Maavinakaayi Chitraanna/Raw Mango rice

I was off on family trip to london all these days and subsequently couldn't update abhi-ruchi kitchen, sorry for disappearing abruptly. Our trip also was formed in a whiz. Though it was an adventurous trip we had a good time. We celebrated P’s 2^nd year bday with his favourite thomas tank engine cake and a dinner party @ pizza hut. He was thrilled to see an edible thomas :d. Heres a glimpse of my son’s all time choice – Thomas tank engine!

I call it an adventurous trip because the flights got diverted to Malaga which was the nearest city aiport as the visibility got messed up. And we were taken in an airport authority bus to Malaga airport (which took us almost 1.30hrs drive) from where we continued the journey and reached our destination sometime midnight. The 2.30hrs flight transformed into almost 9hrs flight ufffff.

Even the giant Rock of Gibraltar was completely covered with mist and nothing was visible even just outside the window. Yeah weather plays a vital role here wrt landing/taking off the flights. I guess even pilots are highly skilled.

Now let me tell you more about the Gibraltar airport runway in this post.

Gibraltar airport run way is on a reclaimed land. Its in the proximity of the Mediterranean and Atlantic. The run way is also used as a road that connects Gibraltar to Spain. If somebody has to drive from Gibraltar to Spain then they have to cross the runway. Yes it sounds a bit strange but this is how it works. The road traffic is stopped with a signal light when there are aircrafts landing or taking off. The security is excellent here.

The airport is distinct in its own way – probably its 1 of the closest airport to the city, i think its just around 500mts to the city centre J. If we are picking up some guests from the airport, we have the privilege of starting from home, only after we have seen the air craft land, from our balcony ;). Best part is many a times we have even walked down to the airport when we are not in a hurry or do not have much bags with us.

Here are few pics showing flights landing on the runway taken from our balcony. These pics are taken initially when i was crazy about watching every flight landing and take off :d. P is happy to see all modes of transport daily in the evenings – bus-car-bikes, boat, air crafts. He even identifies the airlines now ;)

Recently we had a stunning air show performance by the famous Red Arrows and we were lucky to watch the whole presentation. We did manage to capture few of their tricks in our SLR, heres a peek....

Now coming to my foodie talk, today am presenting an easy way of making Mavinakayi chitraanna or raw mango rice. I am not sure if this is a common method, we just tried something different in a jiffy and liked this recipe. Here goes the procedure for making it.

Ingredients

Serves 4

Raw rice – 1 cup

Raw mango grated – 2 medium sized

Fresh coconut grated – ½ cup

Mustard seeds – ½ tsp

Chana dal/ kadale beLe – 1tsp

Urad dal/ uddina beLe – 1tsp

Cumin seeds/ jeera – 1tsp

Turmeric powder – ½ tsp

Asafetida – 1/4tsp

Red chillies – 2 (medium spice, u can adjust according to your spice level)

Groundnut – 3tbspn

Handful of curry leaves

Salt to taste

Oil – 3tbspn

Method

• Wash the rice till the water is clear and cook it with 2cups of water in an electric cooker. Once the rice is done spread it on a thali or a large plate and let it cool.
• Heat oil in a pan/kadai, add all the tempering ingredients one by one i.e mustard, both the dals/lentils, turmeric powder, asafetida, red chillies, curry leaves. Next add groundnut to this and fry for a min or so till you hear some cracking sound.
• Then add the grated raw mango and fry for about 2-3min and turn off the heat.
• Lastly add this to the rice along with grated coconut, salt and mix well with your hands.

Mavinakayi chitraanna is ready to be served.

As i have shown in my earlier posts, you can also make mavinakayi chitraanna using chutney or even make this way. You can adopt whichever is easy for you. Any variations are welcome. Hope you all liked this week’s shoot & narration.

Happy reading J!!!