flavor compared to Persian limes. Margaritas made with lemon have a softer taste, especially when Meyer lemons are used.

Other fruits:
Alternate fruits and juice mixtures can also be used in a margarita. Many recipes call for a splash of orange juice. When the word "margarita" is used by itself, it typically refers to the lime or lemon juice margarita, but when other juices are used, the fruits are typically added as adjectives in the name; with lime juice or lemon juice added like a condiment (and a wedge of lime often added to the glass).

Serving glasses:
Margaritas may be served in a variety of glasses, most notably the stereotypical margarita glass, a variant of the classic Champagne coupe; this is particularly associated with blended fruit margaritas, and the glass is also used for dishes such as guacamole or shrimp cocktails. In formal settings margaritas are often served in a standard cocktail glass, while in informal settings, particularly with ice, margaritas may be served in an old-fashioned glass.


Here is how I make my margarita from half ripe mango and lime juice:
This recipe yields 4 servings.


Ingredients:


* 1/2 cup Frozen limeade concentrate undiluted


* 1/4 cup fresh lime juice


* 1/4 cup orange juice


* 3/4 cup tequila


* 1 cup Triple Sec or Cointreau


* 1 large half ripe fresh mango, peeled and cubed


* 3/4" of fresh ginger peeled and grated


* 1 and half cup crushed ice


* 1/4 cup lime juice to coat sugar on rim of serving glasses


* 1/2 cup sugar to coat the rim of serving glasses



Method:


* Prepare the serving stemmed glasses ahead of time by dipping the rim into lime juice and then turning them upside down in a dish full of sugar, thus generously coating each rim with thick coating of sugar.


* Chill these stemmed glasses with sugar coated rims in fridge until ready to serve.


* Place all the ingredients in a blender and blend them to a slushy consistency.


* Pour the margaritas in to chilled stemmed glasses with sugar coated rim.


* Serve immediately.


Hint:

If you don't have Tequila, and Triple sec handy, you can use 2 cups of ready made Golden Margarita with all of the other ingredients and blend them in blender to frothy slush like consistency.


Margarita description source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margarita
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_Creative_Commons_Attribution-ShareAlike_3.0_Unported_License

Recipe and Photographs by Surekha.

Read More »

Crispy Indian-Chinese Garlic Chili Potatoes

This recipe yields 8 generous servings.

I love this dish, if you have soy sauce, and different variety of chinese chili sauce, garlic, ginger, potatoes and some veggies, in your pantry and fridge. You can prepare this dish and you can modify this any which way you like and can not go wrong with it. You don't have to add all the sauces that I added, if you have soy sauce, spicy chili sauce, ketch and honey that would do.

This is Indian version of Chinese appetizer snack, which is very popular in Indian Chinese restaurants.

What you need to do is follow my recipe for crispy homemade seasoned french fries to make the crispy potatoes. Then follow this recipe to make gravy for chili potatoes.

I added mushroom, green peppers and red onions with chili potatoes, but you may omit these veggies entirely and just make the potatoes in this gravy, or you may add more veggies like baby corn, water chestnuts and cashews.

Here is how I made it this time.



To make the potatoes fries you will need following ingredients:


* 8 potatoes washed thoroughly and cut not as thin as fries but like thick chunks.


* 1 cup crispy fry mix (or you can use 1/2 cup of all purpose flour, 1/2 cup of rice flour, and 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda mixed together to substitute crispy fry mix.


* 1 cup of corn starch


* 1 teaspoon garlic salt


* 1 teaspoon onion salt


* 1 tablespoon salt


* 1 tablespoon paprika


* 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper


* 1 tablespoon cumin powder


* 1 teaspoon ground black pepper


* 3/4 cup lemon or lime juice


* You will need 1 large Ziploc bag


* Vegetable oil for deep frying





For gravy you will need following Ingredients:


* 2" piece of ginger peeled and chopped


* 20 cloves of garlic


* 10 pods of fresh red chili peppers (I used frozen from local Indian grocer)


* 2 medium green peppers chopped in to 1" chunks


* 1 pack (8oz) of mushrooms whole with stem removed


* 1 large red onion chopped in to chunks


* Juice from 2 fresh limes


* 2 tablespoon of sesame oil or any cooking oil


* 2 tablespoon sesame seeds


* 1/2 cup of soy sauce (you may use low sodium soy sauce)


* 1/2 cup of red garlic chili sauce


* 1/2 cup of Schezwan sauce


* 1/4 cup of Chinese 5 spice sauce


* 1 tablespoon of black pepper sauce


* 1/2 cup of honey


* 1 tablespoon of sugar


* 1/2 cup of Ketchup


* 1/2 cup of sweet chili sauce


* 1/4 cup of Teriyaki sauce (optional)


* 1/4 cup of Mango chutney (optional)


* 1 tablespoon of cayenne pepper powder (or to taste)


* 1 tablespoon of paprika powder


* 1/2 cup of water






For garnishing you will need following ingredients:



* 1/4 cup of chopped cilantro leaves


* 1/4 cup of chopped spring onions with greens



Method:


To make crispy potatoes:

* Cut the potatoes in to short wedges/chunks (thicker than french fries), place them in water so they won't turn brown.


* Once you cut all the potatoes, drain all the water and transfer and spread them on a wide microwave safe dish or casserole.


* Cook them in Microwave (uncovered) on high power for 5 min.


* Take them out of Microwave and let them cool.


* Heat oil in a deep fryer at 400 degrees.


* While the oil is heating, mix all the flours, salt and spices in a large bowl till everything is incorporated.


* Transfer the flour mix in a large Ziploc bag.


* Transfer all the cut wedges in to this bag.


* Add lemon or lime juice.


* Zip seal the bag securely.


* Gently toss and coat all the spiced batter on potatoes with hands on outsides of sealed Ziploc bag.


* Once all the potatoes are coated well with batter, transfer by emptying the content of bag in a bowl or plate, add some water if needed to coat the potatoes evenly with batter.


* Deep fry the coated potatoes until golden brown and crispy.


* Remove and drain on paper towels and set aside.


To make gravy:


* Cut onions, mushrooms and green pepper in to chunks and coat them with fresh lime juice, set aside.


* In a food processor chop garlic, ginger and red chili pods to coarse paste.


* Heat oil on stove, when hot add sesame seeds, (you may also add cashew at this point) when these are light brown add chili garlic ginger paste and saute for 1 min.


* Add cayenne pepper, paprika and sugar, mix well.


* Add all the veggies and saute for 1 min.


* Add all the sauces, chutney, honey, ketchup and water, cook for 1 more min.


* Add crispy fried potatoes.


* Mix well, turn the heat off.


* Note that there is no need to add salt to this gravy, as all the sauces and the soy sauce will have enough salt plus the potato fries that you made earlier will have salt too, so there is no need to add sauce to the gravy.


* Garnish with chopped cilantro leaves and chopped spring onions.


* Serve hot as an appetizer or as light lunch with plain white rice.



Hints:


* You can modify the amount of sweetness and heat according to your taste by adjusting the amount of sugar, Ketchup and hot sauces and hot peppers.

* You can make crispy baby corn and chili Paneer following same recipe.

* Note that most of these sauces that I used above are available at local Indian or Chinese grocers.



Recipe and Photographs by Surekha.

Read More »