AFAM - Banana Round up

AFAM - A fruit A month, another blog event launched this month to shed light on the importance of fruits in our day to day diet.It's been very informative and fruitful to persons like me who is a bit "fruitlazy" ( ..is there a word?).As suggested by one of our fellow foodie Lakshmik,"banana" was chosen as the theme for this month.Received delicious n'sensational banana recipes from shakes to pancakes.I went "bananas" over all these delicious entries.Thanks to all of you.

Now a bit more info about banana.Did you know banana plant is not a tree , 'its world's largest herb.This highly potassium contented fruit is recommended by doctors for blood pressure.Some of the other medicinal uses of banana being used for, anaemia,heartburn,smoking,weight control etc.Again,Banana plant is the most useful of all the plants.We use almost all parts of this plant for cooking and eating.





Banana photo source : Wikipedia
More info about banana : Banana.com

Check out all the delicious entries below.Hold the mouse over the photo for the info about the entry and click on it to travel to the respective blog.

Thanks again to all of you for all your delicious entries and hoping all your support to make this event move forward with more fruit awareness.

Mutta/Egg Aviyal

Mutta aviyal, again my MIL's another treasured recipe.Another interesting aviyal recipe with egg,potatoes and drumsticks.

Ingredients

Egg - 3 (hard boiled,shelled and cut into halves)
Drumsticks - 4 medium sized pieces (frozen)
Potato - 2 medium sized
Oil - 2tsp
Coconut- 2 tbsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4tsp
Jeera - 1tsp
Garlic - 1 pod
Green chillies - 2
Mustard seeds - 1tsp
Urad dal - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - as needed
Tamarind paste - 1tsp
Asafoedita - a pinch


Method

Grind coconut,garlic,jeera,green chillies,turmeric powder and curry leaves into a coarse paste.In pan, boil potatoes and drumsticks in tamarind water with little salt.Once the poatoes are almost cooked, add the coconut paste and let the dish boil and get thick.Add egg into this and mix slightly.In another pan, heat oil and fry mustard,urad dal,asafoedita and curry leaves.Pou this into egg aviyal.Serve hot with rice.





Tips: Put 1tsp of salt while boiling egg, this helps easy shelling of the egg.

Varutthuaraccha chicken curry

Varuthuaracha chicken curry, chicken in fried coconut gravy.I made my Lil' one Ram who is almost 3 years to help me on this dish for TRS's Little chefs in the kitchen .Oh..boy..was that fun?..fun or more work for me clean up after his help.He usually likes to sit on the counter top while i am cooking.He likes to point out on things around the kitchen and ask "amma whatz that?".He will keep on asking until he is tired or i am getting restless...:)).This time i asked him to separate pods from garlic,oh..boy ..he was so excited.and again, i was worried 'coz he had just made a mess on the coffee table with water.My H was asking are you sure you wanna do this ?..hahaha.By this time R had started his job.I was telling him to pose his hands for the snaps also again n' again while he was busy helping me.R finally got frustrated and threw all the garlic pods on the table and filled the bowl with his cereal and start eating it.Anyways did a good job on garlic...:)).Thanks to TRS for intiating such a good blog event, may be by next time R will be more helpful than this.

Varuaraccha chicken curry

Ingredients

Chicken - 1 cornish hen (cut into medium pieces)
Ginger garlic paste - 1 1/2 tbsp
Chilli powder- 1tsp
Dania powder - 1tsp
Turmeric powder - 1tsp
Onion - 1 medium sized (chopped)
Tomatoes - 1 large (chopped)
Green chillies - 2
Garam masala - 1/2tsp
Coconut- 3tbsp
Fennel seeds - 1/2tsp
Curry leaves - as needed.
Oil - as needed
Salt - as needed


Method

Fry coconut and fennel seeds in 1 tsp of oil till golden brown and grind it into a fine paste.In a pressure cooker, heat oil and fry onions till golden brown.Now add green chillies,gg paste and tomatoes one by one and fry well.Then add all the powders and fry till the raw smell goes.Finally add chicken and salt and mix well.Add just enough water(i had added 1/2 cup) and cook it for 1 whistle.Switch off the heat.Once the pressure is gone, open the cooker.Add the grinded coconut paste and let boil on medium heat till nice aroma comes.serve hot with rice,roti.







Tips : If you could, do avoid adding water while cooking chicken.Chicken tastes much better if you allow it to cook on its own water.while cooking in a pressure cooker, just add lilttle bit of water to avoid buring.

Inji Kashayam

Inji kashayam, a medicinal drink made with fresh ginger,pepper,coriander seeds and jaggery.This is mother in law's famous recipe to make us all feel better when we are down with cold,indigestion or even nausea.Simple and easy to make and this is my entry for JFI-Ginger by Rosie.

Ingredients

Fresh ginger - 1 inch piece
Coriander seeds - 1tbsp
Whole Peppercorns - 1tbsp
Jaggery - 3tbsp(use it according to your taste)
Water - 2 cups

Method

Crush ginger in a mortar.Add water in a sauce pan and heat it.While its heating add ginger,coriander seeds, pepper and jaggery.Bring this to a boil and let it boil for about 5-6 minutes.Sieve it through a tea filter.Serve hot to feel better.



Tips : While buying ginger, look for the longer ginger root 'cause, the longer the ginger root, the fresher it is.

Challah

It's been long since i baked something good.So decided to bake and started looking into my fav.Cook book "America's test kitchen".Whatever i tried from this book, came out very well.So finally made my mind on this eggy braided bread from Jewish cuisine.Got attracted to this bread just because of the braids.The end product was so good didn't feel like eating it.After started eating it, couldn't stop ..:))These make sensational french toast also.





Ingredients

All Purpose flour - 3 and 1/2 cups
Water (warm) - 1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp
Butter - 4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled
Eggs - 2 (large)
Egg yolk - 1 (large)
Egg yolk - 1 (large)
Sugar - 1/4 cup
Instant or rapid rise yeast - 1 envelope ( 2 1/4 tsp)
Salt - 1 1/4tsp
Sesame seeds or poppy seeds - 1tsp (optional)


Method

You can mix the dough either with hand, or stand mixer or even processor.I am posting the food processer method here.Whisk 1/2 cup of the water,butter,eggs, and egg yolk together in a liquid measuring cup.Pulse 3 cups of the flour,sugar,yeast and salt in a food processor(fitted with a dough blade if possible) to combine.With the processor running,pour the egg mixture through the feed tube and process until a rough ball forms, 30 to 40 sec.s.Let the dough rest for 2 min.s, then process for 30 sec.s longer.Turn the dough out onto a clean counter and knead by hand to form a smooth, round ball, about 5 minutes, adding the remaining 1/ cup flour as needed to prevent the dough from sticking to the counter.Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, 1 and 1 1/2 hours.

Whisk the egg white and the remaining 1 tbsp water together to make egg wash.Turn the dough into a lightly floured counter.Divide the dough into two, one twice as large as the other.Divide each dough into 3 pieces and roll each piece out into 16 - inch ropes( three ropes will be much thicker).Braid two loaves,(just like braiding our hair),one large and one small.Transfer the large braid to a greased or parchment-lined baking sheet, brush with egg wash, and secure the smaller braid on top.cover with greased plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm place until it has nearly doubled in size and springs back slowly when intended with a finger, 30 to 60 minutes.( i had a small amount of dough left over after braiding, so just made a smaller braid and attached it to the top end)

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees.Brush the loaf with the remaining egg wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds.Bake until golden, 30 to 40 minutes.Transfer the bread to a wire rack and let cool to room temperature before slicing, about 2 hours.( again i couldn't wait till that time :))





Tips : For easier dough rising, especially on these winter days, heat the oven to 200 degress and then switch it off.After 10 minutes or so, place the dough inside the oven.I use the same method sometimes for dosa batter fermentation.In not so wintery days, just switch on the oven light and place the dough inside.

AFAM -Banana Update

Thank you all for your delicious entries.Shall do the round up by 25th of this month.
as this event was announced on a short time,those who are planning to participate but didn't get time to post the recipe and send me the link and pic, can do it on or before 24th.Thanks again ...

Lo mein noodles with Orange chicken

This is veggie lomein noodle with Asha's Orange chicken.

Lomein Noodles with Veggies

Ingredients

Noodles - 1 hand full
Red pepper - 1/2 (sliced)
Green pepper - 1/2 ( sliced)
Onion - 1/2 (sliced)
Cabbage - 1/2 cup (shredded)
Olive Oil - as needed

For Sauce

Corn starch - 1tbsp
Soy sauce - 1tsp
Hot chilli sauce - 1tsp
Salt - as needed


Method

Cook the noodles in boiling water with a drop of olive oil (so that they don't stick) and little salt.Drain them and keep it aside.In a pan, heat olive oil and saute onion, peppers and finaaly add cabbage and salt.Just saute them, do not fry them fully.They should have that crunchy taste.Now make the sauce by mixing the ingredients listed under "For sauce" with little water.Pour this into the veggies and and keep stirring it.('coz the corn starch will get thick too fast and you don't want lumps of sauce in the noodle).Finally add noodles and toss it well with the veggies.I serve them hot with Asha's Ginger chicken.




Tips : Always add few drops of oil while cooking noodles to keep them from sticking.Pouring cold water on cooked noodles as soon as they are drianed will also prevent them from sticking.

Black channa theeyal

This is my entry for Pooja of My creative ideas's Vegetable of the Week - Dried beans.


Ingredients

Black channa - 1 cup (pre soaked and cooked)
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/fenugreek,curry leaves.



Method

Soak black channa overnight and pressure cook it for 2 whistles.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 add Channa and cover n' cook for few more min.s.Finally open and cook for some more min.s and serve it hot with rice.





Tips : You can prepare and store this fried coconut mixture for days.Coconut won't get spoiled once it's fried well.

Banana-Strawberry shake.

Thanks you all for the AFAM-Banana entries.Hope to receive more entries from rest of you.This is my second entry to AFAM - Banana.This again one of my son's fav.milk shakes.




Ingredients

Banana - 2
Strawberry - 4 Fresh or frozen (i used pretty big ones)
Sugar - 5tsp
Milk - 2 cups(cold)
Ice cubes - a few
Vanilla/strawberry flavored iceceram - 1 scoop (optional)

Method

Blend all the ingredients together till it's foamy and serve immediately.again i use skim milk and no ice cream for me.And for the lil' one i use whole milk and ice cream.If you are using ice cream then skip sugar.




Tips : Frozen strawberries are the best for drinks like this.They are much more easy for storing and economical.

Just a reminder...

Just a reminder for AFAM - Banana.Hoping to receive more entries by 20th of this month.Thanks in advance

Chiili Chicken

MBP - Monthly Blog Patrolling, an exciting new blog even intiated by Coffee of My Kazhana of Recipes to thank/honor all the fellow foodies out there by trying out their recipes.As soon as i heard about this, the first thing that came to my mind was Asha.Asha of Foodie's hopewas one of the first visitors to this blog and encouraged me to go on with it.What is more perfect than this event to thank her for supporting and encouraging me.so i searched through her blog, and finally decided to go with Chilli chicken,which was a hard decision to make since she had so many goodies there.Thanks Asha for sharing such wonderful recipes with us.

Thanks to Coffee for hosting this wonderful event.Thanks to all fellow foodies who got me going and hoping to thank each one of you through this event




I served her chilli chicken with Chappathis instead of Pita bread,onion relish and substituted chillies for capsicums.Check out more of Asha's delicious recipes here

Tips :Split green chillies can be used to make thick home made yogurt.Just put one split green chilli in the milk+1tbsp of live yogurt mixture before keeping it for curding.(hmm...is there a word like that?..hope you got the idea).

Banana-Peanut butter smoothie.

Snow...yeap..it was snowing the whole day yesterday.After about a full month of pretty "hot" winter, we are just slowly getting the touch of the real winter.Maybe mother nature thought...hmmm..OK....that's just enough for these people..letz bring out the snow.Yesterday it was snowing the whole day and i had to get out for groceries.Though H alerted me day before itself and asked me to buy everything which of course i neglected.So today here i am stuck with whatever in the pantry.Wanted to make banana milkshake but no ice cream and suddenly my fridge stopped making ice cubes..duh..so got stuck with bananas, which of course i brought a bunch as soon as it was selected as theme.So finally decided to make smoothie with banana and peanut butter which is Ram's favourite.So here goes the recipe,hope you enjoy it.This is my entry for AFAM-Banana





Ingredients

Banana - 1 (riped)
Peanut butter - 1 1/2tsp (used the fat free one)
Sugar - 1tbsp ( he likes it sweet, so i added lilttle more)
Cold milk - 1 cup (i use whole milk for him and 2% or skim milk for me)

Method

Blend all together till smoothie is foamy.Garnish with banana slices.Serve it immediately.





Tips : To make bananas ripe faster, place them in a paper bag overnight.Frozen bananas are also good for smoothies.While making fruit salads using bananas, use little bit of lemon juice to prevent banana from turing brown,





For more about Banana and it's benefits click here

Akkara vadisal - a pongal special

Wishing you all very very happy pongal...

Ingredients

Rice - 1/4cup
Channa dal/Kadalai paruppu - 1/4 cup
Moong dal/Pasi paruppu - 1/4 cup
Ghee - 2 tbsp
Jaggery/Vellam - 1/2cup(Use according to your sweet tooth)
Cardamom powder - 1tsp
Saffron - few strands
Cashew nuts - 5
Raisins - 5
2% Milk - 1 cup
Water - as needed.

Method

In a pan heat 1 tbsp of ghee and fry channa dal and moong dal separately.Boil jaggery with 1 cup of water and pass it through a sieve to remove any sand.In a pressure cooker, add cleaned rice, channa dal, moong dal, jaggery water, milk,cardamom powder, saffron and enough water.Pressure cook them for about 6-8 whistles.(changes according to your cooker).In a pan, heat 1 tbsp of ghee and fry raisins and cashews.Pour these into the pongal and serve.






Tips: Use Thiruniru/basmam/vibhuthi for cleaning Vizhakku/oil lamps.This will help remove the black colored oil remains on the lamp.

Chicken 65

An easy,spicy and tasty appetizer...

Ingredients

Chicken - 4 breast pieces (cut into bite size pieces)
Onion - 1 (cut into big pieces)
Green chillies - 4 (slit)
Oil - as needed
Coriander leaves - for garnishing

For marinating chicken

Ginger garlic paste - 3tbsp
Red chilli powder - 3tsp
Salt - as needed
Red food color - a pinch
Lime juice - 1tsp
Corn flour - 1 (optional)

Method

In a bowl, mix chicken,gg paste,food color,red chilli powder,corn flour,salt and lime juice well and keep aside for about 45 minutes for marination.The longer you keep the more tasty it is.As i was out of time i kept only for 45 minutes.After marination, deep fry all the pieces and drain out excess oil by placing it on the paper towel.Take 2 tsp of that oil in another pan and saute onions slightly.Garnish chicken 65 using this sauted onions, slit green chillies and chopped coriander leaves.

P.S :I have seen in some restuarents they serve this with some slightly sauted shredded cabbage.




This is cozy chenile scarf i knitted for myself...





Tips : While buying chicken in large quantity, like from stores like sam's club,as soon as get home divide them into individual portions and put in separate ziploc bags.Squeeze max air out of the ziploc before closing and put in the freezer.This is healthy and you can avoid thawing and freezing the whole packet again n' again each time you cook chicken.

A Fruit A Month

Photo Source wikipedia

An Apple A Day Keeps The Doctor Away,Your Food Shall Be Your Medicine - just two of the many proverbs/quotes telling us the importance of fruit,food and diet.Fruits,been there as a good diet for man since ADAM n' EVE.They so rich with minerals, vitamins, etc.They are known to be good remedy for some of the common illness and for much serious health issues.For example,Grapefruit juice is known to be good for cold while Pomegranate fruit is good for your heart.It's shame, if you are like me who doesn't take as much as fruit as needed.So i thought of this idea of making us eat more fruit through FOOD BLOGGING which we love and have in common.So here is AFAM - A Fruit A Month.Rule are pretty much the same as other Blog Events.


1.Based on the fruit of the month, you have to come up with a recipe with the fruit in any form fresh or dried.

2.Post the recipe on your blog and if you could post the picture also by 20 th of the month.

3.If you can, write more info about the fruit.Like my mom always says Pomegranate fruit is good for your healh especially for your heart.Some of might know about home medicine used for common cold/fever using fruits.

4.Email me your name,the pic,permalink of your recipe/pic to beyondusual@gmail.com with AFAM -(fruit name)as the subject.

5.Fruit of the month will be announced during the first week of that month. You have to email me your post by the 20th of that month and the final round up will be done in the last ten days.

So here is the fruit of this month "BANANA" suggested by Lakshmik.

Hoping to see more of you participate and spread the word about AFAM around the Blogworld.

Fruits

As new year begins, most of us must have taken up or trying hard to take up the biggest resolution of all "Getting Fit".Well,as fruits play an important role on this resolution, how about selecting each fruit for a month and sharing the recipes.
Let me know , if you all are interested we could proceed and select the fruit of this month...ok..

Chettinad Chicken Kuruma and Three things Meme...

Ingredients

Chicken - 2 lbs
Onion - 2 (medium sized)
Tomato - 2 (roma )
Ginger garlic paste - 2tbsp
Red Chilli powder - 1tsp
Dania powder - 1tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2tsp
Green chillies - 2
Pepper powder - 1tsp
Perunjeeragam - 1tsp |
Cardamom - 2 |can subsitute whole garam masalas with 1tsp of garam masala pwd
Cinnamon - 1 |
Cloves - 2 |
Oil - as needed
Curry leaves - as needed
Salt - as needed

For grinding

Coconut - 2tbsp
Pottu kadalai/Dalia - 2tbsp



Method

Cut Chicken into medium pieces and clean it.In a pan, heat oil and fry all the whole garam masalas and then add green chillies and onion.Fry till onions are golden brown.Now add ggpaste and tomatoes.Fry well till tomatoes are fully cooked and add chiili,dania,pepper and turmeric powders.Fry till raw smell is gone and then add grounded coconut+dalia paste.Fry for about 4 mins.Finally add chicken, salt,curry leaves and just enough water.Mix well and cover and cook for 10 min.s on medium flame.Then open and cook till chicken is well cooked and gravy is thick.Serve hot with idly,rice or roti.










Three things Meme

First, Thanks to Lakshmiammal for tagging me.I really enjoyed writing this...


Three things that make me laugh

1.My son's "mm sorry","Thankku","hat appened"..in his way..just cracks me up..
2.Stupid n' hilarious dance moves by H
3.Any good cinema comedy

Two things that made me cry

1.Having my son ...it was a happy cry though..
2.When H doesn't listen or gives no attention when i am serious abt something (like his smoking).


Three things that make me scare

1.Darkness
2.Traffic police..yeap..i don't know why..?
3.My son getting hurt or something


Three things I love

1.Honesty
2.Son,Hubby and Family
3.Friends


Three things I hate

1.Hate itself
2.Lying
3.My Patience...(I'm very very patient)


Three things I don’t understand

1.Talking about others when you have your own handsfull to handle?
2.What inspires any person to invent things..like what insipired to go to the moon?
3.Why start too many knitting/crochet all at the same time with a toddler in the home?


Three things on my desk

1.Vicks Vaporub (i am addicted to it)
2.My Notebook in which i write Sriramajayam.
3.TV Remote


Three things I am doing right now

1.Watching David Letterman while typing this
2.Waiting for my lil' one to finish his milk
3.Watching Dad and son fight in the bed...(their bedtime ritual)

Three things I can do

1.Talk nonstop and loud(this got me into playing MIL in a school play):)))
2.Laugh and make others laugh
3.And some cooking,knitting,etc etc


Three things one should never listen to

1.Others
2.Others
3.and others ( always listen to yourself...)


Three favourite foods

1.Amma's idly with onion chutney
2.Grandma's Theeyal with rice
3.MIL's Sambhar,Aviyal and Thayir pacchadi


Three beverages I drink regularly

1.Coffee in the morning which H makes
2.Water (is it considered as a beverage?)
3.Leftover juice from son's zippy cup.


Three Tv shows I watched / books I read as a kid

1.Ramayan
2.Lotz of Rajendrakumar
3.All kinda magazines like Vikatan,Kumudam(Yeap, don't remember reading any cartoons or comic books)


Three fellow bloggers I would like to tag

Mallugirl of Malluspice
Viji of vcuisine
Nidhi of Cooking made easy

Beans Poriyal

Ingredients

Beans - 1 cup (chopped)
Coconut - 2tbsp
Jeera - 1tsp
Garlic - 1pod
Curry leaves - as needed
Red chillies - 2
Salt - as needed
Oil - 2tsp
Mustard seeds - 1tsp
Urad dal -1/2 tsp

For grinding

Grind coconut,jeera,garlic and curry leaves into coarse paste.


Method

Cook Beans in microwave for about 5-8 mts(Do not over cook it,in alternate way you can cook it in the pan itself).In a pan, heat oil.Fry mustard seeds, urad dal, red chillies and curry leaves.Add cooked beans and salt and saute well.Finally add the coconut paste and saute till raw smell is gone.Serve with rice.

Paneer chappathi

As most of you might know about Nidhi of Cooking made easy won the Emeril Scratch contest and made us all proud.Paneer was her winning recipe.So i decided to make this paneer chappathi as of way of congratulating her.Congrats Nidhi...


Paneer chappathi


Ingredients

Paneer - 1/4 lb (cut into small pieces)
Atta - 2 and 1/2 cups
Salt - as needed
Butter - 2tbsp (softned)
Jeera - 2tsp


Method

In a food processor, put atta,paneer,salt,jeera,butter and mix it into a soft dough using water.Be careful while adding water, not too much.If you don't have a food processor, shred paneer fine using a shredder and mix everything with hand as you do for chappathi dough.Thanks to Saffron of Saffron hut for this method of using food processor for mixing paneer well with the dough.This makes mixing very easy.Let the dough rest for 30-40 mts.Dough will be very soft because of paneer and butter.Make about 20 balls out of the dough and roll into chappathis.In a hot tawa, cook each chappathi till golden brown on both sides.There is no need to add any oil while cooking it.There you have it nice and soft paneer chappathis.I served it with Aloo sabji.

Kadai Prawn with potato

Today, the whole day i am trying post this recipe, but blogger wouldn't let me.And i couldn't visit any of other blogs or neither could i post comments.Did any of you go thru this?.Anyways finally at 10.30 pm , i could finally log into my account.So before blogger hangs up on me again let me go straight to the recipe....

My Cousin sis used rave about this dish alot.Whenever i talked about prawn, this is the only dish she kept on saying.So this sunday, i decided make this dish and called her for the recipe.Amazingly she was also making this one..:)..well i guess wise women think alike or may be we are just women thinking all the time about food n' food only..:))


Ingredients

Shrimp - 10-12 (i used cooked frozen ones)
Potato - 2 medium ones (cut into small cubes)
Onion - 1 (chopped fine)
Perunjeeragam/Fennel - 1 1/2 tsp
Ginger garlic paste - 2tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2tsp
Red chilli powder - 2tsp
Dania powder - 1tsp
Curry leaves - as needed
Salt - as needed
Oil - 2tsp

Method

In a pan, heat oil and fry fennel and curry leaves.Fry onions till golden brown.Once onions are fried well add gg paste and fry.Add turmeric,chilli and dania powders.Fry well till raw smell goes.Add potato,salt and mix well. Cover and cook till potatoes are almost cooked.Now add shrimps and cook till almost all gravy is evaporated.(There won't be much of gravy since we didn't add any water).Since i used cooked shrimp, i added it alomost at the end.If you are using fresh shrimp,you might have to add it bit earlier.Serve hot with rice/roti.

Chakkakuru aviyal/Jackfruit seed aviyal

Jack fruit seeds, i just love them.My grandma used to give us this seeds boiled with salt.Just love them.Whenever she buys a jackfruit, she stores the seeds just for us.You can make this aviyal,even poriyal with this seeds.Check this another chakkakuru recipe from Annita of My Treasure My pleasure.

Ingredients

Jackfruit seeds - 1cup (sliced)
Coconut - 3tbsp
Jeera - 1tsp
Garlic - 1 pod
Small onion - 1
Green chillies - 4-5
Turmeric powder - 1/2tsp
Oil - 2tsp
Mustard seeds - 1tsp
Urad dal -1/2tsp
Curry leaves -as needed
Yogurt - 2tbsp
Salt - as needed


Method

Grind coconut,jeera,garlic,small onion,curry leaves,green chillies and turmeric powder into coarse paste.I used frozen jack fruit seeds, which came sliced.Thaw one cup of jackfruit seeds.In a pan, cook jackfruit seeds with salt and just enough water.Once seeds are half cooked add the coconut paste.Cook well till the raw smell goes.In a pan, heat oil and fry mustard seeds, urad dal and curry leaves.Pour thses into the seed mixture.Switch off the heat and now add yogurt and mix well.Serve with rice and sambhar.

Thanks

Hi all,I think i am getting a bit success on my last try on "Quit smoking".He had agreed to cut it down slowly and by the first week of february, he had promised to stop it for good.Though he had promised like this million times before, but this time he is been following the method i suggested.I had asked him to use the good old mint gums in between.Today morning i saw mint gum cover in the trash and i guess he already started taking the good road...anyways i would wait and confirm it.And then only i am planning to remove the caption.Thanks all for supporting me.

Ulli vada / Onion fritters

Ulli vada...hmmm..there is nothing more to say about it especially to those from kerala.Each and every tea shop will have these.I always wondered how ulli vada from those shops have exactly round shape.But i couldn't make round ones, i make more like flat ones.shall try and learn it on my next trip to india...

Ingredients

Onion - 1 (sliced thin)
Red chilli powder - 1tsp
Kadala maavu/Channa flour - 1 cup
Water - as needed
Salt - as needed
Oil - for frying


Method

Slice the onion very thin.I used slicer for this.Mix water,salt,red chilli and flour.Make it a little thinner batter than the normal bajji batter.This helps for crispy vadas.Heat oil in a pan on steady medium high flame.Dip onion slices into the batter and deep fry them till cooked and golden brown.Do not alter the heat, as too high heat can brown the outer and inside of vada won't be cooked enough.Place fried vadas into paper towel and drain excess oil.Serve these vadas with tomato sauce.

Rice flour dosa...

This is super simple breakfast item.Thnaks to my friend for sharing this recipe.

Ingredients

Rice flour - 1 cup (fried)
Small onion - 5 (chopped)
Coconut - 1tbsp
Jeera - 1tsp
Egg - 1
Salt - as needed

Method

Add warm water and mix everything together into a thinner dosa batter.The battter should be very very watery. Make dosas in a hot tawa.Serve hot with channa masala/potato masala.Pretty much any side dish will go with this delicious dosa.

Egg Roast

This is kerala style egg roast by chef Mrs.K.M.Mathew.This recipe calls for Duck's eggs, as we don't eat it, i used our good old chicken eggs.

Ingredients

Egg- 3 (hard boiled,shelled and with one or two slashes on each)
Onion - 1 cup (sliced)
Vinegar - as needed
Red chilli powder - 1 1/2 tsp
Pepper powder - 1tsp
Salt - as needed
Oil - as needed

Method

Fry onions in oil and lift it.Fry eggs in the same oil and lift them too.Remove the skillet from fire and add red chilli and pepper powders.Add a spoonfull of oil and return the skillet to the fire.Add salt,vinegar and eggs.Stir for a minute and cook till the gravy is thick.Lift the eggs.Put the fried onion in the skillet.Mix well and remove from fire.Arrange the fried onions around the eggs.

Mutton thoran

Ingredients

Mutton -1lb (boneless, cut into bite sized pieces)
Small onions - 1 cup (sliced)
Ginger garlic paste - 1tbsp
Chilli powder -2tsp
Dania powder - 1tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2tsp
Garam masala powder - 1/2tsp
Mustard seeds - 1tsp
Curry leaves - as needed
Oil - 2tbsp
salt- as needed

For grinding (into a coarse paste)

Coconut -1/4cup
Jeera - 1tsp
curry leaves - as needed

Method

Cut mutton into bite sized pieces and clean them.Mix mutton with all the powders,salt and gg paste.Pressure cook it with just enough water for abt 4 whistles.In a pan, heat oil and fry mustard seeds, curry leaves and sliced small onions.Fry well till they are golden brown.Now Pour the cooked mutton with the juice in to this pan and cook it till the juice is completely evaporated.finally add the coconut paste and cook it till the raw smell disappears and mutton is well cooked.Serve hot with rice.

P.S : As you can see my mutton thoran has little bit gravy, as we like it that way.In traditional mutton thoran,there won't be any gravy at all.
The more shallots/small onions used, the more tasty this dish is...








Just finished knitting this sofy blanky for my friend who is expecting her baby this month...

Moru kacchiayathu

Ingredients

Curd - 1 cup
Onion - 2tbsp (chopped)
Turmeric powder - 1/2tsp
Jeera powder - 1/2tsp
Vendhayam/fenugreek - 1/4tsp(powdered)
Red chillies - 5-6
Dania powder - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - as needed
Mustard seeds - 1tsp
Oil - 1tsp

Method

In a blender, beat curd along with curry leaves,turmeric powder,dania powder,jeera powder,fenugreek powder.Use water to thin down the curd while beating.In a pan heat
oil, fry mustard,curry leaves,red chillies, onion well.Now reduce the heat to low and pour the prepared curd onto the pan.Heat it on low and keep stirring it.Do not let it boil.Once the good aroma comes switch off the heat.Serve hot with rice.It's delicious to drink also...

Lemon sevai

Instant sevai,a must have in the pantry for quick and easy breakfast.Just you have to pour sevai into boiling water and cook for about 2 min.s.I brought this sevai from an indian store.You can serve this sevai with many types of flavours like lemon,coconut,curd etc.This time i cooked lemon sevai, here goes the recipe...


Ingredients

Instant sevai - 2 handful (i just eyeballed it, since you can measure it exactly)
Lemon juice - 1tsp
Red chillies - 4-5
Mustard seeds - 1tsp
Urad dal - 1/2tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4tsp
Oil -2tsp
salt - as needed
Curry leaves - as needed


Method

Cook instant sevai as per package instructions.As i mentioned above, it takes only two min.s to cook.In pan, heat oil,fry mustard seeds,urad dal, red chillies, curry leaves and finally add turmeric powder and salt.Now add the drained sevai and lemon juice.Mix well and saute in medium heat for naother 2 min.s.

Rug using scrap yarns..

This is one of my latest crochetted product..a rug using scrap yarns...
Thanks to my friend who mentioned about this pattern and i got rid of a bag full of leftover yarns..:)

Letz start the year with a sweet touch..

This payasam is one of my H's favourite one which his mom makes all the time.So this is a "must have" in our home for all special occasions.So decided to make just this for starting a sweet, happy year ahead...

Kadalai Paruppu Payasam

Ingredients

Kadalai paruppu/Channa dal - 1/2 cup
Milk - 2 cup
Jaggery - 1 cup (shredded)
Cardamom - 3
Cashew nut - 5
Sago - 2tbsp
Ghee - 1tbsp (for frying cashews)

Method

Pressure cook kadalai paruppu with just enough water for abt 4 whistles.Switch off the heat and let the pressure go.Now open the cooker and mush down the paruppu very well.Add jaggery,cardamom and milk to it.Let it boil for abt 5 min.s and then add sago to it.Boil very well till sago cooks very well.Fry cashews in ghee and pour that into the payasam.

P.S: i had added little more jaggery than the mentioned amount, 'coz H likes it sweet.The amount of milk vary depends on how thick/thin you want the payasam to be.