Fruits are typically had on their own, as salads, or quick desserts topped with ice-cream or custard. But can you imagine rustling up main courses with fresh fruits? For most people, fruits in cooking would evoke western dishes like cakes, compotes and mocktails.
However, Indian cuisine has a lot of fruity inspiration for your meal-times as well. From tangy curries to pulao to halwa, there is a whole smorgasbord of Indian dishes that you can prepare with sweet, fresh fruits from the market. Here are our 10 best fruit recipes in Indian cuisine.
Pineapple Pulao
Prepare this pulao with 1 bowl pineapple, 2 tbsp clarified butter, 3-4 tbsp grated coconut, 1 tbsp rasins, 1 tbsp cumin seeds, salt to taste, 4-5 dried red chillies, 1 tbsp biryani masala, 1/2 tsp yellow colour, 1 tbsp cashew, coriander as per need and boiled rice.
Chikoo Barfi
Make this barfi with 4-5 chikoo pulp (peel the skin and grate), 150g mawa (dried whole milk), 3 tbsp desiccated coconut, ½ cup sugar and chopped cashew nuts.
Kelyacha Halwa
Prepare this halwa using 3 chopped bananas, 1 bowl sugar, chopped almond and pistachio, ½ tsp elaichi (cardamom) powder, 2 tsp ghee and ½ bowl grated coconut.
Mambazha Pullisery
Make a curry out of 2 ripe mangoes, 500ml curd loosened with ¼ cup of water, ¼ tsp turmeric, ¼ tsp red chili powder, ½ cup of grated coconut and 2 green chilies. Top with a tempering of 2 tsp coconut oil, 1 tsp mustard seeds, 1 tsp fenugreek seeds and 1 sprig curry leaves.
Sitaphal Basundi
Steam 200 gm Milkmaid in a cooker for 25 whistles. Add it to milk with milk masala and boil. Once it cools, add custard apple pulp and blend well. Garnish with chopped almonds.
Guava Cheese
Boil chopped guava with some water and then grind to a smooth paste. Boil sugar with water to make sugar syrup. Add the guava pulp and cook well. Add a small amount of food colouring and mix nicely. Pour the mixture into a baking tray and allow it to cool overnight. Cut into desired shapes the next morning.
Jackfruit with Prawns
Heat oil in a pan. Add some minced garlic, green chillies and onions. Wait for the onions to turn pink. Add prawns to the pan now. Season it with chilli powder, turmeric, salt and coriander and cumin powder. Stir fry it and let the prawns cook till they become orange. Add the shredded jackfruits along with its seeds. Add the tamarind pulp. Mix well. Sprinkle the coriander leaves along with grated coconut and mix well. Serve!
Pineapple Sambhar
For this recipe, you will need 1 bowl pineapple, 1 bowl thick coconut milk, 2 onions finely chopped, 1 tomato sliced, 1 tbsp sugar, coriander, 2 dried red chillies chopped, 1 tbsp cashew nuts, ½ tsp turmeric powder, salt to taste, ½ tsp cumin seeds, 1 tbsp ghee and water.
Mango Lassi
Blend 1 mango (boiled and pureed), 1/2 tsp green cardamom powder, 1 cup curd, 1 tbsp sugar, mint leaves and serve chilled.
Uniappam
Make a batter out of 1 cup of red rice batter (idli batter consistency), 1 banana, ½ cup jaggery syrup, ½ cup of fried coconut pieces, 1 tsp sesame seeds and 4-5 crushed cardamom seeds. Ferment it for 4-5 hours. Coat appam maker moulds with ghee, pour batter and cook. Turn over when brown.