Bell Pepper - Raspberry chutney

This spicy 'n tangy chutney is made with roasted bell peppers and raspberries.This is my entry for VOW-JFI "Bell peppers" hosted by Pooja of My creative ideas.




Ingredients

Red Bell pepper - 1 ( used store brought roasted bell pepper)
Raspberry - 10
Olive oil - 2 tsp
Sugar - a pinch
Red chilly powder - 2 tsp
Grated ginger - 1/2tsp
Salt - as needed

Method

Take out roasted bell pepper from the bottle and drain it in a paper towel.Chop it into fine piecesIn a sauce pan, heat olive oil.Add ginger and raspberry and saute them.As they started to cook, add roasted bell pepper,chilly powder,salt and sugar.Saute well and mush the gravy very well so that you won't get pieces of raspberry or bell peppers.Serve it with dosa,roti or bread.





Note : If you want reduce the tanginess (i hope this is the word, well u know what i mean :D), you can always adjust the number of raspberry.

Tomatillo Pacchadi

When mom was here, she was making this every other week.She was so fascinated to see "Paccha thakkali" in the local shop.She said,oh..you get even this here..:).Again this is a new vegetable she introduced to me on her visit.


Ingredients

Tomatillos - 3
Onion - 1
Coconut - 1/4cup
Jeera - 1tsp
Garlic - 1 pod
Curry leaves - a few
Turmeric powder - 1/2tsp
Red chilli powder - 1tsp
Oil -2tsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Urad dal - 1/2tsp

Method

Grind coconut,jeera,garlic and curry leaves into a fine paste.Slice onions and tomatillos.In a pan , heat oil and fry mustard seeds,urad dal and curry leaves.Add sliced onions and fry till they are soft.Now add the grinded coconut paste,red chilli powder,turmeric powder and fry till raw smell goes away.Finally add sliced tomatilloos ,salt and saute for a while.Add water if needed.Cook till tomatilloe are soft.Serve hot with rice.

Chicken Kabob and Baked chicken with Spicy Raspberry Sauce and Raspberry Smoothie

AFAM - Raspberry, as soon as Dee of Ammalu's Kitchen announced it, the first thing came to my mind was Little Meha blowing raspberries while i am trying hard to feed her cereal...:D.This month, i wanted to participate at any cost.So made two dishes using a single sauce.And a raspberry smoothie to wash all the spicyness down..:).





Chicken Kabob with Spicy Raspberry sauce







Ingredients

For the sauce :

Frozen Raspberry - 5 oz
Dijon Mustard - 2tsp
Tabosco Pepper sauce or red chilli hot sauce - a dash
Cayenne pepper - 2tsp
Salt - as needed
Sugar - 1/2tsp
Tumeric powder - as needed (optional)

For the Kabobs

Chicken breasts - 2 Pieces (cut into small dice)
Onion - 1 (cut into big pieces)
Red,Yellow bellpeppers - 1 each (cut into big pieces)
Bamboo skewers - as needed

Method

In a sauce pan, heat the frozen raspberries.Mash them well as they are cooking.Add mustard,sugar,cayenne pepper,salt and turmeric powder.Heat it upto a boil.(add water if necessary.Cool the mixture.In a ziploc bag, put the cut chicken pieces and add the raspberry sauce.Mix it well by mushing the ziploc bag well.Let it marinate for atleast a hour.

Skew the chicken,peppers,onion into the bamboo skewers alternatively.Set oven to Broil.Spray the broiling pan with nonstick spray.Place the bamboo skewers iinto the pan.Broil for abt 7 minutes and turn and broil for another 7 minutes..Baste this skewers with remaining marinade in between.Serve chicken kabobs with any rice pilaf.I served it with simple rice-peas pilaf.





Baked chicken with Spicy Raspberry sauce

Ingredients

Spicy Raspberry sauce - as needed
Chicken breasts - 2
Olive oil - 2tbsp
Salt - as needed
Pepper - as needed

Method

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.Take the two chicken breasts and pound them well into flat pieces.Season them with salt and pepper.In a large oven proof skillet heat olive oil with medium high heat.When the oil is hot, add chicken breasts.Brown them on both sides by turning once.After browning switch the heat to low and add raspberry sauce.Bake this chicken in the preheated oven for about 25-30 minutes or until chicken is fully cooked through.Place the chicken in a serving platter and pour the remaining sauce over it.Serve it hot with any salad on the side.






Raspberry smoothie with Vanilla ice cream





Ingredients

Fresh or frozen Raspberry - about 10-12
Vanilla Icecream - 1 big scoop
Cream cheese - 2tbsp
2% milk - 1 1/2 cup
Sugar - as needed
Ice cubes - as needed

Method

Blend all the ingredients well in a blender.Garnish with fresh raspberries and serve immediately.

Bacon-Cheese sandwich

This is my entry to Sandwich Festival hosted by Anupama of Food-n-More.





Bacon-Cheess Sandwich




Ingredients

Bacon - 2 strips
Bread - 2 slices
Cheese - 2 slices ( mozarella)
Tomato - 1 sliced round
Onion - 1/2 sliced lengthwise.

Method

In a pan,cook bacon strips until they are crispy.Take them out and drain them in a peper towel.In the same pan with some bacon fat, saute the onions till they are slightly crunchy.Take them out.Place on bread slice in the same pan on medium heat.Start biulding the sandwich by placing cheese slices,then onions,tomatoes and finally bacon.Finish the sandwich using another bread slice.Press down the sandwich using a wooden spoon and keep it in the pan until cheese is melted.Turn over the sandwich and heat it till the bread is slightly toasted.

Ulli/Onion pacchadi,Pomfret fish fry

Ulli/onion pacchadi is a common side dish or you can it a pickle type in our home whenever there is sambhar.This dish goes very well with sambhar and rice.Very very easy to make.I served this with pompret fish fry and pudalangai/snake gourd sambhar

Ingredients

Red onion - 1 (chopped)
Green chillies - 3 (chopped)
Tamarind paste - 2tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2tsp
Curry leaves - a few
Oil - 2 tbsp
Salt - as needed

Method

In a pan,heat oil and fry mustard seeds, green chillies and curry leaves.Now add chopped onion and saute till they become translucent.Now add tamarind and salt.Add water if needed.Let it boil till it thickens.Serve it with rice and sambhar.




Pomfret fish fry

Another tasty fish fry, i made this similar to this fish fry.Just have to make slits on the fish before applying the masala.

Rotisserie chicken fry/varuval and An Award

My mother's day gift from S was a Wok among other cooking sets, which i have been wishing for a long time now.Finally got it..:).Had to use it with my fav. chicken recipe.The recipe was Inji Pennu's Shredded chicken.An delicious chicken recipe for side dish or appetizer.I used rotisserie chicken instead of chicken breasts, which makes makes this recipe more simple.So here is the adapted recipe,


Ingredients

Rotisserie chicken - 1
Onion - 1 (Big and chopped fine)
Green chillies - 8 (chopped)
Pepper - as needed
Salt - as needed
Curry leaves - as needed
Oil - as needed (might need a little extra than the normal :))


Method

Skin the Rotisserie chicken and shred into pieces.In a wok, add oil and fry curry leaves,chillies and onion.Fry until they are dark golden brown.Now add the chicken, salt and pepper.Saute them in high heat and keep stirring.Addextra oil whenever needed.When the chicken turns into dark golden brown color, it's ready.Serve it as it is or as a side dish.I served this with hot rasam and rice.




Rotisserie chicken Fry/Varuval



Last week, i received "The YUMMY Blog" award from Asha of Foodie's hope."Yummy blog award is the award given to the blog with most yummy recipes/photos".Thanks Asha, it is truly an honor getting this from you.




As per the rules, here are my four of my most fav. desserts

1.Super moist chocalate cake

2.Pineapple Pudding

3.Ras malai

4.Lemon mousse


I love to pass this "The Yummy Blog" award to , well deserved fello foodies,

1.Sandeepa of Bong Mom's Cookbook

2.Zlamusha of Zlamushka's Spicy Kitchen

3.Sukanya Ramkumar of HOT N'Sweet BOWL

4.Vandana Rajesh of Cooking Up Something Nice

Thanks you all!!!

Aval/Poha Uppuma

Ingredients

Aval/Poha - 2 cup
Red chillies - 8-10
Curry leaves - a few
Oil - 2tbsp
Mustard seeds - 2tsp
Coconut - 1/2 cup (shredded)(optional)

Method

Soak aval by sprinkling just enough water for about 15 minutes.This aval i used was very thick, i got it from india.So this needed a bit more water and time for soaking up.Once aval is well soaked, heat oil in a pan.Fry mustard seeds,red chillies,curry leaves.Now add the aval and salt.Just saute for another 5-6 minutes on medium flame.Just before switching off the heat, add coconut.Serve hot as snack or breakfast.




Below is the shrimp fry made with small shrimps.

Simple Shrimp Fry

This is one of the family favourite dish.I make sure to make this whenever i buy shrimps.

Ingredients

Shrimp - 1lb (i used frozen)
Shallots/small onions - 1/2 cup(sliced thin)
Red chilli powder - 2tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2tsp
Pepper powder - 1/2tsp
Curry leaves - a few
Coconut oil/veg.oil - 2tbsp
Salt - as needed

Method

Thaw the frozen shrimp and keep it aside.In a pan heat oil, fry sliced onion till they are dark golden brown.(almost crispy).Add curry leaves and chilli,pepper,turmeric powders and fry till raw smell goes away.Now add shrimp and salt.Saute them in high heat for first few minutes and then reduce the heat and cook until everything comes together.I served this with 'Arachivitta sambhar' and rice.This dish goes well with rasam also.Note : This would taste better if you use fresh shrimps.