Pudalangai/Snakegourd kootu

Ingredients

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

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


Method

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

Chicken Pickle

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

Ingredients

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

For marinating Chicken pieces

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


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

Lemon Rasam

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

Ingredients

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

Subsitute for rasam powder :

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

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

Method:

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

Tagged for the first time...

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

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

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

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

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

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

I tag Priya of Sugar and Spice

Oats Badam Halwa

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

Ingredients

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

Method

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


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

Sambhar without dal...very simple

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

Ingredients

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

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

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

Aappam with Potato curry

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


Ingredients

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

Method

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

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

Potato curry

Ingredients

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

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

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

Weekend Baking #3 Ginger Bread

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

Simple Chilly Chicken

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

Ingredients

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

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

Method

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

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

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

Fish Pickle

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

Neyyappam

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

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

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

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

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

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


This will be my entry for Jihva for ingredients-ghee

Winter is on the way..

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

Nethili fry

Another super simple fish dish..

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

Method

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

Full Sub

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

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

For marinating Chicken (for 3 chicken breasts)

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

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

Chicken kuruma

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

Chicken Kuruma

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

Method

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

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

Corn Muffins..I did it..

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

Potato Peas Masala with Chappathi

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


Potato Peas Masala

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

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

Chicken chilly fry

Chicken chilly fry

Ingredients

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


Method:

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

Kappa/Tapioca Delight

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

Kappa

Ingredients

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

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

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

Method

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

Mutton biryani

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

Mutton Biryani

Ingredients

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


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



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

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