Parotta/porotta

Parottas..one of my fav. indian bread and my latest successful culinary experiment.I learned the procedure from my dear friend S abt 6 monthes ago.Ever since,whenever i make these, i was overwhelmed by the results.My mom didn't believe first, so i had send her the snaps :)).As we were planning for this vacation, my cousin sis first request was to teach her how to make these parottas.As i got my finger cut while making the side dish for the parottas, her hands posed for these snaps.Thanks to sweet brother-in-law and my DH for being patient and taking photos and shooting
videos and helped me post those here.A big special thanks to my sweet cousin sis.


Ingredients

Maida - 8 cups
Eggs - 2
Sugar -2tsp
Salt - as needed
Water - as needed

Method

Sieve maida and mix it with egg,sugar and salt.Knead it into soft dough using water.It took about 15-20 minutes of punching the dough with my fists.Divide the dough into equal sized balls and dip them in oil(half of the ball should be covered in oil and just pour some oil on top of the balls.(i know what u r thinking..this much oil..not to worry..the dough won't absorb the oil.The oil is just to keep the balls moist.You can very well reuse this oil for later cooking.Another option is, just rub the each ball very well with oil and keep it in a airtight vessel).Set this aside for 4-5 hrs.After 4-5 hrs, take one ball at a time.Roll that into a small chappathi.As shown below,keep one hand under and another over the chappathi and start beating it on the counter top.Keep going around the chappathi doing this until, the chappathi is very thin.Now try streching the chappathi with your hand to max level.Sometimes the chappathi breaks, that's just fine. Now pick the chappathi up by one end.Hold it vertically and try streching a little, careful not to break it.
Now keep rolling this in spirals and tuck the end into the center.just spread little oil on the sprial ball.After done making all the spiral balls, now get ready for the last step.Take one spiral ball at a time, roll it into small thick chappathi.Cook this in a hot griddle till it's golden brown on both the sides.(if you want u can add little oil while cooking).When 4-5 parottas are cooked, take and stack it up.Now try pushing them with both the hands from all the sides.This is just to separate the layers.Yeah...it's done serve is hot with mutton/chicken curry.We served these with Mutton salna, just like u get in the road side tattukada.(will post that recipe soon).

This is little time consuming one, but i bet u will never regret it..




Two eggs,flour,salt,sugar..getting ready to knead...




kneaded dough




dipped in oil




rolling into chappathi




Beating starts



Making it thinner






Streching to the max...



Streching vertically alil' bit





rolling spirally







Fully rolled one



Making thick chappathi out of spiral balls



Parottas cooking




Finished product..delicious..

Back...

Well i'm back home after a wonderful vacation.Got to taste my friends and cousin's cooking after a long time.Soon after coming home me and lil' one got sick, fever.so DH cooked dinner for us yesterday.This chicken recipe is from a TV show.

Kashmiri chilli chicken

Ingredients

Chicken - 2 lb (cut into small pieces)
Onion - 2 (sliced)
Tomatoes - 2 (chopped)
Mustard seeds - 1/4tsp
Vendhyam/fenugreek -1/4tsp
Jeera - 1/4tsp
Ginger garlic paste - 1tbsp
Coriander leaves - as needed
Turmeric powder - 1/2tsp
Kashmiri chilli powder - 2tsp
Cashew nuts - 5 (powdered)
Oil -2tbsp

Method

Clean and marinate chicken pieces with turmeric powder and salt.Heat oil in a pan, fry onions till golden brown.Add gg paste, tomatoes and chilli powder one at a time and fry till oil separates.Grind mustard,fenugreek and jeera into powder(used coffee grinder for this).Add this powder into the pan and fry for some more minutes.Now add chicken pieces and salt.Cover and cook till chicken is done.Now add powdered cashewnuts and mix well and cook.Finally add chopped coriander leaves.Serve hot with rice/roti.

Snacks for this weather...

As i am heading for a vacation after long time, thought of leaving you all two delicious snacks to enjoy .My lil' one calls both of these as "chicken", which happens to be his fav.food.Whenever he calls something i cook "chicken", then i know it's a hit...:))

Vendhaya keerai/Methi vadai

Ingredients

Yellow split dal - 2cups

Methi leaves - 1 cup

Jeera - 1tsp

Red chillies - 10-12

Ginger - 1 inch piece(grated)

Green chillies - 4 (chopped)

Onion - 1 (chopped)

Asafoetida/Perungayam - 1

Method

Soak yellow split dal for 2 hours.Take out abt 3-4 tbsp of dal and keep it aside.Grind rest of the dal with red chillies into a coarse paste without adding water.In a pan, heat 1 tbsp of oil and saute methi leaves well.Now in a bowl, mix dal paste,methi leaves,kept aside dal,ginger,green chillies,jeera,perungayam and salt well.Make them into small patties (vadas) and deep fry them in oil till golden brown.

Noodles balls

Ingredients

Noodles - a handful (i used lo mein noodles, you can use pretty much any type)

Onion - 1 medium sized ( chopped fine)

Green chillies- 4 ( chopped)

All purpose flour or maida - 4 tbsp

Cheese - optional

Salt - as needed

Oil - for frying

Method

Cook noodles in boiling water and drain them.In a bowl, mix cooked noodles,onion,green chillies ,salt and maida together.Make balls out of it and deep fry them in hot oil.

For kiddie version, i placed tiny pieces of parmesean cheese in the midlle of the ball and replaced green chillies with little crushed pepper.Try adding ginger,coriander leaves...

Happy Thanksgiving

I take this oppertunity to thank all of you who have visited here and encouraged me to keep sharing my experiments with food.I thank, my H for being supportive and encouraging without even visiting my blog unless i force him to..:))A big thanks to my lil' one who is been very cooperative while I cook ( not the times when he messes around with Atta n' rice).Happy thanksgiving....


As i have mentioned, my fav. hobby is playing with the yarns..so here some of the my latest products which i knitted time in between.This is for my lovely cousin whom we will be visiting this thanksgiving.One of the scarf is for my H, who is having a bad time with the weather...:))

Mothagam

Mothagam, one of my fav. snack from kerala.There is no tea shop in kerala without these wonderful snacks on their glass shelves.Me and H both luv this alot and got a perfect oppertunity to make these for this month's Jihva as the ingredient is Jaggery.So this my entry for Jihva - Jaggery.


Ingredients

Chrupayar/Green gram dal - 1 cup
Jaggery - 1 cup (small pieces)
Maida - 1/2 cup
Water - as needed
Salt - as needed
Oil -for deep frying


Method

Soak green gram dal overnight and boil it in a pressure cooker for 1 whistle.Switch off the stove and let the pressure go down.now open the cooker and drain water off from the dal.Now take dal in a bowl and add tiny pieces of jaggery and mix them well.Make them into small sized balls.For the batter , mix maida,salt with water into a smooth batter.(If you want u can a pinch of baking soda).The batter should be slightly thinner than the dosa batter.Roll each balls into the batter till they are fullt coated and deep fry them in hot oil.

Methi chappathi

Ingredients

Methi levaes - 1cup
Wheat flour - 1 1/2 cup
Chilli powder - 1tsp
Salt - as needed
Oil - as needed
Ghee- as needed


Method

In some oil, saute methi leaves till cooked.In a bowl, mix wheat flour, salt and sauted methi leaves.Make it into a chappathi dough using hot water.Cover the dough with wet paper towel and keep it aside for 1/2 hr.After 1/2 hr, roll into chappathi.Now heat tawa and cook chappathi using ghee.Serve hot with raita/pickle/dal.

Tindora-Potato fry with Collard greens-radish kootu

Tindora-Potato fry (Kovakkai-aloo fry)

Ingredients

Tindora - 5-10(quarterd lengthwise)
Potato - 3 medium sized (chopped lengthwise)
Redchilli powder - 1 1/2tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2tsp
Mustard seeds - 1tsp
Urad dal - 1/2tsp
curry leaves - as needed
Oil - as needed
Salt - as needed


Method

In oil , fry mustard seeds, urad dal and then curry leaves.Now add tindora and fry for sometime.Then add potato, turmeric powder and salt.Finally when almost cooked add red chilli powder and fry some more min.s.Serve with rice.



Collard greens-radish kottu

Only a month ago i started cooking with collard greens, but fell in love with it.(thanks to Priya for Sugar and Spice).For this kootu, i used some leftover collard and radish.


Ingredients

Toor dal - 1 cup (cooked)
Collard greens - 1cup(chopped)
Radish - 1/4 cup (chopped)
Mustard seeds - 1tsp
Urad dal - 1/2tsp
Perungayam - a pinch
Turmeric powder -1/2tsp
Curry leaves - as needed

For grinding

Coconut- 1/4cup
Jeera - 1/4tsp
Garlic - 1 pod
Shallot - 1
Red chillies - 5-6


Method

Grind the coconut with other ingredients listed under "For grinding" into a fine paste.In a pan heat oil and fry mustard seeds,urad dal and curry leaves.Add Collard greens and fry well.In the mean time, cook radish in microwave for abt 5-6 min.s.After the greens are well cooked add the grinded coconut paste and fry till the raw smell goes.Now add radish and toor dal.Add turmeric powder and perungayam and boil for abt 5-6 mintues.Serve hot with rice.

Pillsbury..

Baking for breakfast, this month's WBB#7 theme.As soon as Nandita announced, i went to search for an ingredient with which i could play around.Got it, it was right there in my fridge( which i had totally forgotten abt),Pillsbury dinner rolls.So from last week, i was playing around with many possible ways of breakfast items using these wonderful rolls.


Cinnamon swirls

This recipe was adapted from a recipe idea i found on Pillsbury website.This was the first one to try and came out pretty well.

Ingredients

Pillsbury® Refrigerated Crescent Dinner Rolls - 1 (8-oz.) can
Granulated sugar - 2tbsp
Cinnamon powder - 1/2tsp
Chocalate icing - for topping

Method

Heat oven to 375°F.Separate dough into 4 rectangles; firmly press perforations to seal. In small bowl, combine sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle mixture evenly over rectangles. Starting at shorter side, roll up each rectangle; pinch edges to seal. Cut each roll into 5 slices.Place them in a parchment paper line cookie sheet ,Bake at 375°F. for 13 to 20 minutes or until golden brown.After it is cooled down , top it with chocalate icing.



Cinnamon Swirls



Spicy Egg Roll


Ingredients

Pillsbury® Refrigerated Crescent Dinner Rolls - 1 (8-oz.) can
Egg - 2 ( hard boiled and shelled)
Onion - 1/2
Chilli powder - 1tsp
Turmeric powder -1/4tsp
Vinegar - 1/2tsp
Oil - 1tbsp
Salt - as needed


Method

Take the hard boiled egg and shell them and and cut them into 4 slices(lengthwise).
In a pan. heat oil and fry sliced onion till brown.Now add chilli,turmeric powder and salt and fry till aroma comes .finally add the vinegar and fry for some more minutes.Heat oven to 375°F. Separate dough into 16 triangles.working one trinagle at a time, place one egg slice with the onion masala on the longer side of the triangle.Now start rolling from the longer side towards the shorter side, make it as tight as possible.Place them in a cookie sheet and bake them till they are golden brown(13-20).







Spicy Egg roll

I made apple roll and simple parmesean roll the same way.For apple roll , i used appleslices with some sugar,cinnamon,nutmeg and limejuice.For parmesean cheese roll, just sprinkled some parmeasean cheese :)).In the case of other swirls, i made kale+parmesean swirls.I mixed finely chopped kale greens with some salt,pepper and parmesean cheese and sprinkle them into the dough.For the tiny square pizzas, i used onions,tomatoes and cheese.

I gave egg wash for some of the above items and have to say it really makes a difference.




Apple roll



Kale Swirls




Parmesean roll



Itsy bitsy pizzas

Puttu with kadala curry

My mom got me this puttu maker when i got married.This is totally different from the usual one comes with these tiny cups. Kadala curry recipe i got from one of my friend.


Kadala curry

Ingredients

Black channa - 2 cup
Onion - 1 (sliced)
(take 1/4 of the sliced onion and keep aside for tadka)
Green chillies - 2 (slit)
Ginger garlic paste - 1tsp
Coconut - 1/2cup
Tomatoes - 1 (chopped)
Turmeric powder - 1/2tsp
Chilli powder - 1tsp
Chilli powder - 1tsp
Mustard seeds - 1tsp
Urad dal - 1tsp
Curry leaves - as needed


Method

Soak channa overnight and boil it with salt,sliced onion and green chillies.
Dry roast coconut till golden brown.Grind this coconut,1tbsp of boiled channa ,curry leaves and turmeric powder together into a fine paste.Heat oil in a pan,fry mustard seeds,urad dal,curry leaves and then fry onion, gg paste and tomatoes very well till the tomatoes are no where to be seen.Add chilli powder and fry for 2 min.s.Now add boiled channa mixture and grinded coconut paste.Boil it till the raw smell is gone.Serve it hot with puttu.

Chicken Biryani

Chicken biryani, this rice variety seems to have lotz of method to prepare.I have tried many and finally stuck with just two of them.One of the method i use is making the rice and gravy separately and then layer them and do "dum".Second one, got the recipe from one of our friend.In all our get together , we made sure that he cooks his tasty biryani.It's very tasty and easy recipe.

Ingredients

Rice - 1 1/2 cup
Chicken - 1lb
Onion - 1 large (chopped fine)
Tomato - 1 (chopped)
Chilli powder - 1tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2tsp
Garam masala - 1tsp
Green chillies - 5-6 (adjust according to u'r taste)
Ginger garlic paste - 1 1/2 tsp
Cinnamon - 1 piece
Cloves - 2
Cardamom - 2
Bay leaves -2
Butter - 2tbsp
Oil -1tbsp
Coriander leaves for garnishing


Method

In a pressure cooker, heat butter and oil.Add and fry cinnamon, cloves,bay leaves.Now add chopped green chillies and onion.Fry till onions are golden brown.Add chopped tomato now and fry well.Then add gg paste, tumeric powder,garam masla and chilli powder and fry abt 7-8 min. on medium low flame.Now add chopped chicken and mix very well with the masala.Cook till water comes out the chicken and it is starting to boil.Now add rice, salt and water.Finally add cardamom.Pressure cook this for 1 whistle and switch off the heat.Leave the cooker just like that for another 10 min.s.After 10 min.s open the cooker and garnish biryani with chopped coriander leaves.Serve hot with raita,papadam.

Ulli chutney/shallot chutney

This is one of my fav. mom's recipes.One of most fav. , i missed alot during my hostel days...

Ingredients

Shallots - 1 cup (chopped)
Tamarind - amla size
Turmeric powder -1/4 tsp
Red chilli powder - 1tsp
Perungayam/asfoedita - a pinch
Mustard seeds - 1tsp
Urad dal -1/2tsp
Curry leaves - as needed


Method

soak tamarind in water and take out the juice.In a pan, heat oil and fry mustard seeds,urad dal and curry leaves.Now add chopped shallots and fry till they are soft.Add chilli and turmeric powder and fry for 2-3 min.sfinally add tamarind juice,salt and perungayam.Let it boil till it reaches slightly thicker consistency.Serve hot with dosa/idly.

Festive lunch

I made this for diwali day,didn't get time to post it.Better late than never right?...so here it is..Got this recipe off of a magazine clipping given by my cousin.On my last visit to india, she gave me all her magazine recipe clippings to me.Thanks to her, i have tried almost everything on that clippings,very good collection of recipes.

Mutton varuval

Ingredients

Mutton - 1/4 kilo ( diced into smal cubes)
Onion - 150g fine chopped
Tomatoes - 150 finely chopped
Ginger - 1 piece finely chopped
Garlic - 4 pods finely chopped
Green chillies -2 finely chopped
Chilli powder - 1tsp
Coriander powder - 3 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2tsp
Red chillies - 4
Curry leaves - as needed
Pepper powder - as needed
Oil -as needed

Method

Mix mutton, onion, tomatoes, green chillies, ginger,garlic,curry leaves,chilli powder,coriander powder, turmeric powder, curry leaves and salt together.Add a glass of water.Pressure cook for abt 3 whistles.After 3 whistle , simmer the heat and cook for another 5 mintues.Now switch off the heat.In a heavy bottomed pan, heat oil and fry red chillies and curry leaves.Add the mutton gravy into this and fry till it is almost dry.Finally sprinkle pepper powder.


Mutton kuzhambu

Ingredients

Mutton - 2lbs
Onion - 2 (finely chopped)
Green chillies -2 (slit)
Ginger garlic paste - 1tbsp
Chilli powder - 2tsp
Coriander powder - 1tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Coconut - 1/4 cup
Perunjeera - 1tsp
Cloves - 2
Cardamom - 2
Cinnamon - 1 piece
Oil+ghee - 1tbsp
Curry leaves - as needed

Method

In a pressure cooker, heat oil+ghee and fry cloves,cardamom and cinnamon.Add chopped onion to it and fry till they are golden brown.Add green chillies and curry leaves for some more min.s.Add gg paste and fry till the raw smell goes.Now add chilli, coriander, turmeric powders and finally add the mutton.Fry for abt 2-3 min.s and add salt and little water.Pressure cook for abt 5-6 whistles( this depends upon u'r cooker).In the mean time grind coconut and perunjeeragam with little water into a fine paste.After 5-6 whistles , switch off the stove.After the pressure is fully gone, open the cooker.Add coconut paste to the mutton and cook for another 10 minutes.Serve hot with rice/idly/roti.



Pal payasam


Ingredients

Milk - 4 cup
Basamati rice - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 1 1/2 cup
Ghee - 1tbsp
Cardamom powder - 1/2tsp
Cashews - 5-6


Method

Boil milk well and add rice to it.In low heat,keep stirring till rice is done.
Keep stirring until the rice is well cooked and milk is starting to evaporate and add sugar at this point.Boil for another 10 minutes and swtich off the stove.Now add cardamom powder.In a pan , heat ghee and fry cashews till golden brown and pour that into the payasam.Serve it hot or cold.

Happy Birthday Dear!!!

DH had his birthday this weekend.Myself and my lil' helper tried to bake a fancy (?) cake for him.As you can see from the picture..hmmm..don't laugh..that's my writing not my toddler's.This is my first time trying icing on a cake.DH was laughing his heart out, but mentioned did a good job for a firsttimer ,being very humble:)).Had a hard time with the cake crumbs,although i did everything that says on the book.The crumbs were unstoppable:((.I used ready cake mix and icing for this cake.



My lil' helper...



Helper having a taste in between...

Melting Hearts

Made these Melting hearts for my DH's birthday this weekend.While making these, was thinking abt what to name it..finally decided on melting hearts.Still couldn't believe with a bit of food color and cookie cutter, can do lotz of amazing things.This was a bit of hard work but the end product was amazing.He better not forget my b'day:))

Ingredients

Badam/Almonds - 3 cups (blanched)
Milk - 1 1/2 cups
Sugar - 3 cups
Food color - as needed (I used red food color)
Cookie cutter - any shape

Method

For blanching almonds : I microwaved almonds in a bowl of water for abt 10 mts.Drained them and took the skin off.

Grind almonds into a fine paste using milk.At low flame,nn a heavy bottomed vessel, add the grounded paster and sugar.KEEP STIRRING and let it come to a dough like consistency.This should take abt 40-45 mts.DO NOT INCREASE HEAT ABOVE MEDIUM LOW.
Once it reaches dough like consistency , take 1/2 of it and add food color to it.Let both the halves cool a bit.Now roll them into 1/8 inch chappathi.(Always put rest of the dough in a closed container while working, because it will dry up and becomes hard outside just like chappathi dough).Using any shaped cookie cutters cut out the shapes.I used two sizes of hearts.Place them in a air tight container and store in the refrigerator.3 cups of badam makes about 30-35 hearts.

Muttai kuzhambu

Yet another simple egg curry using coconut.

Ingredients

Eggs - 3(boiled and cut into halves)
Onion - 1/2 onion(finely chopped)
Red chillies - 5
Coconut - 1/4 cup (shredded)
Jeera - 1tsp
Garlic - 1 small pod
Turmeric powder -1/4tsp
Curry leaves - as needed
Mustard seeds -1tsp
Vendhayam/fenugreek seeds -1/4tsp
Urad dal - 1/2tsp
Coriander leaves for garnishing.

Method

Hard boil the eggs and shell them.Cut them into halves and keep it aside.Grind coconut,red chillies,garlic,jeera into a fine paste.Heat oil in a pan and fry mustard,vendhayam,urad dal.Now add curry leaves and onion and fry till onions are gloden brown.Add the grounded coconut paste,turmeric powder and salt and fry till the raw smell goes and oil separates.Pour this gravy into the eggs and garnish with coriander leaves.

P.S: i accidently added lil' more oil for tadka...:))

Kadai chicken

I don't know why..all at home (hmmm.. only 3 :)) love this chicken.We love to have just this as a snack.Kadai chicken, as the name itself says made in deep wok and fried till the dish is almost dry.An excellent side kick for a good glass of wine according to my H.


Ingredients

Chicken - 1/2 lb
Onion - 1 (finely chopped)
Tomato - 1(finely chopped or grinded)
Chilly powder - 1tsp
Dania powder - 1tsp
Turmeric powder -1/4tsp
Ginger garlic paste - 1/2 tbsp
Kasoori methi - 1/2tsp
Oil - 2tbsp
Salt - as needed

For grinding

Poppy seeds - 1/4 tsp
Cashew nuts - 5-6
Peppercorns - 1/4 tsp
Cardamom - 1
Clove - 1
Perunjeera - 1/4tsp


Method


Grind all the ingredients listed under "For grinding" into a fine paste.Heat oil in a pan and fry onion till they are golden brown.Add GG paste and thenadd the chilly,dania,turmeric powders and fry for some time.Now add the tomaotes and salt and fry till oil separates.Now add the grounded masala and fry till the raw smell goes.Finally add the chicken pieces and let it cook.don not pour water and do not cover the pan.Cook the chicken till all the juices is dried up.The dish should look almost like a fried chicken with no sauce at all.Finally add kasoori methi and fry for some more minute.Serve hot with rice/roti etc.

Note:Before grinding the masalas, soak poppy seeds and cashews in a cup of water and microwave for abt 40sec.This will help to grind the poppy seeds well.

Cauliflower Biryani

Ingredients

Basmati rice - 2 cup
Onion - 2 (sliced lengthwise)
Tomato -3 (chopped)
Green chillies -2 (slit)
Yogurt - 1/2 cup
Lemon juice - 1tbsp
Chilly powder - 1tsp
Turmeric powder -1/4tsp
Ginger garlic paste - 1tbsp
Coriander/mint leaves - as needed
Cauliflower - 1/2 of a medium sized one (cut into florets)
Green peas - 1/2 cup
Carrot - 1 (chopped)
Salt - as needed
Oil - 1tbsp
Ghee - 1tbsp
Cardamom - 4
Cloves - 2
Cinnamon - 1 inch piece

Method

Clean the rice and soak it in 3 cups of water.Heat ghee-oil in the pressure cooker and fry cardamom,cinnamon,cloves.Then add sliced onion and turmeric powder and fry till onion is golden brown.Now add gg paste,chilly powder and tomatoes one by one and fry for abt 2-3 min.s.Now add the veggies and saute for few min.s.Add yogurt,lime juice,mint/coriander leaves,green chillies and salt.Mix everything well and saute for few more min.s.Now finally add rice with water.Check for salt.Pressure cook for 1 whistle.Serve hot with raita and pappad.