Chicken Kootu

This yummy dish uses chicken and sambhar powder.Yeap..i know totally different.We loved the taste and aroma of this dish.This was the first dish i cooked in our new kitchen..:).

Ingredients

Chicken - 2 lbs(cut into small pieces)
Onion - 2 (medium sized,finely chopped)
Small onion - 10 (sliced,optional)
Tomato - 1 (large, finely chopped)
Ginger garlic paste - 2 tbsp
Sambhar powder - 1 tbsp
Coriander powder - 4 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam masala - as needed
Vendhyam/fenugreek seeds - 1 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Urad dal - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - few springs
Oil - as needed
Salt - as needed
Chopped redonion - for garnish


Method

In a heavy bottomed pan, heat oil and fry mustard seeds,urad dal,fenugreek,curry leaves.Now add chopped small onion and big onion and fry until they are golden brown.Now add chopped tomato and then add gg paste and fry until raw smell goes away.Now add all the spice powders and fry until every comes together in to a thick gravy.Now add cut chicken pieces and mix well.Add salt and let it cook.Add very little water if necessary.This dish should be thick and garnish it wiith chopped red onion just before serving.

Potato Curry

This dish goes well with chappathi,poori and idiyappam.I like this one particularly when paired with road side shop's "kutti" dosai.

Ingredients

Potato-3 medium sized , peeled and chopped in quaters.
Onion-1 finely sliced
Green chillies-3 (slit)
Chilly powder-1tsp
Turmeric powder-1/2tsp
Garam masala - 1 tsp ( or you can use whole garam masalas)
Oil-2tsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Urad dal- 12/tsp,
curry leaves - a few
Salt - as needed

Method

Heat oil in the pressure cooker and fry mustard seeds,urad dal, curry leaves,green chillies.Add 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 1 whistle.After 1 whistle, open the cooker and add garam masala powder and let it boil for few minutes.Serve hot chappathi,poori or idiyappam.

Muttai/Egg Kootu

Before writing the recipe, i have to tell you about my dear friend S, who i known for about 3 years.We speak to each other almost everyday over the phone and our main topic will either kids or food.If i don't get to speak her a day, the day will a dull one, i must say.She is a fantastic cook and i get my inspiration from her.We don't meet that often, may be once or twice in a month.But whenever i meet her, i make sure she cooks her authentic south indian dishes for me..:D.This recipe is from her, actually from her mom's maid back in india.My son was licking the plate even after he finished eating...:)

Ingredients

Egg - 4 (hard boiled,halved)
Onion - 1 (chopped fine)
Tomato - 1 - 2 (medium sized, chopped fine)
Ginger Garlic paste - 2tsp
Red chilli powder - 1 1/2 tsp
Tumeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Coriander powder - 3 tsp
Green chillies - 3 (chopped fine)
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Fenugreek seeds - 1/4 tsp
Urad dal - 1/2 tsp
Oil - 3 tsp
Curry leaves, coriander leaves - as needed
Salt

Method

In a heavy bottomed pan, heat oil and fry mustard seeds,urad dal,fenugreek seeds and curry leaves.Now add chopped onion and green chillies.Fry till they are almost golden brown.Then add tomato and saute till ii is almost well cooked.Now add ginger garlic paste and 3 tsp of coriander powder and fry till raw smell completely gone.In the mean time mix red chilli powder and turmeric powder in 1 tbsp of water.After masala is almost cooked , add this red chilli-tumeric paste and cook till raw smell is gone and everything comes together.Finally add hard boiled egg and mix carefully.Garnish with chopped coriander leaves.Serve hot with roti or rice.

Vendaikkai Puzhicurry/Fried Okra in Coconut-tamarind based curry

Hey all,
I'm back after long time and hoping to blog regularly from here onwards. Finally got some ideas to keep my toddler girl busy while i am experimenting over the kitchen.It took almost 1 year for me and rest of the family to adjust to her routine..:D.Everything revolves around her, her nap time, her play time, her tantrums etc.Anyways got idea of few things she like to make her super busy , if i need some time for cooking.

Vendaikkai Puzhi curry is a favourite dish of my dear S.His mom makes this every week with different vegetables.This dish is made with fried vendaikkai/okra and coconut-tamarind gravy.You can subsitute okra with drumsticks,brinjals,cucumber,or all veggies together.


Ingredient

Vendaikkai/okra - 10 no.s (cut into half)
Coconut - 1/2 cup (shredded)
Jeera - 1/2 tsp
Garlic - 1 small pod
Whole red chillies - 8-10 no.s
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Tamarind - 1 lemon size ( soak it in 1 1/2cups of water and extract the juice)
Salt - as needed
Oil - 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1tsp
Fenugreek seeds - 1/24tsp
Curry leaves - a few

For frying Okra

Okra - as mentioned above
Oil - 2 tbsp
Salt - 2 pinches
Red chilli powder - 1/4tsp
Turmeric powder - 2 pinches

Method

Grind coconut,garlic,jeera,red chillies and turmeric powder into a fine paste.In pan heat 2 tbsp of oil and fry vendaikkai/okra.Add salt,turmeric and red chilli powder and fry till they are somewhat crispy.In another pan, heat tamarind extract with grinded coconut paste and salt.*At this point, add little water if you want).Let this boil till raw smell goes and gravy thickens.Now add fried okra into this and let it simmer for about 5 minutes.Finally for tadka, heat 1 tbsp of oil, fry mustard seeds,fenugreek seeds,curry leaves and pour this into the gravy.Serve it hot with rice.




Vendaikkai Puzhi Curry



Rice served with Cucumber/Vellarikkai Puzhi Curry and Vazhakkai Thoran

Amma's Special Chicken curry

This is my amma's chicken curry and it never goes wrong.She sometimes makes two dishes out of it.Just before adding the tadka she will take out some of the cooked chicken pieces with just little juice and put it in the freezer for about 15 minutes or so.And the deep fry them..voila..Chicken fry ready..!

Ingredients


Chicken - 1 whole chicken (cut into medium size pieces)
Onion - 2 medium (chopped)
Small onion - 10 (chopped)
Ginger garlic paste - 3tbsp
Red chilli powder - 3tsp
Coriander powder - 1 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2tsp
Mustard seeds - 1tsp
Curry leaves - as needed
Oil - 6 tbsp
Salt - as needed

Method


Clean the chicken and keep it aside.In a pressure cooker, heat 3 tbsp of oil and fry sliced onion and small onions.Fry till they are medium dark in color (this gives the gravy dark color).Now add GG paste and fry till the raw smell goes.Now add the chicken pieces and salt.Saute for some time and add 1/4 cup of water and pressure cook for about 1 whistle.In a pan, heat 1 tsp of oil and roast chiili,coriander and turmeric powder and pour that into the chicken gravy.Let it boil for few minutes.In the mean time, in a pan, heat 2 tbsp of oil and fry mustard seeds and lots of curry leaves and pour that into the chicken curry.Serve it with rice/roti.

Adai in three ways

Adai,One of the healthiest breakfast item.We prefer having it on weekends.I make these yum adai extra special by adding shredded carrots or cabbage to the it.So here goes the recipe for making simple adai,carrot adai and cabbage adai.

Simple Adai

Ingredients

Rice - 1 1/2 cups
Whole red chillies - 10
Hing/Perumgayam - a pinch
Toor dal - 1/2 cup
Channa dal - 1/2 cup
Urad dal - 1/2 cup
Salt - as needed
Water - as needed


Method

Soak rice and red chillies together and rest of the dals together for about 2 1/2 hours.Grind them separately and coarsely in a mixer with just enough water.Mix both rice mix and dal mix together and add hing and salt to the batter.The batter should be thicker than the normal Dosa batter.If like, you can add chopped onion to the batter.Heat a tawa, and when it is hot enough start making adai dosas.Pour enough oil around the corners to get crispy edges.My mom used make three slits in the center of the adai(after it is turned over) and pour oil there also.Serve hot with Coconut chutney or avial.

For carrot adai,

Add shredded carrots (as needed) to the batter and mix well.Make Adai as mentioned above.Note : Don't add too much of carrots as it tends to sweeten the batter.

For Cabbage adai,

Add shredded cabbage ( as needed) to the batter and mix well.Make adai as mentioned above.

Adai




Carrot Adai

Varuthuaracha Muttai Kuzhambu/Egg in fried coconut gravy

Ingredients

Egg - 5 (boiled and shelled)
Onion - 1 (big, chopped fine)
Tomatoes - 2 (medium,chopped)
Ginger garlic paste - 2tsp
Coconut - 4tbsp
Pepper corns - 1tsp
Red chilli powder - 2tsp
Coriander powder - 1tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4tsp
Perumjeeragam/sounf - 1/2tsp
Cardamamom - 2
Cinnamon - 1 small piece
Cloves - 3
Curry leaves - a few
Oil - 6tbsp
Salt - as needed

Method
Boil and shell 5 eggs and keep aside.In a pan, heat 2 tbsp of oil and fry perumjeeragm,cardamom,cloves,cinnamon,curry leaves and then coconut.Fry till coconut is almost golden brown.Grind this into a smooth paste.In a heavy bottomed, heat 2 tbsp oil and fry onion till they are golden brown (if you want smooth paste, you can grind onion at this point).Add gg paste to this and fry till raw smell goes.Now add turmeric,red chilli and coriander powder.Fry well till raw smell goes away and then add chopped tomatoes.After tomatoes are cooked enough, add grounded coconut paste.At this point add abt 1/2 cup of water,salt and let it boil for some time.When the desired consistency is reached, lower the heat to medium low.Cut boiled eggs into halves and add these into the kuzhambu.Let the kuzhambu stay in heat for another 2-3 minutes (do not let the kuzhambu boil at this point) and switch off.Serve hot with rice.

AFAM

AFAM December is Hosted by Siri of Siri's Corner.You can see the announcement here.Another request to all of you, anybody interested in hosting AFAM in the future , please let me know.Thanks

Ginger Chicken

Ingredients

Chicken - 2 lbs
Ginger - 1 1/2 " piece
Onion - 3 (medium size)
Tomato - 4
Green chillies - 8
Jeera - 2tsp
Red chillipowder - 3 tsp
Coriander powder - 3 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1tsp
Bay leaf - 2
Cardamom - 4
Cinnamon - 2
Cloves - 4
Curry leaves,coriander leaves,mint leaves - as needed
Lemon - 1
Oil- as needed
Salt - as needed


Method

Clean and Cut the chicken.Marinate the chicken pieces with 1/2 tsp lemon juice and salt for 1/2 hr. Fry sliced onion in 3 tsp of oil until translucent and grind it with green chillies and jeera. In a heavy bottomed pan, heat 3 tsp of oil, fry bay leaf,cloves,cardamomcinnamom and then add grounded onion mixture.After few minutes, add grinded ginger to this and fry till raw smell goes away.Add salt and fry till oil separates.Now add turmeric,red chilli and coriander powders to this mix and fry for few more minutes.Finally add chopped tomatoes.Once tomatoes are well cooked ad the marinated chicken pieces and mix very well.Cover and cook it under medium heat.No need to add water.After chicken is well cooked, add the chopped mint,coriander and curry leaves to this and serve ot with rice/roti.

Hyderabadi chicken

Ingredients

Chicken - 2 lbs
Onion - 2
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tbsp
Garam masala - 1/2tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Pepper powder - 1 tsp
Red chillies - 20
Yogurt - 1 cup
Cashew nuts - 10-15
Golden raisins - 10
Ghee - 2 tsp
Oil - as needed
Salt - as needed

Method

Clean chicken and make slits on each pieces, here and there.Slice onions lengthwise and cut red chillies into pieces.Add garam masala,pepper,turmeric power,ginger garlic paste,yogurt and salt to chicken pieces and marinate for about 1 hour.In a heavy bottomed pan, heat oil and fry red chillies and onions.Once the onions are golden brown add chicken to the pan.On medium heat cook chicken well.On half way, if needed, add water and cover the lid and cook untill chicken fully cooked and gravy is almost dry.Garnish with ghee fried cashews and raisins.

Sundal

Ingredients

Garbanzo beans - 1 (29oz can)
Oil-2tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1tsp
Urad dal - 1tsp
Asafoetida - a pinch
Red chillies - 5-6
Coconut - 1/4 cup (shredded)
Salt - as needed
Curry leaves - as needed

Method

Drain and wash the canned garbanzo beans and keep it aside.In a pan heat oil and splutter mustard seeds,urad dal,red chillies,curry leaves.Now add beans to this and add salt,asfoedita.Mix everything together and saute for about 5 min.s.Careful not to over cook the beans.Switch off the heat and add the shredded coconut.Serve hot.

Easy Mathi/Sardine Curry

One of my fav fish dish in my college hostel...





Ingredients

Mathi/Sardine Fish - 10
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Fenugreek seeds - 1/4tsp
Small onion /shallot slices - 1/4cup
Ginger slices - 1tsp
Garlic pods/sliced - 6 (small)
Red Chilli powder - 1tbsp
Tamarind water - as needed (or you can use kodam puli)
Curry leaves
Salt - as needed

Method

Soak red chilli powder in little water.Fry mustard and fenugreek seeds in hot oil.Add onion slices to this and saute.Once it is almost sauted well, add ginger slices and fry.When this almost fried add the soaked red chilli powder and saute.Add sufficient water to this sauted masala and cook.Add garlic slices,curry leaves,salt and tamarind to this.Once the gravy is cooked well and raw smell of chilli powder is gone, the gravy thickens , plcae fish fish pieces slowly into the gravy and cook with lid half covered.Whenit starts to boil, remove the lid and cook it slowly until the gravy thickens.





Recipe source - K.M.Mathew

Chicken Deviled Fry

Got it from a cookbook, don't know why the name deviled fry.But when it comes taste of this dish there no DEVIL..tasted delicious.

Ingredients

Chicken - 2 lbs
Onion - 2
Coconut milk - 1 cup (made from coconut milk powder)
Red chillies - 7
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Vinegar - 3 tbsp
Clves - 5
Cinnamon - 1 piece
Cardamom - 3
Oil - as needed
Salt - as needed

Method

Cut onion into slices and red chillies into pieces.Marinate chicken pieces with half of the onion slices,red chillies,cardamom,cloves,cinnamon,turmeric powder,salt and vinegar for about 1 hour.In a thick bottomed pan,heat oil and fry second half of sliced onion until golden brown.Now add the marinated chicken mix to this and cook.Mix very well and coconut milk to this and let chicken cook.Cover and cook under medium low heat.Stir in between to avoid burning.Cook until chicken is fully cooked,gravy is all evaporated and the dish is crispy brown.Serve hot with roti/rice.

Chicken Podimas

Chicken Podimas, One of my favorite snack item that I tend to make very regurlarly.You can serve this as an appetizer or as a filling for Pita/Chappati roll. My kids love to have this mixed with steamed rice as well (instant chicken pulav! )  . In short , you can dress up this dish in many ways. Go ahead and try this and let me know.

Note : My version below is a spicy version, please feel free to adjust spice level according to your taste.

What You need

Boneless Chicken - 2 lbs
OR
Rotisserie Chicken - 1
Onion - 2 (chopped)
Shredded Coconut - 1/2 cup ( Optional)
Ginger Garlic paste - 1 1/2 tbsp (Optional)
Green chillies - 4
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Pepper powder - 2 tsp
Cashew nuts - 10
Coriander leaves - for garnish
Oil - as needed
Salt - as needed

How you do it

Boil boneless chicken pieces with little salt and shred into pieces. In case you are Rotisserie chicken , just pick apart the whole chicken just leaving skin and bones.In a pan , heat oil and fry cashew nuts till golden brown and keep it aside.In the same pan, add more oil and fry onion till they are brown.Now add green chillies,ginger garlic paste and fry till raw smell goes away.Add chicken too this and mix well.Add turmeric,pepper and salt (Note:We have already added some salt while boiling the chicken , so be mindful while adding more salt)and mix well. Now add shredded coconut and fry these on High heat until the chicken pieces turn into dark brown color. I personally like darker side of the fry(you can see the pic below) .If you are not a fan, feel free to switch off  when the dish turns into golden brown color.Garnish with chopped coriander, fried cashew nuts.

Palak/Spinach Paratha

Both my kids love this as a snack with yogurt.Very healthy and easy recipe.



Ingredients

Spinach - 1 cup (chopped)
Wheat flour - 3 cup
Jeera/cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Garlic - 1 clove(minced)
Pepper powder - 1/tsp
Salt - as needed
Oil - 2tbsp
Warm Water - as needed

Method

In a pan,heat oil and fry jeera and finely minced garlic.Careful not to burn the garlic.Once they are fried add the spinach,salt and pepper.Saute till spinach is fully cooked.Add this to the wheat flour and knead into a dough using warm water.Cover the dough with wet paper towel and let it rest for 30 minutes.After 30 minutes,make it into parathas.I made small parathas and served it with homemade yogurt as a snack.

Coconut Rice/Thengai Saadham

Simple and yet delicious easy breezy variety rice item to make.I love doing it on a busy weekday, served with coriander or coconut chutney.


Ingredients

Cooked Rice - 1 1/2 cup
Shredded Coconut - 1/4 cup
Ghee - 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Urad dal - 1/2 tsp
Cashew nuts - 10
Peanuts - 2 tbsp (roasted)
Red chillies - 6
Curry leaves - as needed
Salt - as needed

Method

In a pan, heat 1 tbsp ghee and roast cashew nuts and peanuts separately until golden brown.Keep it aside.In the same pan, add 1 tbsp ghee and fry mustard seeds,urad dal,red chillies and curry leaves.Once they are fried, add coconut to the pan and saute until it is slightly brown.Add salt to this mixture.In a bowl, add cooked rice and fluff it with a fork.Add coconut mixture,cashewnuts,peanuts to the rice and mix it with a fork.Serve it hot with spicy coriander or coconut chutney.

Mutton Pepper fry

This weekend went pretty well.I had participated in the local expo for handcrafted/handmade items over the weekend.Went pretty well and sold almost all my pieces.Got order for some the pieces aswell..:D.Felt so happy that my hard work was appreciated.You can view some of my collections at Beyond The Beads.Secondly, had attended a pool party afterwards and won a prize..yippe.. and the the day ended with great food and friends.Sunday was a lazy day with a bit of shopping and leftover food.Anyways ,now to the point, this mutton recipe again shared by my dear friend S.This spicy dish has all the good things to impress someone who loves spicy food..:D


Ingredients

Mutton - 2lbs
Small onion - 1 bag ( 1 cup sliced)
Onion - 1 (sliced)
Pepper - 1 1/2 tbsp
Coriander - cumin powder - 2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2tsp
Garam masala powder - 1 tsp
Garlic - 6 cloves (minced)
Ginger - 1 inch piece (minced)
Coconut oil - 2tbsp
Curry leaves - as needed
Salt - as needed

Method

Mix mutton,sliced onion,ginger, garlic,salt,turmeric,garam masala,coriander - cumin powder and pepper very well.Pressure cook this with 1/2 cup water for 3 whistles.In a heavy bottomed pan, heat coconut oil.Saute small onion and curry leaves.Add cooked mutton mixture to this.Cook till the gravy is almost dry.Serve hot with rice or roti.

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

I came across this recipe while reading a cooking magazine from the library.I liked the picture so much, i had to try it.so wrote it down in a piece of paper.Unfortunately forgot write down the magazine's name.But I am pretty positive it is "Taste by 2" magazine.I followed the recipe as it is except for sesame seeds as i didn't have any.




Ingredients

Lemon juice - 1/3 cup
Olive oil - 5tsp
Parsley - 2 springs, stem removed
Garlic - 1 tsp , minced
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Cumin - 1/2 tsp (ground)
Cayenne pepper - 1/4tsp
Black Pepper - 1/4 tsp , coarsley ground
Chickpeas - 2 cans (15oz),rinsed and drained
Roasted sweet red pepper = 1 cup, drained
Sesame seeds - 1/4 cup , toasted
Pita bread - As needed, warmed and cut into wedges.

Method

In a food processor,combine the first 8 ingredients.Cover and process until blended.Add peas and red pepper.Cover and process until smooth.Transfer to a small bowl, stir in sesame seeds.Serve with warm pita wedges.

Puliyodarai

One of my treasured recipe...

Ingredients

Gingely oil - 2tbsp
Tmaraind paste - 1 1/2 tbsp
Peanuts - 20 (skinned and dry roasted)
Mustard seeds - 1tsp
Urad dal - 2 tsp
Channa dal - 2tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
Whole red chillies - 5
Vellam/Jaggaery - 2tsp
Perungayam/Asafoedita - 1/4 tsp
Salt - as needed


Dry roast and powder

Red chillies - 15
Vendhayam/Fenugreek seeds - 2 tsp
Sesame seeds - 2tsp
Curry leaves - 5


Method

Mix tamarind paste in 1 cup of water.Dry roast and powder the ingredients listed under.In apn, heat gingely oil and fry mustard seeds,urad dal,channa dal,red chillies.Now add red chilli powder,turmeric powder,asafoedita,powdered mixture,salt and tamarind.Let it boil until the oil separates.Now add jaggery and roasted peanuts to this and keep it heat for 2 minutes.Now switch off the heat.You can store this mix in the refrigetor for weeks.Take required amount of puliyodarai mix to make puliyodarai.







Thanks Sangeeth,Padma and Illatharasi and Suheefor these lovely awards.Really appreciate it!

Cooking With Ram - Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ram, my 4 year old boy, loves to cook.I know....:D.Whenever i am cooking, he comes and put step stool near to the counter and stands on it.His most favourite thing about cooking is stirring.In his own words "stirring is coopking".Yeap, he can't say "cook" only "coopk".So when i decided to bake these cookies with my leftover chocolate chips, i made sure to tag him along.He was so happy and start mixing the dough.When i wanted to take pictures, he wouldn't even look at the camera, That busy .After so many request, got a smile from him.Wouldn't take my suggestions during the process..:(.After the first batch of cookies out of the oven, my Ram was long gone..:)

I followed the recipe from Ghirardelli's website.The cookies came out delicious and bit soft.Perfect combo for a glass of cold milk.

Very busy

No pictures Amma!

Finally a smile...

No..i wanna do it my way amma!

Chocolate chip Cookies