Diwali Special #3 Rasmalai

Yeap..i am on a roll..i guess..Actually today, we are having dinner outside, so no cooking,thought of making another item which is very easy..Rasmalai..such a delicate delicious sweet..mouthwatering..This a adapted version of the recipe i found on a site called indiacurry.com.

Ingredients

Ricotta cheese - 1 lb(i used low fat one)
Saffron - 5-6 strands
Sugar - 1/4 cup
Cardamom - 2
Whipped cream - 1/2 cup
Sweetened condensed milk - 1/2 cup (i used Nestle brand)
2% milk- 1 and 1/2 cup
Vanilla essence - 1/2 tsp
Pista - 8-10 (break into pieces)

Method

Preheatnoven to 350 degrees.
Powder sugar and cardomom together in a blender.Take out the cardamom shells out.(Instead of this you can use confectioner's sugar and cardamom powder).Mix ricotta cheese and sugar+cadamom mix together using a fork.Pour this into a cake pan (u can use any oven safe vessel).Bake for abt 30 min.s.The cheese mix should be coming away from the edges.Careful not to burn it.Switch off the oven and take it out and cool it.In the mean time whisk condensed milk,Whipped cream,2% milk,Vanilla essence and saffron together in a baking dish.In 180 degrees hot oven place this milk mixture and bake for abt 15 min.s.Just heat it lightly , do not boil it.Make small flat cookie shaped patties out of the cheese mixture.Now take the milk mixture out of the oven and place this patties into the milk mix.Bake this in a 350 degrees oven for just 15 min.s again.Take it out and garnish with pista.You can used blanched almonds also.Cool it and refregirate before serving.

P.S: My rasmalai has a thin syrup, if you want a thicker one reduce the 2% milk.Mine had small problem of few patties breaking, so be careful about that.

Diwali Special #2 Badam halwa

H wanted the real wheat(red) color halwa which his mom makes at home..but it's a very hard job..and i had never done it.So i subsituted it with badam halwa and used little bit of color to give the illusion..:)).I got this delicious badam halwa recipe from Saffron from SaffronHut.Thanks to Saffron for this easy and yummy recipe...

Diwali Special #1 Arisi Murukku

As diwali on the way ,my hubby wanted alteast 5 special food items for the festival which reminded him of his childhood diwali.(i just asked what u want for diwali?..how will i know he will give a long list..:))So in his list the first item was "Murukku"(Chakli).There are many types of murukku, kai murukku, thenkulal,inippu murukku..etc..the list goes on.My version of murukku is simple 'Arisi mullu murukku' or rice murukku made using murukku press or sevai press.This gadget makes the job very easy.It comes with many discs with thin holes, bigger holes, star shaped holes and flat rectangular holes , easy to make murukku in any shape.I use the same press for savories like kara chevu, omapodi etc.

Arisi Murukku

Ingredients

Rice flour - 4 cups
Urad flour - 1 cup
Butter - 3/4 stick (kept under room temp)
Jeera - 2tsp
Sesame seeds - 2 tsp
Perungayam - 1/2tsp
Salt - as needed
Water -as needed
Oil - for frying

Method

Mix rice flour,urad flour,salt,perungayam,jeera,sesame seeds and butter together into a dough using required water.The murukku dough should not be very soft or very hard.The consistency of the dough is somewhat like that of a cookie dough.Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan for frying.Now fill the murukku press with the dough.(i selected the star shaped disc for getting this rough edged mullu murukku).Press the murukku press, making circles (or any shape u want) in the hot oil. Fry it until it is golden brown in color and drain oil.Store it in an airtight container.You will be able to keep it for monthes.




Murukku Press

Egg curry with latccha

Egg curry with almonds served with latccha.Latccha is made with wheat flour and it is a layered chappathi.I found the latccha recipe on aval vikatan.There not much to explain about this lovely combination..you will know abt the dish once you taste it..:))

Egg curry

Ingredients for paste

Tomato - 1 (medium sized)
Ginger - 1 inch piece
Garlic- 3-4 cloves
Plain yogurt - 1tbsp
Garam masala - 1tsp
Almonds - 8 (blanched)

Ingredients

Eggs - 5 (hard boiled)
Onion - 1 sliced
Red chilly powder -1tsp
Dania powder- 1tsp
Jeera powder- 1/2tsp
Turmeric powder-1/2tsp

Adjust the spices according to your palatte

For garnishing

Coriander leaves and curry leaves


Method

Grind all the ingredients listed under "ingredients for paste" into fine paste using yogurt and little water.Hard boil the eggs and cut them into half.Heat oil in a pan and fry onions till they are golden brown and then add the ground paste.Fry till the raw smell goes away.Now add the red chilly, dania,jeera powders and salt and fry for another 2-3 min.s. Finally add the eggs.Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and curry leaves.Serve it with rice/chappathi/laccha.





Latccha

Ingredients

Atta flour - 2 cup
Salt- as needed
Oil/ghee mixture - as needed

Method

Mix atta,salt and water to make chappathi dough.Take a small ball of dough and roll out into a big chappathi.Now brush the oil-ghee mixture all over the chappathi and fold it into half.Now roll out the folded chappathi again and keep folding and rolling out until it reaches your desired size.Keep brushing oil-ghee mixture in between the folds.I folded 4 times.These folds make a layered latccha.I had cut these into a rectangle shape ( say..just for the photo purpose).

Weekend baking #5 Spiced Banana nut muffins

Going bananas...yeap..got some left over riped bananas from last week..so for this weekend baking also decided to go bananas..i got this yummy Banana nut muffinrecipe by Tyler from Food Network.I added some nutmeg and cinnamon powder to spice it up...


Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 overripe bananas
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped
1/4 teaspoon Ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon Ground nutmeg


Method

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and lightly butter 2 muffin tins.
In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, ground cinnamon,nutmeg and salt; set aside. Mash 2 of the bananas with a fork in a small bowl so they still have a bit of texture. With an electric mixer fitted with a wire whisk, whip the remaining bananas and sugar together like you mean it, for a good 3 minutes. Add the melted butter, eggs, and vanilla and beat well, scraping down the sides of the bowl once or twice. Mix in the dry ingredients just until incorporated. Fold in the nuts and the mashed bananas with a rubber spatula. Spoon the batter into the muffin tins to fill them about halfway. Give them a rap on the counter to get any air bubbles out.
Bake until a toothpick stuck in the muffins comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes before turning the muffins out. Serve warm or at room temperature.

I baked one batch of nuffins and baked another rectangular cake(with some almonds on top) with the same batter.

Roasted Chicken

Roasted chicken with our own spices, came out just perfect.I have always wanted to roast a whole chciken with indian style,but never had the courage to try until yesterday.This recipe was adapted version of my good friend's cornish hen roast.She roasts the perfect chicken roast using cornish hen and some veggies stuffed inside the bird.As i like chicken little bit fried in oil, my main change from her version was frying the bird little bit before putting it inside the oven.It came out just delicious.As this was my first time , i didn't measured the exact amount of spices i used.I keep adding it till i was satisfied :)).Again the amount of spices depend on the size of the bird also.Though i used a whole fryer chicken for this recipe, i prefer using a small cornish hen, which would be easy for turning. The highlight of this recipe was the amount of oil used was less than 5tbsp for the whole bird....


Ingredients

Whole chicken - 1 (i used skinlees, u can try with skin also)
Onion- 2 (chopped)
Tomato -2 (chopped)
Green chilly -2 (slit)
Salt- as needed
Oil for frying - 4tbsp


For marination

Chilly powder- as needed
Dania powder - as needed
Turmeric powder - as needed
Ginger garlic paste - as needed
Lemon juice - as needed
Oil- as needed
salt- as needed
red food color - a pinch

Clean Chicken and pat it very dry using paper towels and make slits in the bird using fork.Mix all the above spices listed under marination and make it into a paste.Rub this paste all over the chicken and inside the chicken also.Keep it aside for atleast 3-4 hours.It would be better if you keep it aside in the refrigerator over night.After marinating fully,heat oil in the pan and fry the bird till it's outside becomes brown.Fry on each side.Switch off the stove and move the bird to the roasting pan and keep it inside the oven preheated at 375 degrees.Bake the chicken until well cooked and it should take upto 45-55 min.s.Keep basting the chicken with the drippings collected inthe roast pan every 10 min.s using a brush.This will keep the chicken from drying out.As the chicken is baking, heat the left over oil from frying, add chopped onions,green chillies and fry till onions are golden brown.Now add the chopped tomatoes and fry for 5 min.s.Add salt,garam masala(optional) and fry for another 3 min.After finished baking, take out the chicken and serve this with sliced onions,the onion-tomato curry and chappathi/roti.

Marinated Chicken frying in oil

Chicken fried on both side and ready for the oven

Baking in the oven

Fully roasted chicken

Lemon rice with Coriander chutney

This one i made last week for lunch , forgot to post it.This good old traditional lemon rice with a twist.


Ingredients
Rice - 1 cup
Lemon juice - 3 tbsp
Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp
asafoedita - 1/4 tsp
Green chillies- 2
Ginger - 1 inch piece
Curry leaves - as needed
salt- as needed

For Powdering : Red chiilies -4,Channa dal- 1tsp,dania-1/2tsp.

For tadka : mustard seeds - 1/2tsp,urad dal-1tsp,channa dal- 1/2tsp,oil-2tbsp


Method

Boil rice with little bit of salt.Be careful not to over cook the rice.Dry roast and powder the ingredients listed under Powdering.This is what makes the lemon rice special.Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds,urad dal,channa dal,chopped ginger,green chillies,curry leaves and asafoedita.After this add, turmeric powder,salt and lemon juice.Mix cooked rice and the powder into this.Serve it with potato fry or dania chutney.

Weekend baking #4 Banana bread..

Finally something i am proud of in baking..As mentioned earlier,started baking regularly in the weekends.But this weekend 'boz of saraswati pooja, couldn't bake.so baked this delicious Banana Bread yesterday.The recipe was from my new cook book called "America's Test Kithen".Lotz of wonderful and easy recipes in that book.This quick bread is simple to bake with less effort( that's why i chose it :))).



Igredients

All purpose flour- 2 cups
Sugar- 3/4 cup
Baking soda - 3/4 tsp
salt - 1/2tsp
Very ripe bananas - 3(mashed well =1and1/2 cup)
butter - 6 tbsp (3/4 stick) melted and cooled
Eggs - 2 (lightly beaten)
Plain yogurt - 1/4 cup
Vanilla extract - 1tsp
Walnuts - 1 and 1/4 cups (toasted and chopped coarse) (Optional)


Method


Adjust an oven rack to the lower middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees.Generously coat a 9 by 5 inch loaf pan woth vegetable oil spray.

Whisk the flour,sugar,baking soda and salt together in a large bowl.Whick the mashed bananas,melted butter,eggs,yogurt and vanilla together ina separate bowl.Gently fold the banana mixture into the flour mixture with a rubber spatula until just combined.fold in the nuts(if using).Do not overmix; the batter will look thick and chunky.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with just a few crumbs,about 55 minutes.

Let the loaf cool in the pan for 10 min.s before unmolding onto a wire rack to cool for 1 hour.



p.s: I had melted butter in the microwave for abt 2 mins.Mashed bananas with good old tool , "clean hands".You can mash it by using a blender also.You can use frozen bananas for this recipe.

Rice with Collard greens kootu and Vendakkai pacchadi

Today's lunch was White rice served with Priya from Sugar and Spice's Collard greens kootu and Hema from Vegetarian Concoctions's Vendakkai pacchadi..it was my kinda comfort food....


Collard greens kootu : I had only 1/4 cup of moong dal, so i added anothe 1/4 cup of toor dal.

Vendakkai pacchadi : In my m/c , it took neary 6 min.s(for the second time) do get the vendakkai fried nicely.

Crispy rava/sooji balls

A very easy tea time snack made with rava/sooji.I make this with few extra ingredients+left over uppuma.Here is the recipe from the scratch...hope you all like it...

Ingredients

Rava - 1cup
Mixed cut veggies - 1/2 cup (i used frozen)
Onion- 1 chopped
Green chillies - 1 chopped
Ginger - 1 inch piece chopped
Garlic - 2 pods chopped
Garam masala powder - 1tsp
Lemon juice - 1tbsp
Curd- 2tbsp
Chilly powder - 1tsp

All purpose flour- 1/4 cup
Bread crumbs - as needed
Coriander leaves - as needed chopped
Oil,Salt
Boiled water -2 cups

Method

Chop finely Onion,ginger,garlic, green chilly .If you are using frozen cut begetable, then in a microwave safe bowl, put the veggies and sprinkle some water and m/w for abt 1 min.In a pan heat 2tbsp oil, fry onion till they are brown.Then add green chilli,ginger,garlic and finally add the veggies.Fry for some time and then add salt,chilly powder and garam masala.Now add rava and fry till the raw smell goes.Now add 2 cups of boiling water.Be careful while adding water, it shouldn't be excess.Now add lemon juice and chopped coriander leaves.Mix well and switch off the stove.After the rava mix is cooled down, make into balls(i made some as round cutlets).Mix water and all purpose flour in a thin batter.this is for dipping the rava balls before rolling into the bread crumbs.Now take one ball at a time and dip it in the flour batter and then dip it in the bread crumbs.Place all the balls in a platter and deep fry them in oil till golden brown.Serve it with spicy tomato sauce.

Koorakka/chinese potato poriyal

This one of my fav. veggies from childhood.I mom used to make this spicy poriyal served with sambhar and rice.since i came here, i couldn't find these anywhere, but got lucky this time.I found these on the frozen section of an indian store.It's frozen, but what the heck, tasted heavenly...something different from potatoes...

Ingredients
Koorakka /chinese potato - cup(medium cut)
Chilly powder - 1tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2tsp
Oil-2tbsp
Curry leaves - a few
Mustard seeds - 1/2tsp
salt

Method

Heat oil in a pan and pop mustard seed.Fry curry leaves and add koorakka to it.Fry for abt 2-3 min.s and add chilly powder,turmeric powder and salt.Fry for another 4 min.s.Serve it hot with rice and sambhar.

Happy Saraswati pooja/Vijayadasami

Mini floating dosas

This weekend breakfast was these mini dosas floating in sambhar.I have eaten mini idlies in sambhar a number of times.As my son hates idlies, i thought of making these mini dosas and dipping it in sambhar.He loved it.One of the other reasons for trying this was the new criteria for Weekend Breakfast blogging.I still don't know whether this will be enough of a twist from the ordinary.


Ingredients

Dosa batter - as needed.
Sambhar- as needed.

Method

Make mini dosas in the hot dosa skillet.You will be able to make atleast 5 mini dosas at a time.Dip these mini dosas in a bowl of sambhar just few min.s before serving 'coz if you dip these time ahead, dosas tend to break or mash while serving.
Will post the recipe for sambhar soon...

Pudalangai/Snakegourd kootu

Ingredients

Moong dal-1/2 cup
Pudalangai/Snakegourd -1/2 cup chopped
Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp
Green chillies-2
Onion - 1 medium sized chopped

For tadka
Ghee - 2tsp
Jeera-1/2tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2tsp
urad dal-1/2tsp
Curry leaves


Method

Cook moong dal in a pressure cooker for 1 whistle.Now, add chopped pudalangai,slit green chillies,chopped onion,salt, turmeric powder and pressure cook again for 1 whistle.Do the tadka and add that to the cooked dal mix.

Chicken Pickle

Annita from My treasure My Pleasure inspired me to try chicken pickle after being successful trying her Fish pickle.the Recipe is almost the same as her fish pickle recipe, but i added few extra spices for this chicken version.This is the spicer chicken pickle ..

Ingredients

Chicken breast(diced) -5 (abt 2 lbs)
Ginger-Garlic paste - 2tbsp
Green Chillies Slit - 10
2tbsp Red Chilly Powder mixed with a little vinegar(to make it a smooth paste) - 1/4 cup
coriander powder-1tbsp
Garam masla - 1/2tsp
Vinegar - 3/4 cup
Curry leaves -1 sprig
Mustard Seeds - 2 tsp
Salt - to taste
Oil - as needed

For marinating Chicken pieces

Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
Red Chilly powder -1 tsp
Salt - 1 tsp


Marinate the chicken pieces with turmeric, chilly and salt for abt 1 hour.Then deep fry them till golden brown and keep them aside.Switch off the stove.When the oil is slightly cooled take abt 1/4 cup oil from that and place it in a medium heat stove.Fry mustard and curry leaves.Add gg paste, green chillies and finally add the chilli powder-vinegar paste,coriander powder,garm masala.Fry for some min.s and add vinegar and salt.I slowly added the vinegar by tasting in between to check for sourness.Add water if needed.Let this come to boil, which takes abt 3 min.s .Now add the chicken pieces and mix well.Let it boil again for 5 min.s.Switch off the stove and cool it.Store it in an air tight container.Beware this is little bit spicer...

Lemon Rasam

This instant lemon rasam is adpated from aval vikatan...

Ingredients

Lemon juice : 2tbsp
Tomato:3 (medium sized)
Green chilli : 2
Garlic- 1 clove (crushed)
Paruppu water : 2 cup(ie: water from boiled dal)
Turmeric powder : 1/4tsp
Perungayam : 1/4 tsp
Rasam powder : 1tbsp
Curry leaves,coriander leaves.

Subsitute for rasam powder :

Dry roast and grind the following , red chillies-2,dania-1tsp,balck pepper -1/2tsp,toor dal-1tsp.Grind jeera-1tsp separately and mix to the above mixture.

For tadka : Oil-2tsp,mustard seeds-1/2tsp

Method:

In 1 and 1/2 cup of water, add chopped tomatoes,slit green chillies,garlic,tumeric powder,perungayam and salt.Let it boil till the raw smell goes away.Then add paruppu water,lemon juice and rasam powder.Do not let the rasam boil after this.Add the tadka and garnish with curry leaves and coriander leaves.
This rasam is perfect for instant rasam, because don't have wait for tamarind to soak.

Tagged for the first time...

First, let me start by saying thanks to Hema from Vegetarian concoctions for tagging me.As a newcomer,when i first entered to this big world of blogging, always wondered what is this MEME,tagging etc.Came to some idea when i frequently visited some of the fellow bloggers sites.So this is my first time and i am glad that it is 'Five things to eat before I die’,which seems to be fairly easy to fill up.Atleast that's what i thought when i saw Hema's tag..but now when i started writing, it hard to chose just a 5 from thousands of things that i want to eat..:)))
I'm trying my level best here.First thing that crosses my mind is my mom's cooking.Since i have been away from her for the past 7-8 years, i really miss her cooking.So including her, i am listing "Five things to eat(AGAIN) before I die", 'coz i have tasted every one of them atlesat once and miss them alot.

1.Mom's Theeyal with vadakam, nobody can beat that.I have tried a thousand times but never upto her mark.It was tough to limit to one dish(mom's),but hey.. there is only 5 and want to give others a chance :)))

2.Chicken cutlet ,from a bakery near my Entrance coaching center(Trivandrum).Everyday after that class me and my friends go there to eat that special cutlet.

3.Kutti dosa with onion chutney, from a tattukada in our street..yummmy...

4.Vazhakka appam and Ulli vada from a small shop near our home....

5.Last but not least, Grandma's chola dosai with sarkarai ...miss the most..

I tag Priya of Sugar and Spice

Oats Badam Halwa

This recipe was the product of a kitchen disaster.I was trying to make Oats-badam laddu, a healthy snack for my toddler(who hates oats/cereal in the morning).As i was pouring milk into the oats mixture,i heard a scream..ooops..i poured the whole cup of milk into the mix....(scream: as usual my toddler wanted to change channels).Anyways back to the recipe,so the laddu became halwa which turned out to be a good one.so here is the Oats-badam halwa...

Ingredients

Oats - 1 cup
Badam - 20
Ghee - 1tspn
Sugar - 1 and 1/2 cup
Milk - 1 and 1/4 cup.(boiled)
Powdered Cardamom - 1/4tsp

Method

Fry Oats and badam in 1 tsp of ghee.After it is cooled ,ground Oats,Badam and sugar into fine powder.Pour milk,cardamom and the grounded mix into a non stick pan and heat it.Keep stirring until it comes to halwa consistency.Garnish with more badam.


For laddu,
Mix ghee,cardamom and grounded powder and just enough milk to make laddu.
You can use Evaporated milk if you want.

Sambhar without dal...very simple

I came across this super simple recipe for sambhar in aval vikatan, a tamil magazine.Yes, it is sambhar with no paruppu/dal...amazing isn't it.Recipe uses 'Kadala maavu/Channa dal flour'.I had my doubts, and yet i wanted to try it.as i had some leftover food in the fridge today,i decided to gamble with this recipe.If anything goes wrong, i had enough food to feed :))..But to my surprise, nobody touched the leftovers, the sambhar was really good...so here is super simple recipe..

Ingredients

Onion-2 (finely sliced lengthwise)
Tomato-4 (finely sliced lengthwise)
Green chillies-3
Ginger- 1 inch piece
Garlic-4 cloves
( I used Ginger-Garlic paste - 1tbsp)
Kadala maavu/Channa dal flour - 1 and 1/2 tbspn
Turmeric Powder-1/2tsp
Curry leaves,coriander leaves - as needed
Salt-as needed

For tadka
Mustard seeds-1/2tsp
Urad dal-1tsp
Oil-2tbsp.

Method
Slice Onion and tomato lengthwise finely.Slit Green chillies.Chop ginger,garlic finely.In a pan, heat oil and fry mustatd seeds and urad dal.Add green chillies,Onion and Ginger,garlic and fry till the onion is golden brown.Add turmeric and salt to this and fry for another 2 min.s.After Onions are fried, add tomatoes and fry until tomatoes are very very soft.(You shouldn't be able to see tomamtoes).Add 2 cups of water to this and boil it for another 5 min.s.Mix Kadala maavu/channa dal flour to a cup of water and add this to the pan.Boil sambhar for another 5 min.s and add curry leaves, coriander leaves.Serve it hot with rice, idly,dosa or chappathi..this is worth a try....

Aappam with Potato curry

Aappam with potato curry was one of the must have weekend breakfast in my home.My mom usually makes this Potato curry along with Aappam.Another good side dishes for this are chicken curry,thengai pal,mutton stew,potato stew etc.When i came to US, i was so glad to see a restaurant called "spicehut" serving this traditional aappam with thengaai pal.Most of my visits to this restaurant was during my pregnancy , as i had cravings for this special spicehut aappam.My husband used say , the restaurant owner could start next branch from the money we spend there :)))


Ingredients

Rice flour - 3 cups
Coconut- 3/4 to 1 cup grounded
Cumin seeds - 1tsp crushed
Yeast - a pinch
Salt-as required
Sugar - 2tsp

Method

Take 3tbsp of rice flour and mix it with 1 cup of water and heat it to make a thick paste.this is called "kappi".Mix riceflour,yeast,grounded coconut,cumin seeds,salt ,sugar and Kappi.Mix it well and keep it aside for about 10-12 hrs for fermentation.I made the batter yesterday and kept it inside the oven with the oven light on.Batter was well fermented today morning.The batter shoild be little bit thinner than the normal dosa batter.Spray the Appam pan with non stick spray and heat it.Once the pan is hot, pour the batter and lift the pan(with both hands, careful it must be hot) and rotate it to make a full circle.Put it back in the stove and cover it with the lid.The stove must be in medium.The appam will be thin around the sides and thick in the center.Serve it with Potato curry.

Note: Instead of rice flour, you can use raw rice.Soak 3 cups of raw rice for about 5 hrs.Grind it along with coconut.Mix yeast,kappi,cumin,salt and sugar along with the grinded mixture.And keep it aside for fermentation.
In my mom's version, she adds a handful of boiled rice while grinding and never used yeast.In some other places in kerala , they use "kallu" (toddy) in this recipe.

Potato curry

Ingredients

Potato-3 medium sized , peeled and chopped in quaters.
Onion-1 finely sliced
Coconut-3tbsp
cumin seeds-1tsp
Green chillies-3
Chilly powder-1tsp
Turmeric powder-1/2tsp
Oil-as required
For tadka
Mustard seeds,urad dal,curry leaves

Method
Grind Coconut and cumin seeds together.
Heat oil in the pressure cooker and fry mustard seeds,urad dal.Add green chillies,curry leaves and sliced onions.Fry till onions are golden brown.Now add potatoes and add turmeric powder,chilly powder and salt.Pour little water and Pressure cook for about 2 whistles.After 2 whistles, open the cooker and add the grounded coconut-cumin mixture.Mix well and boil for another 5 min.s.Serve hot with appam.This dish tastes good with dosa and idly also.

Note:You can skip the coconut-cumin mixture and use little coconut milk if you want.

Weekend Baking #3 Ginger Bread

As taking baby steps towards baking, i tried Betty Crocker's Ginger Bread(mix).Well succeeded.The bread came out really well and given me the strength to bake again next weekend...

Simple Chilly Chicken

This Chilly chicken recipe is from www.pachakam.com Chilly chicken by Lekshmi Radakrishnan .This website has lotz of good recipes..check it out.

Ingredients

Chicken - 1 lb (bite size pieces)
Onion - 2 nos (thinly sliced)
Green chillies - 2 - 4 nos
Oil - 2 - 3 tbsp
Red coloring - 2 drops (optional)

For the marinade:-
Red chilly powder - ½ tbsp or as reqd
White vinegar - 3 tbsp
Soy sauce - 2 tbsp
Ginger-garlic paste - 1 tbsp
Black pepper - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt - As reqd

Method

1)Marinate chicken in the above mentioned marinade for about 30 mins.

2)Saute onions and green chillies in a skillet for about 5 mins.

3)Add chicken along with the remaining marinade and saute, until gravy is thick and chicken is done to your liking.

Fish Pickle

Fish pickle , an authentic kerala recipe...I was so happy to see step by step procedure to make this pickle by Annita from My pleasure My Treasure and wanted to do it rightaway.So went to the store and brought king fish and started cooking at 8.00 pm .Got finished cooking by 8.45pm and ate half the bottle by 9.00pm.The taste was excellent.I have eaten meat pickle , fish pickle etc only from stores or at friend's.But it was a pleasure to taste my own.Can't thank annita enough..

Neyyappam

Neyyappam,Unniappam a very famous snack in Kerala.I used to visit a krishna temple just for this "Neyyappam" :)).They gave this snack as prashadam.After coming here to US didn't get a chance to make it mainly because i didn't have the Unniappam pan which is used for making this delicious neyyappam.So when my MIL visited us , i asked her bring this pan.And she made unniappam, paniyaram(tamil version).It's been 2 years since i used it.When "Ghee" was anounced as the Jihva for ingredients , the first thing crossed my mind was Neyyappam.The name "Neyyappam" because it is fried in Ghee.You can use regular oil for frying.

Ingredients
Rice flour - 1 cup
Banana - 2 (the small ones which u get in the indian stores)
Jaggery - 1 cup
Cardamom pods- 3
Ghee - 4tbsp
Baking soda - a pinch(optional)
Sesame seeds - 1tsp (optional)
Coconut slices- 1tbsp(optional) fried in ghee.

Method
For making rice flour - Soak 1 cup of raw rice ( i used laxmi brand idly rice) for 1 hour.Drain and spread it in a paper towel.After draining fully grind it in a mixie.
I grinded the cardomom pods along with the rice.Sift the flour and keep it aside.

In mixie, grind the bananas, jaggery (don't add water).Add the rice flour and grind again until is mixed fully.Add baking soda,sesame seeds,fried coconut slices if you want.If the batter is too thick you can add little bit water/milk to make it a good consistency.Keep the batter aside for about 1-2 hours.The longer it is kept, the softer the appa will be.

Spray Non-stick spray to the Appam pan and wipe it off with a paper towel.Place it in the stove and fill 1/4 of each holes in the pan with ghee.Now pour the batter into the holes. Make sure it is not overflowing.Just add batter upto 3/4 of the hole.When the bottom side of the appam is golden brown(i prefer darker brown) , turn it upside down using a fork or pappadam kambi.Be careful while using fork cause oil may splutter.You can use even chopsticks for this.When appam are fried golden brown , take it out and drain the oil in a paper towel.Serve it hot with some tea.

You can use wheat flour instead of rice flour also for thses appam.shall post that recipe soon.


This will be my entry for Jihva for ingredients-ghee

Winter is on the way..

As winter approaches..i am getting ready.This is gonna be our first winter here in Chicago.As my toddler had out grown most of his hats/caps, i had started knitting/crochetting again for him.These are some of the hats i made this week...

Nethili fry

Another super simple fish dish..

Ingredients
Nethili meen -1/2 lb
Ginger garlic paste -1tbsp
Chilly powder-2tsp
Dania powder-1tsp
Turmeric powder-1/2tsp
Salt
Oil
Lemon juice(optional)

Method

Mix Ginger-garlic,chilly,turmeric,dania ,salt with nethili meen and keep it aside for atleast 30 min.s.Then shallow fry them in the oil.Adjust the spices according to your palatte.I personally like this to have with hot rasam and rice.Enjoy.

Full Sub

Today's lunch....Sub sandwich..

12in Wheat hoagie bread
Onions
Bell peppers - roasted
Lettuce
Sliced Cucumber pickles
Cheese slices(i used pepperjack)
Mayoneese
Baked Chicken breast- half

For marinating Chicken (for 3 chicken breasts)

Olive oil - 1/3 cup
Cayanne pepper - 1 tsp
Pepper-1tsp
Garlic powder-1tsp
Ginger grated - 1tsp
Salt-as required.

Mix all the ingredients for marinating and marinate the chicken for atleast 1 hour.I used ziploc bags for marinating the chicken breast.Note that I have used only half chicken breast for this sandwich.Rest of them i freezed for future use.For a single foot long sub like this, take half chicken breast and bake under 325°F for about 40 mts.(until it is tender and fully cooked).Once cooked, cut chicken breast into thin strips.I had roasted bell peppers with some olive oil and salt in the oven.I didn't put any measurements for the onions,pickles etc because you can add as much as you like. Cut the bread into half(don't cut all the way through).Brush in some myo first and start adding layers.Mine started in this order, mayo,lettuce,onion,peppers,chicken,pickles and finally cheese.You can add any veggies you like, there is no limit.I like to add some carrots,basil,olives even boiled egg also.

Chicken kuruma

I was searching for the perfect chicken kuruma for a long time and last found one right there in my computer.I had saved this recipe from a tamil magazine called tamilmurasu.As new owners(sun network) brought this evening newspaper, they started promoting the paper bigtime.One of the key pages in the paper was this recipe page.But sadly, they stopped publishing this recipe page.(But they are still in the archives).I had bookmarked all my fav.ones and still am able to visit the old website.But don't know how long i will be able to do that.I had saved some of the chicken recipes from the paper and tried this delicious chicken kuruma this weekend with few changes.Came out really well and hubby,son loved it.

Chicken Kuruma

Ingredients
Chicken - 1 kilo
cinnamon,cardamom,aniseed,cloves -50g
Perunjeeragam-25g
Jeera-25g
Pepper-25g
Chilli powder-2tsp
Dania powder-1tsp
Green chillies - 50g
Onion - 1/2 kg (Original version has small onion -1/2kg)
Ginger-Garlic paste- 2 tbsp (Original version has Ginger - 50g and Garlic- 50g )
Fenugreek - 1tsp
Tomato-50g
Coconut-1/3 cup(Original version has coconut-1)
kaskas - 20g
Coriander levaes and Curry leaves - as required
Oil - as required
Salt- as required

Method

Grind coconut and kaskas into a paste.Powder Pepper and fenugreek together.
Heat oil in the pan and fry cloves,cardamom,aniseeds,cinnamon,jeera and perunjeeragam.Add slit green chillies and ginger-garlic paste to it.Fry for abt 2 mins and add chopped onion and tomato and salt.After frying well add chicken pieces.don't add water.After chicken is cooked halfway, add turmeric powder,chilli powder,dania powder and cook.(you can add little water now).Once the chicken is cooked add coconut-kaskas paste to it and let it boil.Finally add powdered pepper and fenugreek.Serve it with rice or chappathi.

Sorry abt the measurements, please change according to your standards.

Corn Muffins..I did it..

As i sworn earlier, i tried baking this weekend with much easy and simple muffin..
Simple..'coz it was straight from the box.I have decided to take baby steps in baking and tried this corn muffin mix this time.Well, it came out very well and i got confident that "i can too".So next step..next weekend..

Potato Peas Masala with Chappathi

Downloadable recipe e-books by Sify.com.,wonderful recipe collection.They have many good recipes right from the basic one to modern ones.I have tried many successful ones from this ebook.This is one of them which i tried this weekend with some changes.My version was much spicer than the original one.and i always had problems with grated or grinded onion.I don't know why, whenever i use grated/grinded onion my dish will taste kinda bitter.If i fry it for long also, it will taste bitter.If any of you have a solution to this , plz let me know.I used finely chopped onion for this masala.Here is the original recipe from sify.com


Potato Peas Masala

Ingredients
2 large potatoes boiled, peeled
1 cup peas boiled, drained
1 onion grated
1 tomato grated
1 tsp. Ginger grated
1/2 tsp. Garlic grated
1 stalk curry leaves
1 tsp. Fresh coriander leaves finely chopped
1 tsp. Red chilli powder
1/2 tsp. Dhania (coriander seed) powder
1/4 tsp. Turmeric powder
3-4 pinches asafoetida
3tbsp. Curds or yoghurt
salt to taste
1/2 tsp. Each cumin & mustard seeds
1 tbsp. Oil

Method
Chop potatoes into big pieces (8 or 10, each potato).Heat oil, add cumin and mustard seeds, allow to splutter.Add ginger, garlic, stir, add onion, saute for a minute. Add tomato, stir and cook till oil separates. Add all masalas, salt, curds and stirfry till boil resumes. Add potatoes and peas, 1/2 cup water and bring back to boil. Allow to simmer, covered, till gravy is thick,stirring occasionally. Empty into serving bowl, garnish with chopped coriander.Serve piping hot, with chappatis, phulkas, or even plain steamed rice.Note: One may reduce, increase or even delete the use of chilli as per taste, to get a spicier or blander dish. It would still be delicious to taste.

Chicken chilly fry

Chicken chilly fry

Ingredients

Chicken - 1 lb
Onion-1 sliced
Green chillies - 4
Chilly powder - 1 tbsp
Turmeric powder-1/4 tsp
Ginger garlic paste-2tbsp
vinegar - 1tbsp
Salt
Oil


Method:

Marinate the Chicken pieces with chilly powder,turmeric powder,vinegar,GG paste and salt for about 1 hr.Then Steam cook it in the Idly cooker.(this took abt 15-20 mts on medium flame for me.(May be you can broil it in the oven also).In the mean time, fry the onions nice and brown in oil and keep it aside.In the same oil fry the cooked chicken until the outside is nice golden brown(i like mine extra brown).Then add the fried onion and some slit green chillies.Mix all together well and cook for another 3 min.s.Serve it with roti,rice or just as an appetizer..my son loves to eat as it is..

Kappa/Tapioca Delight

It's been raining here for the last few days and the whole enviornment looks so dull and energyless.I know most of you will agree with me on this, the clouds really makes me wanna cuddle down and never get out of bed.Wanted to cook something spicy and hot to boost the energy up...Kappa..that's exactly what crossed my mind.Kappa, a known /common dish in kerala.Very famous for serving with meen curry.This recipe is a common in our hosehold as a side dish or just as an evening snack.

Kappa

Ingredients

Kappa/Tapioca- Boiled with some salt and turmeric.(i used forzen one brought from indian store)
For grinding

coconut-1/4 cup shredded
Jeera-1/4 tsp
Garlic- 2 pods
Curry leaves - a few
Red chilly-4-5
Turmeric powder-1/2 tsp

For tadka
Oil- 2 tbsp
curry leaves,mustard,urad dal

Method

Boil kappa with some salt and turmeric powder.Grind coconut,curry leaves,jeera,red chillies,garlic,curry leaves,turmeric powder together into a paste using water.
In oil, splutter mustard,urad dal and curry leaves.Add the grounded paste into this and fry on medium heat for few min.s till the raw smell goes.Put kappa and salt into this and slightly mash kappa.Mix it very well into the coconut paste.Cook it for 2-3 min.s and serve it.

Mutton biryani

I had tried many recipes with mutton before but never tried mutton biryani.This weekend had tried just that, to my luck, it came out ok...It's always a mystery how a biryani will come out, everyone will have concerns about the rice getting overcooked or undercooked..I am sure that most of you will agree on this.anyways this time I was very lucky and everything came out just fine.

Mutton Biryani

Ingredients

Basmati rice - 2 and 1/2 cup
Ginger-Garlic paste - 1 tbsp
Onion - 2 chopped fine
Chilly powder - 3 tbsp
Dania powder - 1tbsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tbsp
Green chillies-3 slit
Curd-2tbsp
Mint leaves-1/2 cup
Coriander leaves-1/2 cup
Whole garam masalas


For Garnishing
Onion - 1 sliced fine and fried till very brown
Cashews - 10 fried



Clean mutton and marinate it with turmeric powder,curd,salt,garlic-ginger paste for abt 1 hr.Soak Basmati rice for abt 30 min.s.Heat pressure cokker and pour oil.When the oil is hot, fry the whole garam masalas and onion.When the onion is golden brown add chilly,dania powders and mint,coriander leaves.Finally add the marinated meat and mix very well.Add just enough water, not too much.Pressure cook the meat for about 4 whistles.Switch off the stove and let the pressure go down.Now open the cooker and add the drained rice.I had added just 2 and 1/2 cups of water 'coz there was enough water already in the cooked masala.Add salt and pressure cook again for 2 whistles...After the whistles, let the pressure go down again and open the cooker.With a spatula, slighlty start transfering the biryani to a platter without mushing the rice down.Garnish with fried onion and cashew nuts.Serve it with raita and pappadam.Enjoy..

you can add tomatoes and coconut milk in this recipe.Beware my recipe is very spicy so adjust the spices according to you.

Baking..not my kinda thing...:(((

Baking cake....haven't tried much before..may be baked two simple cakes in my life time.(But my cookies always turn out ..ok..)Yesterday thought of giving it again a try 'coz last two times i used readymade cake mix and they came out all right.Yesterday baked a simple vanilla sponge cake with some almonds for my friend.This time didn't want to use the cake mix, wanted to start from the scratch.Followed the recipe from Marthastewart.com.The end product looked all right(as you can see in the pic) but it was dry..i don't know how to explain exactly..i feel like having a glass of cold water after eating a piece.My friend(who was being very polite)said the taste is good..poor girl..She was right..there was no problem with the taste ..but dry.....Anyway i am not going to stop trying..i am planning to bake again next weekend..let see..

Cabbage thoran/poriyal

Cabbage thoran..Another mom's delicious recipe with lotz of coconut, garlic, curry leaves.but here being little bit health conscious I don't use coconut that much.On Onam day, wanted to try mom's exact recipe,came out and tasted just like mom's.
I have to send this pic to mom and grandma just make them believe that i cooked it..they will never believe me..

Cabbage thoran

Ingredients:
Cabbage - 1/2 (medium sized cabbage)chopped
Coconut-3/4 cup
Garlic -2 pod
Green chillies- 8
Turmeric powder-1tsp
jeera - 1tsp
Perungayam - a pinch

For tadka:
Oil-2 tbsp
urad dal-1tsp
mustard seeds - 1tsp
Curryleaves

Method:

Grind Coconut,garlic,green chilli,turmeric powder and jeera in a coarse paste.(Don't grind it into a smooth paste.)Heat oil in the pan and add mustard seeds,urad dal,curry leaves and fry.Then add the grinded paste and fry it abt a 2 min.s till the raw smell goes.Now add the chopped cabbage and salt.Mix it well,cover it and cook.Don't add any water, the cabbage itself releases sufficient water.Stir occasionally.When the cabbage is almost cooked , take out the lid and cook it open for another 3 min.s.The cabbage should be soft and little bit crunchy.Serve it with rice.


I normally do this without the coconut.It also tastes very good.

Indo-Chinese Fried rice

2 cups cooked rice
1 medium sized onion chopped
1 tbsp ginger chopped
1 tbsp garlic chopped
2 green chillies chopped
1 cup frozen veggies+mushrooms
1 tbsp sesame seeds
1 tbsp dark soya sauce
1tbsp green chilli sauce
1 tbsp vinegar
1/2 tsp pepper


In a heated pan, pour oil and add sesame seeds , fry till they are golden.Then add chopped ginger, garlic,green chillies and fry for abt 2-3 min.s.Add onion,Veggies and mushroom one at a time and fry till they are soft and yet little bit crunchy.Now add the soy sauce ,chilli sauce,vinegar,pepper and salt.finally add cooked rice and mix it well with the sauces.Finally garnish with green onions and enjoy..

Note: i like fried rice spicy, so adjust spices according to your taste..

Pic.Of Fried rice served with mushroom stir fry..

Gobi Manchurain and naan

Had prepared Gobi manchurian and naan for dinner.I came across lots of different recipes for gobi manchurian, but was not satisfied enough to try one.('coz of the past experiences trying to make Gobi manchurian ...:)).finally selected some good ones and made a mixed version of it.Making it with little extra gravy than the usual one and extra spicy.

Ingredients:
1 medium-sized cauliflower broken into florets
2 tbsp cooking oil
1/2 tbsp sesame seeds
1 onion( finely chopped)
1 tbsp garlic, finely chopped
1 tbsp ginger, finely chopped
1 tbsp green chili, finely chopped
½ tbsp corn flour mixed with 2 tbsp of water
(I used some corn starch, 'coz i didn't find any corn flour on the pantry :))
2 tbsp Dark Soy Sauce (You can use the regualr light one also.The color of the dish will be slightly different)
1 tbsp Tomato sauce (I used Maggi)
1 tbsp Red Chilli sauce
1 tbsp pepper powder
3/4 cup of water (Add water according to the amount of gravy you need)
Some green onion, finely chopped for garnish .
(You can cut them using kitchen scissors which seems to be fairly easy and need.)

For batter:
All purpose flour-1/2 cup
Corn flour-1/4 cup(Again 'coz i was short of corn flour, i used some rice flour instead)
Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt- as needed
Red food color- a pinch(optional)

Method:

Make a batter using all purpose,corn flour,red chilli powder,red food color and salt using some water.The batter should be thick.(slightly thicker than the batter used for bajji).Dip each gobi florets into the batter and deep fry them until golden brown.Place the fried florets into a paper towel for draining oil.

Now heat oil (i used olive oil), fry sesame seeds,onion,ginger,garlic and green chillies.Fry for abt 2-3 min.s till the aroma comes.Now add all the sauces, pepper powder and salt.Fry for another 2 min.s and add the corn flour -water mixture.Add water and cook till the sauce is thick enough for you and finally add the deep fried florets.Garnish with Green onions and some roasted sesame seeds.

P.S: You can add a pinch of ajinomotto if you want, but there are concerns abt whether it's good for health..so i usuall avoid it.The dish tastes very good even if you don't add ajinomotto.
I served this with Spicyana's Naan...yummy..

My son couldn't wait......

Wow..Twin yolk..

Today while making breakfast for my toddler, to my surprise when I cracked the egg..I got a twin yolk inside..This is the first time I am seeing like this..Anyway thought of sharing it..

Mor kuzhambu(Moru curry)

This is one of my fav. easy recipe made with curd.This mor kuzhambu tastes even better the next day.You can veggies like cucumber,pumpkin,lady's finger etc to this kuzhambu.Even you can add ripe mango or pineapple...

Ingredients

Curd - 2 cups well beaten
Grated coconut-4 tspn
Rice-1 tspn(soaked in water)
Green chillies-4
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tspn
Jeera - 1/4 tspn
Garlic-1 pod

For tadka
Oil
Mustard seeds,urad dal,curry leaves,red chillies




Method

Grind coconut,garlic,green chillies,jeera and turmeric into a paste.In a pan. heat oil and fry mustard,urad dal, curry leaves and red chillies.Now add the grounded paste and fry for abt 2 min.s.Add the boiled veegie and boil for 2 min.Reduce the flame to low , and add the well beated curd and salt.Keep stirring till it boils once.Switch of the stove and serve it.I prefer cucumber in this recipe.Mor kuzhambu with vendakkai poriyal or potato poriyal is a heaven made combination.

Italian Frittata/Omelette

Sunday morning, was thinking what to do for brunch..finally decided to clean up some of the items in the refrigerator.So decided to make Fritatta, similar to our indian omelette, but it is open cooked.And of course, you will be adding lotz of cheese.
Looks a lot like a pizza, so my son loves it.You can add any frsh veg into this, but i had added only mushrooms,red onion and some bell peppers.You pretty much add anything you want in tis recipe.The other choices would be olives,tomato,jalapeno,baby spinach,basil etc.I think you can even experiment with some pineapple also.

Ingredients

Olive oil/Veg.Oil - 2 tsp
Bell peppers-1/2 chopped
Mushrooms- 3 tspn chopped
Red onion - 1/2 chopped
Eggs - 3 beaten well.
cheese - any kind (i used some pepper jack and parmesian)

Method
Set oven to broiler.
In a nonstick pan, heat some oil and saute all the veggies till they are soft.Add some salt and pepper to the beated eggs and pour it into the nonstick pan(with veggies).Slightly mix it and keep it on a medium flame.When the side of the frittata becomes cooked and slightly getting set at the bottom, put the cheese slices on top of the frittata and place this into the oven.Let it boil until the frittata is fully cooked and cheese is melted brownish.This should take only about 5 min.This is very fulfilling sunday breakfast.I used my cast iron pan(which i use for making dosas) for this.I don't like my cheese all brownish, i took out the frittata when the cheese was all bubbly.

Chappathi with Toor dal fry

Yet another easy dal fry , which i usually cook with leftover toordal.I usuallycook toor dal little bit extra, so that i can use for rest of the week for dishes like paruppu kootu,sambhar,dal fry..
you can keep cooked dal in a refrigerator for abt a week or so.


Ingr.s

Cokked Toor dal - 1 cup
Onion- 1 sliced
Ginger-garlic paste- 1sp
Green chillies - 3 slit or chopped fine
Tomatoes-1 sliced
Garam masala-1/2 sp
turmeric powder - 1/2sp
Oil ,mustard,curry leaves,salt

Method

In a pan, haet oil and do the tadka with mustard seeds,curry leaves and chopped green chillies.Add Onion and fry till it becomes brown and then add ginger-garlic paste to into it and fry well.Finally add turmeric powder,salt and tomatoes and fry till tomotoes are soft.Finally add
toor dal and garam masala and cook in a medium flame for abt4-5 min.s(till the garam masala's raw smell goes).Garnish with some chopped coriander leaves.Serve it hot with chappathi or jeera rice.