A new year, a new beginning! Seven months of blogging, many more of learning and my 100th post! What a beautiful journey this has been. This year I have decided to go beyond the usual, alongside the food I have cooking for years.

A bunch of us have got together to bond sans boundaries and explore cuisines across the world.
January is the month we go outside of our comfort zones and face a culinary challenge from a hitherto unknown realm! It is delightful as we swap traditional Indian recipes.
The fun unfolds today!
Find us here at Chefs Across Boundaries to explore a variety of cuisines over the next 12 months.
https://www.facebook.com/chefsacrossboundaries

My experiments with the rich South Indian cuisine have been limited to making Idli,dosa and uttapams. So I was delighted when the very talented Vishaka Rautela gave me the opportunity to explore the Manglorean cuisine with this sweet,spicy and tangy Pineapple Menaskai. It was like an explosion of flavours on the taste buds. We enjoyed it with rice and I liked it even better the next day with some chapati. It reminded me in some ways of the Kacche aam ki Launji (Raw mango chutney style curry) with an added flavour of coconut and urad dal. Thanks Vishu for introducing me to this wonderful new cuisine. Here is the link to the original recipe

Mangalorean Pineapple Menaskai

Manglorean Pineapple Menaskai

And here is the text recipe

Manglorean Pineapple Menaskai
Ingredients
1 cubed pineapple (without the core)
1 lemon size tamarind ball soaked in water
1/4 cup jaggery
7 to 8 dried bedki chillies (reduce the number if you want it less hot)
2 tsp urad dal
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
3 tsp black sesame seeds
1/2 cup freshly grated coconut
For tempering
1 Tbsp Oil
5-6 curry leaves
1/2 tsp urad dal
2 to 3 dry red chillies

Method

Cut pineapple into cubes and half cook along with tamarind water and jaggery.
Roast red chillies, urad dal, mustard and dry grind them in the mixer
Roast black sesame seeds lightly. Add to the chilli mix and grind well.
Add some water and grind this masala with coconut to a fine paste.
Add the ground masala to the pineapple. Adjust consistency by adding water.
Boil on low flame for about 5 to 10 minutes till the the raw coconut smell is gone and is pineapple is soft.
Add salt as required.
Temper with curry leaves, urad dal and red chillies.
Serve hot with rice.