Ilaneer/Tender Coconut Pudding

Being born and broughtup in Kerala, Coconut is the most important part of my food from childhood.My mom,grandma and now MIL, add coconut to pretty much everything they are cooking.When Suganya of Tasty Palettes aanounced, this AFAM's fruit as Coconut, i wanted to try something sweet.So here is the simple Ilaneer pudding.




Ingredients

Tender coconut - 1 can (i used the one with water and sugar)
Jelatin - 1 packet (unflavoured)
Honey - 2 tsp
Hot Water - 2 1/2 cups
Cinnamon powder - for garnishing


Method

Take 1 cup of juice from the tender coconut can and keep is aside (this will be substituted for 1 cup cold water for jelatin making).Grind the tender coconut pieces with rest of its juice into a fine paste.In a bowl, put jelatin powder,1 cup juice ,2 1/2 cup of hot water and mix well till jelatin powder dissolves completely.Now add the grinded tender coconut paste.Mix well and pour into nonstick sprayed dish.Refrigerate this for atleast 4 hours, overnight will be very good.For unmolding the pudding, place the dish in a warm water bath.This will help it to unmold without breaking apart.Unmold into a plate and cut into squares.Garnish with powdered cinnamon.

Another option for making this pudding is, adding condensed milk and using fresh tender coconut.This yields much more denser and rich pudding.As i wanted to keep the natural flavour of coconut, i opted for simpler version.






Check out my Pineapple Pudding here

AFAM Announcement

I would like to know whether any of you, foodies love to host future AFAM event.If yes, please email me @ beyondusual(at)gmail(dot)com.I have listed the future hosts on the sidebar.

Puli/Tamarind Kichadi for Thayir/Curd Rice

Tamarind,my kitchen is not complete with this wonderful ingredient.Being a mixture of tamil,telugu and malayalam, i cook all the three cuisines.So i use tamarind almost everyday.This last vacation mom brought me 10kgs of tamarind.I know..i don't know how she pulled it off...:D.As soon as Sig announced this month's ingredient, i wanted to share something unique.So here it is..

Puli Kichadi or just "Kichadi" as we call it.This is a popular side dish for curd rice in our household.Mom tells me this is a well known peasant dish, which they use have regularly with "Pazhaya sadam"( a day old rice).My father and i love this one especially with some pazhaya sadam.Believe me, this is the best combo for curd rice than any pickle and my fav mainly because NO COOKING...:D.This is my entry to this month's JFI - Tamarind hosted by Sig of Live to Eat.Thanks to Indira for originating this nice event.




Ingredients

Small onions - 10 (chopped)
Green chilli - 2 (chopped)
Tamarind - small amla size
Salt - as needed

Method

Soak tamarind in 1 cup water.Take out the tamarind water.In that add chopped onions,green chillies and salt.Mix everything well with clean hand.Mixing with our fingers makes it tastes better,according to mom.

Kodhumbu/Wheat flour Laddu

Kodhumbu/Wheat flour laddus,these are my entry to Open Sesame 2, an exciting and fun event hosted by Siri and DK .After you select a box of secrect ingredient, they will send you a riddle to solve the puzzle.This was the riddle send to me:

I am a grass , or am I a cereal or a grain
I am everywhere and in almost all the foods you eat
My whole being used in many ways without restrain
I offer you something which is so hard to beat
I am as old as you can think of me to be
Thought to be originated from the land of camels
I am breakfast, lunch and dinner for all to see
Or be it desserts from cakes , pies to caramels
I am famous all over the world from east to west
As breads, flatbreads , cookies to muffins
I am v healthy and like a treasure chest
For ppl - weight conscious and its healthy kins
Buckle up and take a pen and a paper
I am yellow when alive, brown when put to 'dust'
Eating me makes you look so dapper
Now think hard and tell me what is that grain that we all genuinely trust

and Voilà i got it right the first time itself.Answer : Wheat.So here is the recipe with wheat flour.I am sending this to Sweet Series, an effort to collect all different sweets under one roof/page..:D.

These laddus are very easy to make and you cannot go wrong with this recipe.I added powdered ginger to the mixture , for a ZING and it worked.You can subsitute powdered sugar for brown sugar.I had some brown sugar leftover from a previous recipe, that i had to use.Make sure you use powdered sugar for this recipe, otherwise you will feel the sugar granules in the laddus , which is not good.I just powdered sugar with 3 cardamom in the blender.




Ingredients

Wheat flour - 2 cup
Kadala maavu/Channa flour - 1/2 cup
Ghee - 1 cup
Powdered Light Brown sugar - 1 1/4 cup
Powdered Cardamom - 1/2 tsp or whole cardamom - 3
Powdered Ginger - little less than 1/4 tsp(optional)
Chopped Cashewnuts - 1/4 cup


Method

In a non stick pan, heat ghee.Add channa flour to this and keep stirring on medium low heat.When channa flour starts to bubble add the wheat flour.Keep stirring.When nice aroma comes and the mixture starts to get together, switch off the heat.Add light brown sugar and ghee fried cashews to this.When it is still warm, start making small lemon sized laddus.

Sweet and Spicy Chicken

Ingredients

Chicken breasts - 2
Onion - 1 (cut into bite sized squares)
Bell pepper - 1 ( cut into bite sized squares)
Garlic - 1 clove (minced)
Soya sauce - 1 tsp
Chilli powder - 1 tsp
Pepper - 1/2 tsp
Olive oil - 3 tbsp
Red chillies - 4
Corn flour - 1 tbsp
Tomato ketchup - 2 tbsp
Honey - 1 tbsp ( i used Dabur)
Soya sauce - 1 tsp
water - as needed
Salt - as needed


Method

Marinate the bite size cut chicken pieces in soya sauce,chiili powder,pepper and salt for atleast 30 minutes.In a heavy bottomed pan, heat oilve oil.In medium high heat, fry the chicken pieces till all the sides are brown batch by batch.(don't have to cook all the way through because we will cook it again with the sauce).Now in the same pan with the remaining oil, add red chillies,minced garlic, onion and saute.Once the onions are tranlucent, add the bell peppers.After sauting well, add the chicken pieces.In a bowl, mix corn flour,soya sauce,ketchup , honey , salt and little water and make a sauce.Add this sauce into the pan with chicken.Let it cook till the whole dish thickens.Garnish with chopped spring onion.Serve as a side dish or as an appetizer.



I am sending this delicious dish over to AWED - Chinese hosted by DK and Chicken - My fav by Vandhana.Thanks Asha for reminding me..

Yogurt Biryani

Yogurt biryani, the name itself got me thinking, such a unique recipe, perfect for both events "Frozen Yogurt"by Siri and "Mixed Rice" by EC.I found this recipe in Vikatan, tamil magazine.I adapted it according my taste, little more spicy by adding chilli powder and green chillies which was not in the original recipe.



Ingredients

Rice - 2 cup
Potato - 1/4 cup (chopped into medium size pieces)
Onion - 1/4 cup (chopped)
Vegetable mix - 1/2 cup (carrot,beans,peas)
Ginger garlic paste - 1tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4tsp
Green chillies - 3 (chopped fine) (optinal)
Chilli powder - 1 tsp (optinal)
Yogurt - 1/2 cup
Pudhina/mint leaves - as needed
Ghee - 1/4 cup
Cashewnuts - 5-10
Bread pieces - 2
Salt - as needed

To roast and grind :
Clovs - 2
Cardamom - 2
Cinnamon - 1 small piece
Pepper - 1/2 tsp
Jeera - 1/2tsp

Method

Put all the vegetables except onion in yogurt .Clean the rice and drain it.Keep it aside for 15 minutes.Cut bread slices into small pieces and fry it in ghee.Keep them aside.

In a pressure cokker, heat ghee.Fry sliced onions and mint leaves.As soon as the onions are fried enough add ginger garlic paste.Saute it till raw smell goes.Now add the vegetables in yogurt.Add the yogurt also.Add turmeric powder,grounded masala and salt.In the mean time, in a pan heat ghee and fry the rice.Now add this rice into the pressure cooker after the vegetables are almost cooked.After adding rice, add 2 and 1/2 cups of water.Mix everything well and cook it for 1 whistle.Do not open the pressure cooker untill all the pressure is gone.Garnish this vegetable biryani with fried bread sices and cashew nuts.I served this biryani with carrot raita.

Hariyali Tikki for T & T and YRR and awards

Tried & Tasted, an event hosted by Zlamushka of Zlamushka's Spicy Kitchen,an event to appreciate and share the recipes we tried and tasted from our fellow foodie blog.This month's blog isNupur's One hot stove. A to Z of Indian Vegetables, an event that covered most of the indian vegetables was the brainchild of Nupur.Though i have tried many of her delicious recipes, never got around posting about it.Now this event gave me an oppertunity to do just that.One hot Stove is an one stop for all the yummy recipes from appetizers to desserts.

I tried Nupur's Hariyali tikki over the weekend.A healthy snack, full of greens and flavors.I served it with some spicy coriander chutney.

This is my entry for Your Recipe Rocks hosted by Madhuram of Eggless cooking.Another event to appreciate fellow foodies who make our day by their delicious recipes.


Thanks Nupur !





JZ of Tasty Treatshad passed me " Yummy blog award" and "Rocking girl blogger " award.Thank you JZ!.Much appreaciated.





As i have already mentioned about my fav. desserts here, as per the rules, I would like to pass these awards to four of my well deserving fellow foodies.


1. Kalai of Samaithu Paarkalaam

2.Arundathi of My Food Blog

3.Srivalli of Cooking 4 all seasons

4.Jayashree of My Experiments with Food


Enjoy the awards Girls!

Kothu Parotta/paratta for MBP, Roti mela and Chicken - MF.

This yummy recipe and super easy recipe is one of my forite recipe by Paati of En veetu samyal.It was so delicious and the whole family l.I had tried making kothu parotta in india on my last vacation.That time i used the hotel salna and using that maked thcipe super tasty.I got the same taste (without the salna) in this recipe.I used ground chicken instead of meat and frozen parotta instead of tortillas.Do check out paati other delicious recipes.
This is my entry for the following events.

1.MBP - Streetfood hosted by Sia of Monsoon spice, originated by Coffee of Spicecafe.

2.Roti Mela by Srivalli of Cooking 4 all seasons

And last but not least

3.Chicken - My favorite by Vandana Rajesh of Cookingup something nice

Hope you all enjoy this dish as much as we did.Enjoy Father's day and have a happy weekend.




I made kheema rice with some leftover rice and leftover masala of kothu parotta.




Finally a big THANKS to Paati of En veetu samyal for sharing this recipe.

Click For Bri

Click ,is a monthly theme based food photography event hosted by Jugalbandi.This June edition they are back with a good cause.This month's theme is Yellow for Bri.From Jugalbandi, "Yellow signifies hope and enlightenment. Though the work of the LiveStrong Foundation, color Yellow has also come to signify the fight against cancer".To know how can you help, click here and to know more abot Brianna,click here.

My Entry for this event Corn on the Cob with Cheesy coriander flavored butter.Recipe adapted from a cooking magazine.

Ingredients

Butter - 6tbsp (at room temp)
Shredded pepper jack cheese - 1 cup (2 ounces)
Salt and pepper - as needed
Coriander leaves - 3tbsp ( finely chopped)
Corn, shucked,ends trimmed and cut into 1/3 rds - 8

Method

Stir butter and cheese,coriander leaves ,salt and pepper.Line a custard cup with plastic wrap and let some of it overhang.Pack in the butter mixture and smooth the top.Cover the butter with the overhanging plastic wrap.Refrigerate it until it is firm.(atleast 1 hr or up to a week).In a large pot of salted boiling water, cook corn until tender , about 2-4 minutes.Sppon the butter mixture on a serving plate.Serve corns alongside for rolling.

Corn on the cob



Camera : Canon Powershot Pro

I had received "Nice matters Award" from Jz of Tasty Treats last week.
Thanks a lot for the award JZ.Much appreciated and means a lot coming from you!!

Bread Pakoda

Bread pakodas, just like thool pakodas are made with stale bread.I found this recipe in a mallika badrinath cookbook a long back.Since then i have been making this delicious crispy pakodas.One of the many uses of stale bread.This is my entry to this month's Monthly Mingle - Appetizers & Hors'Doeuvres Hosted by Mansi of Fun and Food.


Ingredients

White Bread sliices - 10
Red onion - 1 (chopped fine)
Green chillies - 5 (chopped fine)
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Kadala maavu/Channa flour/Besan - 2tbsp
Yougurt - 1tbsp (well beaten)
Coriander leaves - 1 tbsp (chopped fine)
Oil - for deep frying
Salt - as needed

Method

Cut out the brown edges of the bread slices.Tear off the white part into small pieces.In a vessel slightly mix the bread slices with yougurt.Don't mush them.Let it rest for another 15 minutes.To this mixture add onion,green chillies,turmeric,channa flour,coriander leaves and salt.Slighlty mix so that everything comes together.With a fork and spoon, drop the mixture in to the hot oil for deep frying.Fry till they are golden brown.Drain the pakodas in a paper towel.Serve them with ketup or chutney.

Chicken Dosa/Kozhi Dosai

This was our sunday brunch this week....




Ingredients

Chicken - 2 breast pieces ( chopped into small bite size pieces)
Red Onion - 1 (chopped fine)
Greenchillies - 4 (chopped fine)
Turmeric powder - 1/2tsp
Chilli powder - 1tsp
Salt - as needed
Pepper powder - 1/2tsp
Dosa batter - as needed
Oil - 3tbsp

Method

Mix chicken,chilli powder,turmeric powder,salt and pepper very well.Marinate this mixture for atleast 1 hour ( it will taste good if you marinate overnight).In a heavy bottomed pan,heat 3 tbsp oil and fry the marinated chicken.Fry till chicken is golden brown.Take the chicken pieces out.In the same pan,(if needed add extra oil) fry green chillies,onion.Fry very well till onions are well roasted.Now add fried chicken into this.Add salt and pepper to this mix as needed.Mix well and saute till everything is well incoparated.Garnish with chopped red onion and coriander leaves.Make dosa and spread this chicken mixture into the dosa.Roll the dosa well with the mixture inside.Serve it hot.