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.

Fish cutlets,balls,fingers...

I made this fish cutlets(in different shapes) last week.Started making the traditional cutlets first, but as i gave first one to my toddler, he was having difficult time holding the whole piece without dropping it on the floor.So decided to make finger shaped,ball shaped cutlets which he liked alot.Then what, the evening snack became dinner..:))

Ingredients

Fish (boneless) - 3 pieces of cod loins (you can use tilapia,king fish etc)
Potato - 2 (boiled)
Green chillies - 2 (chopped)
Onion -1 (finely chopped)
Chilly powder -1tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2tsp
Garam masala - 1/2tsp
Ginger garlic paste - 1/2tsp
Curry leaves - a few (chopped)
Egg - 1
(separate egg yolk and white)
Bread crumps - 1/2 cup
Oil - for deep frying


Method

Cook fish with little salt and turmeric powder and mash them well.(i cooked them in microwave for approx : 10 mts).Boil potatoes and mash them well.In a pan heat oil and saute onions well till they are brown.Now add green chillies and gg paste and saute for some more time.Then add chilli,turmeric and garam masala powders and fry till the raw smell goes.Switch off the heat and let it cool down little bit.Now add mashed fish, potatoes ,salt and egg yolk into it and mix well.Mix everything very well.Make cutlets out of it and dip it in egg white first and then roll it into the bread crumps and deep fry them till golden in color.

Cracked Chocolate Cake :))

Happy Halloween...

Emergency chocolate cake

Got the recipe from one of my cook book.This is very easy to make and can be dressed up using little whipped cream or confectioner's sugar on top.I used some home made colored icing to write on top of it.when i saw the cake was cracked, felt little disappointed, but hey..this is halloween..nothing should look perfect right?



Ingredients


All purpose flour - 2 cups
Sugar - 11/4 cup
Baking soda - 3/4 tsp
Cocoa powder - 3/4
Water - 1 1/4 cup
Mayonnaise - 1 cup
Vanilla extract - 1tbsp


Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.Lightly coat an 8 inch square cake pan with veg.oil spray.I used rect.pan.Whisk flour,sugar,baking soda togeher in a large bowl.In another bowl, whisk the cocoa and water together until smooth.whisk in the mayo and vanilla.Stir the mayo mixture into the flour mixture until combined.Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.Bake until a toothpick inserted comes out clean abt 35-40 mts.

Shrimp curry

After a long time i came out of my same old shrimp recipe..wow..am i glad i did that.This shrimp curry recipe i got from the site pachakam.com.It is a drooling recipe with a goan touch.A must try..


The original recipe didn't mention how many red chillies, so i used 10.

Rava dosa with Tomato-Onion chutney

Rava uppuma, rava idly, rava dosa, rava halwa...etc so many things from this one handy ingredient.This rava dosa ,very easy and fast dosa recipe when there is so little time to cook...

Rava dosa


Ingredients

Rava - 1/2 cup
Rice flour - 1 cup
Maida flour - 1/2 cup
Salt - as needed

For tadka

Oil - 2tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Red chillies - 10 (adjust according to u'r palatte)
Jeera - 1/2tsp
Cashew nuts - 6 (fried in ghee)(optional)
Curry leaves - as needed
Coriander leaves - as needed


Method

Soak rava in little water for abt 15-30 minutes.Now mix rava, maida,rice flour and salt together into a batter using water.The batter should be thinner than the usual dosa batter.Do the tadka and pour it into the batter.If you want you can add chopped onion now.In a hot tava, make thin dosas using this batter.If you want you can 2 tbsp of yougurt to the batter for little bit different taste.Serve it hot with any type of chutney or milagu podi.



Tomato - onion chutney

(ref : aval vikatan)


Ingredients

Tomato - 4
Onion - 2
Garlic - 6 small pods
Red chillies - 5
Urad dal -1tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Perungayam - 1/2 tsp
Tamarind - amla sized ball
Salt - as needed
Oil - 2tbsp
Coriander leaves - as needed


Method

Chop tomato, onion into big sized pieces.In pan heat oil and fry mustard,urad dal,red chillies.Now add garlic and chopped onion into it and fry till they are golden brown.Add tomato, tamarind, perungayam and salt to this and fry till tomatoes are melt completely.Finally add chopped coriander leaves and fry for another 2 min.s.Switch off the heat and let it cool down.After cooling down , grind it into a fine paste.This chutney goes well with all dosas and idlies.

Fish Theeyal

Before starting "thanks " to my lil' sis for helping me perfecting this family recipe.Theeyal or karuttha kuzhambu...a must have in our homes.My mom and mil makes this theeyal atleast once a week.As we live in the border of kerala n' tamil nadu, our theeyal is kinda a mixed version of both cuisines.The advantage of this theeyal is that you can add a variety of things into it..You can put veggies like drumsticks,brinjal,vazhakkai etc.You can put egg omelette in this or you can put fish in this like it..But don't put all in one theeyal..and then...hmm..don't blame me...

Ingredients
King fish - 2lbs (cut into small cubes)
(you can use halibut, cod also)
Shredded coconut - 1/2 cup
Shallots - 5 -6
Garlic - 3-4 pods
Pepper corns - 1tbsp
Chilly powder - 1tsp
Dania powder - 1tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Jeera - 1tsp
Curry leaves - 3-5 leaves.
Tamarind - lemon sized ball.

For tadka

Mustard seeds, urad dal, vendhayam,curry leaves.

Method

Soak tamarind in water and extract the juice.Keep it aside.
In a pan,on medium low flame ,heat 2tbsp of oil and fry jeera.Now add coconut and fry till they are almost golden.Now add shallots, garlic,curry leaves,pepper,chilly powder,dania powder and tumeric powder one at a time and keep frying till the aroma comes.(frying this well is the key part).After this cools down , grind it into a smooth paste.Now in another pan, heat oil and do the tadka.Add he grinded paste,tamarind extract and salt.Let it boil well(on med-high) till the raw smell goes and the liquid is getting thicker.Now reduce the flame and fish pieces.Cook under med-low heat till the fish is well cooked.Serve it hot with rice and fish fry.










This is Mutta theeyal...

Idly uppuma

As the festive mood subsided,the refrigerator was filled with leftovers.So sunday i made idly uppuma with some leftover idlies.This is one of my fav. leftover dishes.I deliberately make extra idlies just have this idly uppuma..:))Back in college hostel days,we used to wait for the breakfast time to be over and grab all the leftover idlies to make this idly uppuma.Thanks to all the mess ladies for bearing with us:))

Ingredients

Idlies - 5-6 ( broken into small pieces)
Onion - 1 medium sized (chopped fine)
Red chillies- 3
mustard seeds - 1/2tsp
Urad dal - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2tsp
Salt - as needed
Curry leaves - as needed


Method

In a pan, heat oil and fry mustard seeds,urad dal,red chiilies,curry leaves and finally add chopped onion.Fry till onion is golden brown.Now add idlies, salt and turmeric powder.Fry well and make sure all the turmeric powder is well incoperated.Serve it hot.

Diwali Special #5 Karachevu

Busy busy busy..as every mom out there preparing for diwali..just squeezed in lil' time (while toddler was napping) to enter my last special for this diwali.The irony is, most of the diwali specials are already over ..should i blame my lovin' H or my naughty toddler who showed his dad where i hid them :)).Hoping to save atleast this for diwali day ..:))This last is one of my fav. spicy savoury item.My mom used get this for us from a shop near my home called murugan sweet stall..though it is a sweet tall, i like all the savory items from there :).This is easy to make using channa flour/kadala maavu. I used murukku press for this also.


Ingredients

Channa flour - 2 cups
Rice flour - 2tbsp
Red chillies- 10-15 (15 means very spicy)
Garlic - 2 cloves
Perungayam - as needed
Baking soda - a pinch
Pepper - 1tbsp
Oil - as needed
Salt- as needed

Method

Grind red chillies,garlic and perungayam into a coarse paste.Grind pepper corns separately.Mix channa flour,rice flour,baking soda,salt ,groun red chillie paste and pepper together using salt water.The dough should be as thick as murukku dough.Heat oil in a pan for deep frying.Using murukku press drop murukkus into the hot oil.Now separate the murukku layers ASAP.This will give you long broken strings
dough frying in the oil.Take them out when they are golden brown and drain the oil.Finally break them into small pieces.

Wishing you all a very Happy Diwali....

Diwali Special # 4 Bhoondi Laddu

Bhoondi laddu,one of the main sweets in our weddings.Mainly just the bhoondi dipped in palpayasam(eating it out of banana leaf) is the highlight of the wedding lunch.This is made with channa flour/kadala maavu.You have to make bhoondi first and then the laddu.


Ingredients

Kadala maavu/channa flour - 1 cup
Sugar - 2 cup
Oil- for frying
Orange food color - a pinch
Baking powder - a pinch
Rice flour - 1tbsp
cardamom powder - 1tsp(optional)
cashews - 10 (fried in ghee)(optional)
cloves - 4(optional)

Method

Make sugar syrup using 2 cups of sugar and 1 cup of water.The consistency should be just before one thread.Mix channa flour,baking powder,rice flour and food color into a thick batter.(slightly thicker than the dosa batter).Heat oil for deep frying.Take the batter into a sieve and just gently tap it.The bhoodies will fall down into the oil.(i used a small sized hole sieve.You can use round slotted spoon which we use for frying).Fry the bhoondies and don let it darken.Drain oil by placing it in the kitchen towel.After finishing with the bhoondies, dip them into the sugar syrup and take them out.Place them in a platter.Now add cardamom, cloves,cashews etc if u want.As i don't like any of these, i didn't add anything.With little ghee applied on your hand, make laddus out of bhoondies.You have to make laddu when the bhoondies are still warm otherwise they won't stick together.I had my palms almost burned :))..so be careful...

Kadai Paneer

I made this over the weekend. I have tried only one dish with paneer and that is "kadai paneer".Liked it so much stuck with it.Whenever i buy paneer i am making only this dish , never tried anything else :))

Ingredients

Paneer- 1/2 lb (cut into long cubes)
Green Bellpepper/Capsicum - 2 (cut into square pieces)
Onion - 1 (cut into square pieces)
Dania powder -1tsp
Chilli powder -1tsp
Green chillies - 4 (chopped fine)
Ginger - 1/2" (julienned)
Garlic - 4 cloves (chopped fine)
(you can use ginger-garlic paste instead)
Tomatoes - 2 (chopped)
Kasoori methi -1tsp

Method

In a pan heat 2tbs oil and fry onion, capsicum for abt 5 min.s till onions become translucent.Keep in aside.Add more oil and fry garlic, ginger and green chilli.Cook for few min.s and add onon+capsicum.Add chilly,dania powder and mix well.Now add tomatoes and fry well till the tomatoes fully melt.Add salt and kasoori methi and mix well.Finally add the paneer pieces and stir well so that paneer is coated well with masala.Now close the pan with a lid and cook for abt 5-7 min.s.and garnish with chopped coriander leaves.Serve hot with roti/chappathi.

Weekend cooking

Weekend we had a potluck party and had fun with different foods.One of my item was these fried (?) chicken legs..looks like deep fried isn't it?..but i used only about 3-4tbsp of oil for this chicken.The recipe is same as i mentioned in Chicken roast few days ago.Marinate the chicken pieces overnight in the fridge.fry them in little bit oil just to brown it (this is what gives it that deep fried taste).Then bake theses in 370 degrees oven for about 30 mts. until all the legs are well cooked.




Another item was these fake shamosas..i got the this wonderful idea from Saffron hut .Her version was veggie, i tried both veggie and nonveg version as our guests were both veg & nonvegg.I made veggie version just like Saffronhut's using potatoes with freshly ground spices..yummy...My nonveg version was using chicken.

Chicken filling for Shamosas

Ingredients

chicken - 2lb ( boneless and cut into bite size pieces)
Onion - 1-2 chopped fine
Ginger-garlic paste - 2tbsp
Green chillies- 3 (chopped)
Chilly powder - 3tsp
Coriander powder - 1tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2tsp
Garam masala -1/2 tsp (optional)
curry leaves - a string
salt-as needed
Oil- as needed

Method

In a heavy bottomed pan, heat oil and fry onion till they are golden brown.Add green chillies, curry leaves and gg paste and fry till the raw smell goes.Now add the powders and fry for another 2-3 min.s finally add the chicken pieces and salt.Do not add any water.Chicken itself will release enough water to cook.DO NOT COVER.cook till the gravy becomes very thick , almost dry.You will be able to see individual chicken pieces.

For non veggie version, fill thses in the puff pastry cups..




Chicken Filling








I made these kiddie wraps for the kids.Filling was Sweetened coconut flakes mixed
with some brown sugar...

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...