RUCHI

Roasted Vegetables and Sausage ..Quick fix for lazy days !

2012-02-01T02:42:00.000-08:00

The daily walk up and down the hill to lil A's nursery has made me lazy these days,always on look out for easy and quick meal ideas.. We generally dont buy sausage at home so this week I picked up a packet just for a change.First day I made a sausage pizza which turned out perfect, but its a shame that I coudnt take a pic to blog about it as I made it for our dinner.Next day I was thinking what to do with left over sausage.. Pasta was the first thing that came into my mind but then S came with the idea of eating just some roasted vegetables and sausage as a meal..There is nothing to blog about it but still I thought I will post it as I dont have any recipes in my drafts ..

Ingredients

Red potatoes - 2 large
Carrots - 1
Cauliflower florets- 1 cup
Salt
Pepper
Worcestershire sauce - 1 tbs
Chicken stock cube -1/2 of a cube
Cooked sausage -6 nos

Preparation

Chop all the vegetbales and add the seasonings and cook it in a preheated oven at 180 degree centigrade for 25 minutes.
Add the chopped sausage into it vegetables and mix.
Pop it back in the oven for another 5 minutes.

Pigeon Peas Thoran

2012-01-29T08:42:00.000-08:00

Yet another week passed by and its only today I got some time for blogging.Last week I got an opportunity to Volunteer my lil A's nursery for their visit to Local library, I throughly enjoyed being with Nursery kids. It was a tough job to make 25 kids walk through the pavement of busy roads,making them cross the signal etc etc.They had a big rope with strings attached on each side of the rope and each one has to hold a string tightly and never let it go,and I was surprised how the kids listened and behaved !! Just before they entered the library they were asked to keep fingers on their lips and to be quiet (SHHHH) and guess what they didnt utter a word !!

Anyway coming to todays topic,Pigeon peas is my new discovery,I had no idea how to cook it or how long it will take to cook when I bought it , first time I tried to cook it a saucepan and waited for 20 mins,but there was no sign of pigeon peas getting cooked so I transferred it to a pressure cooker and gave 2 whistles ,voila ! it was cooked,and thoran was so delicious and I loved it.I am going to make this a regular in my kitchen from now on.

Here goes my recipe

Ingredients

Pigeon peas -250gm

Shallots - 7-8

Grated coconut - 1/4 cup

Red chilly powder- 1 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1/3 tsp

Salt

Curry leaves

Preparation

Pressure cook pigeon peas with 1/8 cup of water adding redchilly powder,turmeric and salt.

Make a coarse paste of shallots and grated coconut and add this to cooked pigeon peas .

Cook the pigeon peas for 1-2 minutes until the raw taste of shallots and coconut goes.

In a pan ad oil and sputter some mustard seeds and add curry leaves to.

Add this to cooked pigeon peas and mix .

Toast with spinach and fried egg(Quick and healthy breakfast option for kids)

2012-01-22T06:57:00.000-08:00

Last few days has been so eventful and hectic for me and my lil one. My lil one started Nursery in a Primary School and since he got the afternoon session we have been finding it so hard to find a routine. Giving lunch at 11.30 a.m was the biggest challenge for me,we both are getting slowly adjusted to the new routine. He used to take nice 2 hour nap before , so now when he comes from School I have to engage him without switching on TV or anything and make him eat his dinner by 6.30 and then off he goes to bed by 7.30 !! So everything is time bound now, thats the reason I havent been updating my blog or visiting others for the past 2 weeks..

On his first day I guess I was more nervous than him,he was so excited and when I dropped him, to my surprise he went happily without any problem ,but after the initial excitement he realised that I m not there and then he became upset, so the following 2-3 days he was crying when I drop him and I too was a bit touched by his tears . He is now nearly settled there and has made few friends .

Coming to todays recipe. I came across this recipe in a supermarket's magazine. This will hardly take any time and its a great way give some greens for breakfast .

Ingredients
Egg - 1
whole meal bread - 1 slice
Butter/Spread- 1 tbs
Spinach - 100 gm
Salt and Pepper

Preparation
Fry the egg and season it with some salt and pepper.
In a pan add spread/butter and when it is melted add spinach and cook for 1-2 minutes or until spinach is wilted. Season it with salt and pepper if u like.
Toast the bread.
Place the spinach on toasted bread and pop the fried egg on the top ot it.

Malabar Kozhi Nirachathu/Malabar style stuffed chicken for 4 years of blogging !!

2012-01-09T06:30:00.000-08:00

Yay..I m so happy to reach yet another mile stone.I has been a slow coach ever since I started my blog,Well ,if you check the number of posts on my blog, its only in 120's ,but I m happy that I managed to keep this alive for 4 years !!I m sure this wouldnt have been possible without your support and comments.Even now the first thing that I do in the morning if I have posted something the previous day is check my blog for comments !! Each single comment brings a smile on my face :)
To share my happiness I am posting a malabar special recipe for you.I first came across this recipe in Malabar spice and then I got inspired from Shabs of Shabs cuisine ,she even gave me a tip to do some pre-planning as it is a bit laborious process.Thanks to Shabs for that ,as I did cleaning and basic marination overnight it was easy for me the next day.I prepared this for a dinner party and we all loved each single bit of it.

Ingredients
Whole chicken -1 small( I used a chciken which rougly weighed a kilo)
Redchilly powder - 1 tbs
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt

For stuffing
Boiled eggs - 2 no
Onion - 2 small
Tomato -1/2 of a tomato
Fennel seeds - 1/4 tsp
Redchilly powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/8 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Chicken masala - 1/2 tsp
Garam masala - 1/2 tsp
Poppy seeds - 1/4 tsp
Raisins - 1 tbs
Cashewnut chopped - 1 tbs
Miced ginger - 1 tsp
salt
Curry leaves
Coriander leaves

For gravy
Onion -3
Tomato 1 1/2
Ginger garlic paste - 2tsp
Green chillies - 3 nos
Redchilly powder -1 tbs
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tbs
Chicken masala - 1 tsp
Fennel powder - 1tsp
salt
curryleaves
coriander leaves
oil for frying - 1/3 cup
cooking twine

Preparation
Clean the whole chicken and make some gashes on it.
Marinate the chicken with spice powders overnight or for couple of hours.

For stuffing
In a saucepan add some oil and sputter fennel seeds.
Add chopped onions and saute till becomes soft.
Add minced ginger,cury leaves and saute for 1-2 minutes.
Add chopped tomoto and spice powders and cook till tomotoes are mashed.
Add poppyseeds,cashewnuts , raisins,boiled eggs and saute for 1 minute.
Add chopped coriander leaves and turn off the flame.

Stuff the chicken wiith masala and tie the hands and legs of chicken with a cooking twine.

In a big wok add oil and shallow fry the chicken till all sides becomes brown.

For gravy
In a saucepan add the same oil used for deep frying and saute the onions till brown in colour.
Add ginger garlic paste,green chillies,curry leaves and saute for 1-2 minute.
Add tomotoes and all spice powders and saute till its mashed up and becomes a paste.
Add coriander leaves too.

Preheat the oven to 180 degree centigrade and cook the marinated chicken covered(with a foil) for 30 minutes flipping the sides halfway.
Coat the fried chicken with the gravy evenly and cook it uncovered for another 25 - 30 minutes turning the sides in between.
Run a knife through the chicken and if juice comes out clear chicken is cooked.

Sending this to Kerala kitchen hosted by Kaveri of Palakkad Chamayal

Black Forest cake (version 2) for a sweet beginning

2011-12-31T07:38:00.003-08:00

Wishing you all a Very Happy New Year. Hope you all had nice holidays.We too had a good one.
This cake recipe is from a cookery show hosted by Lakshmi nair. I have seen the video long time ago and thought of making it and never did,but when I saw the same recipe in kothiyavunu I got real inspiration to try it out and it turned out just great.I watched the video in youtube long time ago but cannot find the link now :(

Ingredients
Flour - 1/2 cup
Cocoa powder- 1/2 cup
Sugar - 1cup
Butter - 3/4 cup
Eggs -6
Vanilla essence - 1 tsp
Salt

for filling
double cream - 2 cups(300-400 ml)
Powdered sugar - 5 tbs or according to your sweetness
glazed cherries - 200 gm
for syrup
sugar- 1/2 cup
Water - 1 cup
Brandy - 2 tbs
for decoration
Chcocolate strands / chocolate shavings/Grated chocolate
Cherries- few

Preparation
Sift together flour,cocoa powder and salt.
Melt the butter and keep it aside.
Break 6 eggs in a bowl and add sugar and vanilla extract and beat it for atleast 10 minutes until the mixture becomes very light in colour and increases the volume upto 4-5 times.
Add in the flour mixture and fold in until it is is well incorporated.
Bake it in a preheated oven at 180 degree centigrade for35- 40 minutes.
Allow the cake to cool for sometime in cake tin and then in wire rack for 30- 45 minutes.

Preparing the syrup
In a saucepan add sugar and water and stir it until it boils and all the sugar melts.Turn off the flame and 2 tbs of brandy.

Whipping the cream
Whip the cream with powdered sugar until soft peaks are formed.

Assembling the cake
Cut the cake into 2 slices .
Place the first slice on the cake board with cutside up and carefully prick the cake with fork or tooth pick.
Pour the syrup to the cake with a spoon evenly on the cake.
Spread the cream on the cake and spread cherries on top of cream layer.
Place the other slice on top of it and so the pricking again.
Pour the syrup evenly.
Spread the cream on the top and sides of the cake and allow the cake to set in the fridge for sometime.
Decorated the cake with cherries and chocolate strands/shavings or grated chocolate according to your liking.

Fruit cake/ Kerala plum cake

2011-12-28T06:23:00.000-08:00

Hope all my friends had a fabulous Christmas.We had a good one too, the days passed so quickly and I feel a bit bored today after a busy and fun filled week.
We had a great Christmas with friends and lil A was so happy to get a Christmas gift from Santa (which we wrapped and kept for him under the tree ).Boxing day sales were fabulous,this time we too managed to do some shopping amongst the crowd, the bargains were soo hard to resist.
Coming to the topic,plum cake/ fruit cakes which we used to buy from bakery were not my favourite cake ,I always preferred plain cake over it. I had no plans even to bake them until a fortnight ago, but two of our friends had a craving to eat our plum cake , so I got an inspiration to bake it to give them.When I searched for the recipes, it looked bit laborious and intimidating (caramel prapartion) but when I got enough support from hubby I decided to go ahead. All the recipes were asking to soak the dry fruits a bit longer but since I didn't have enough time I could soak them only for 4 days .After baking it I kept it for maturing for 3 days to infuse all the flavours and our much awaited cake was ready for Christmas. Trust me ,the cake was sooo delicious and it was much much better than the bakery ones .This cake was the best fruit cake I had in my life.

This recipe is adapted from here ,here and here.

Ingredients
Flour - 1 cup
Butter softened - 3/4 cup
Eggs -2 no
Sugar - 1 cup
Baking powder- 1tsp
Cinnamon powder - 1/2 tsp
Nutmeg powder 1/8 tsp
Cloves powder - 1/8 tsp
Salt - pinch
Vanilla extract - 1tsp

For caramel syrup
Sugar - 1/2 cup
water - 1/2 cup +1 tbs

For soaking
Tooti fruity - 1 cup
Chopped dates - 1/4 cup
Raisins - 1/4 cup
Cashew nuts chopped- 1/4 cup
Walnut/ almonds - 1/4 cup
Rum /Brandy - 1 cup or enough to soak fruits and nuts

Preparation

Soak the fruits and nuts in rum/brandy for3- 4 days, if you have time soak for few more days or weeks or months.Longer the better.
Preparing the caramel - In a pan add 1/2 cup sugar and 1 tbs of water and keep it in a medium flame until the sugar starts to melt and change its colour.Swirl it around until all th sugar has completely dissolved and changed into brown colour.Switch off the flame and immediately pour 1/2 cup of water to the caramel(be careful as this might splash ).The caramel syrup is ready.Let it cool down.
In a bowl sift flour,baking powder ,spice powders and salt and keep it aside.
Separate eggs yolks and whites.Beat egg whites until creamy and thick.Check whether its done by inverting the bowl and if its done the cream will stick tightly in the bowl.
Beat egg yolks ,sugar ,butter and vanilla in a bowl. Add the dry ingredients and fold in. Add the caramel syrup and beat until mixed.
Drain the fruits from the rum/brandy and add 1 tbs of flour to it and mix.
Add 3/4 of the soaked fruits to the batter and mix well.Finally add the beaten egg whites and fold in until its mixed properly.
Line the cake tin with a parchment paper or in well greased cake tin.Pour the batter to it and finally add the remaining dry fruits on the top and spread it gently.
Bake it in a preheated oven at 175 degree centigrade for 35- 40 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted comes our clean.
Cool the cake completely.
Its better to wait for 2-3 days before you cut the cake to infuse all the flavours into it.So wrap the cake and keep it aside for 2-3 days.

Moist Sponge Cake

2011-12-15T07:11:00.000-08:00

This season is really inspiring me a lot to bake,whenever I switch on the TV,all the chefs will be cooking their Christmas feasts from starter to maincourse, desserts to cakes and much more. They also say to indulge during this season without keeping an eye on calories or fat ! Thats exactly what I am doing too :) Its hard to resist baking during festive times.

I have been baking this cake for a long time now, I wonder why I never posted this .....I shared this recipe to my few friends who were new in baking and even they could bake perfect cake with this recipe.

Here goes the recipe

Ingredients

Plain flour(maida) - 1 1/2 cup
Unsalted Butter - 1/2 cup(softened)
Eggs -2
Sugar -1 cup
Baking powder - 2tsp
Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
Milk - 1/2 cup
Salt - pinch

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 175 degree centigrade.
In a bowl beat eggs and butter .
Add sugar and beat again.
Add flour,baking powder,baking soda, salt, vanilla extract and fold in.
Add milk little by little and beat .
Pour the batter into to greased pan dusted with some flour.Bake it for 35- 40 minutes or untill tooth pick inserted comes out clean.

Sending this to Christmas Delicacy at Erivum Puliyum

Mango pie for all mango lovers..

2011-12-12T08:37:00.000-08:00

Who doesnt love mangoes right ?? My love for mangoes started years agoo.When I was growing up , I used to wait for our summer holidays to visit our ammamma (grandmother) ,she has a large orchard with mango trees, jackfruit trees , cashew trees and lotts..The kids in the village had lot of fun making her angry by throwing stones for mangoes,she used to look around and watch the trees to save the mangoes for grandkids. Once we reach there, all the cousins get together and my cousin brother S who was tall used to climb the tree and pick mangoes for all of us, he picks both raw and riped ones,we eat raw ones with little salt and riped ones as such or to give a twist we eat it with redchilly powder and salt.We eat as much mangoes as we can during those days and to relish the mangoes later my mom pickles it .My grandma had a bharani (an earthern pot) in which she pickles the whole mango and keep it for later use. she used those pickled mangoes for making some curries which tastes heavenly !!

Ingredients
Digestive biscuits - 10-12
Unsalted butter - 25 gm
Mango pulp - 1 cup (200 ml)
Milk - 1 cup(200 ml)
Gelatin - 1 packet
Sugar - 1/2 cup (according to your sweetness)
Double cream -150 ml

Preparation
In a bag crush the digective biscuits with rolling pin.
Melt the butter.
Mix the crushed biscuits with melted butter.Spread the biscuit layer into a pudding bowl.Set in the fridge for 2 hours.
Soak gelatin in little water.
In a saucepan mix mango pulp, milk and sugar. When it is about to boil add the soaked gelatin and stir it until gelatin is completely dissolved. Allow it cool to room temparature.
Pour the cooled mango pulp into biscuit layer and chill it in the refrigerator again for 3-4 hours or until completely set.
Beat double cream with little sugar until soft peaks are formed.
Spread the cream to the top of mango layer.

Sending this to Christmas delicacy at Erivum Puliyum

French Yogurt Cupcakes

2011-12-09T07:13:00.000-08:00

When I went for my younger sister's wedding in April, one of my friend from Poland who was soo keen to see pictures of Indian wedding asked me to bring the wedding pictures,but since it was a quick trip the photographers pictures were not ready by the time I returned and later on my sister send the pictures my email. Few months passed by and I didnt see her till then, next time when we met, she asked me for the pictures again. I was quite surprised,I didnt expect that she was this keen to see the pictures, so I had to tell her that I dont have the soft copies,but then she was even ready to come home to see the pictures in laptop. About a month ago she visited us and I prepared lunch for her ,without knowing that she was an Indian food lover too ! she surprised me by saying that she has attended Indian cookery class and she knows how to prepare Madras chicken curry and few other curries too. She was totally thrilled to see the wedding pictures and our culture.What surprised me a lot was she is so keen to learn Kathakali ,kerala's own special art, and has even plans to go to kerala for that.One of her friend went to kerala and learned kathakali for 1 1/2 years and is performing a little bit of what she learned here !! Isnt it amazing ?? I couldnt even tell her I have never seen a Kathakali performance in real ,other than on TV.
Coming to the topic ,when she visted us she bought some home baked cookies for us, so yesterday she invited us to her place for lunch and I prepared this french yogurt cupcakes for her.I saw this recipe in Yummy o yummy first which she adapted from Look who is cooking too. Normally I dont like to experiment when I am giving it to others but the clicks in both the blogs attracted me a lot and gave me confidence to try it out.I baked the first batch 2 days ago which yielded 6 cupcakes.I thought of tasting one and giving other 5 for her,but we couldnt stop with just one,so I had to bake again yesterday morning .The second batch was even better,after her amazing Polish soup and bread she took out this cupcakes as dessert.
This cupcakes are so light and soft and even my hubby who isn't cake fan loved it.

Ingredients

All purpose flour - 1/2 cup
Yogurt - 1/4 cup
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Oil - 1/4 cup
Baking powder -1 tsp
Vanilla extract - 1/4 tsp
Eggs -2
salt - a pinch

Preparation
In a bowl beat sugar,eggs,vanilla extract and yogurt. Add flour , baking powder and mix well . Finally add oil and fold in .Line a cupcake tray and pour the batter . Bake it in a preheated oven at 175 degree centigrade for 20 -22 mins.
Sending this to Julies Christmas Delicacy at Erivum Puliyum

also sending this to Bake fest Co hosted by Sangee of Spicy Treat and Vardini of Zesty Palate

Mixed Vegetable Masala

2011-12-05T07:41:00.000-08:00

Our christmas tree is out again ,I know its a bit early ,but lil A was asking for tree for sometime now,even I was also keen to dp some decoration. Now the tree is out, I can feel the real spirits of christmas !! I am excited about indulging in some good food,cakes, sweets and much more during holidays.
Did I tell u that my lil one will be stating school after this holidays,we are very much looking forward to that, and tomorrow is the beginning of the excitement,we are invited to his School to make him familarise with staffs and surroundings . He is going to have some nursery activities too . Also before he start School ,his teachers will come home to see his surroundings too !! How cool is that :) I really liked the whole idea, I m sure the this will make his first day at school much easier.

I have been making this mixed vegetable masala for a long time now, but most of the time for dinner,so this time I made it for lunch escpecially for clicking it during day light !

Ingredients
Onion - 2
Tomato -1
Mushroom - 250 gm
Potato - 1-2
Carrot-2
Green peas - 1/4 cup
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds -1 tsp
Redchilly powder - 1 tbs
Turmeric- 1/4 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tbs
Garam masala - 1 1/2 tsp
Coriander leaves

Preparation
In a saucepan add some oil and sputter cumin seeds. Add chopped onions ,when it is soft add ginger garlic paste and saute for 1 minute. Add tomoto and all the spice powders and saute for 1-2 minutes until tomatoes is slightly mashed. Now add all the vegetables except the green peas .Donot add any water as the mushroom will leave enough water to cook the other vegetables.When the vegetbales are almost done add green peas and cook for 2-3 minues or until green peas are cooked.Finally garnish with coriander leaves.

Sweet Corn and Chicken Soup

2011-12-02T08:30:00.000-08:00

Looks like soup weather has started now .Today when we woke up the sun was shining soo brightly, so we decided to have a picnic in the park with a friend.I wasnt even sure whether to put on my thick coat ,but to be safer I wore the thick one and put a thick one for lil A too.My gloves was lying in bag and I trusted the sun so badly that I even took the gloves off from my bag ,only when we stepped out I could feel the chill . When we reached the playground it was so quiet,normally when the sun is out the park will be busy with kids ,anyway we somehow finished the picnic and rushed back home.Luckily I had this soup which I prepared yesterday , warmed it again and had a steaming hot bowl of soup !!

This recipe is adapted from Poornimas Tasty treats,u can find the original recipe here.

Ingredients
Sweet corn - 1/2 cup
Carrot -1
Beans - 1/4 cup
Chicken stock cube - 2
Chicken breast -1
Water - 5 cup
Corn flour - 3-4 tbs
Salt
Pepper
Spring onion

Preparation
Cook the chicken breast with little salt and water.Shred the cooked chicken and keep it aside.
Cook the vegetbales in the same water adding chicken stock cubes.When the vegetables are almost done add the shredded chicken and white portion of spring onions.Boil for 1-2 minutes.Season it with salt and pepper. Finally add cornflour dissolved in little water and turn off the flame when the soup thickens. Garnish with spring onion greens .

Note - Original recipe calls for egg too,but I didnt use it.

Potato masala

2011-12-01T09:05:00.000-08:00

This week S came with a news that he might get a 2 weeks off for Christmas !! Flying to India was the first thing that came to us ,but gosh the last minute tickets at this time of the year is ridiculously expensive, so we had to give up that idea.This would been the best time to go home to escape from 2 weeks of winter:(
Still need to finalise what to do if he gets days off ,if he stay home for 2 weeks we both will be bored.I still remember last year during christmas holidays when he was home for 4 days, on the last day my lil one ( he was only 2 1/4 yrs old then ) asked him to go to work.LOL !

Since last couple of weeks ,daily cooking is something that I dread, I have been soo lazy even to think what to cook , so I found a way to overcome my laziness by trying out new things and it worked !! Now I am getting all the enthu to cook everyday, but it came with a price too, I have already put on atleast a kilo :(
Potato masala is something that I usually dont prepare,but the potatoes I got this time was a bit small and few of them were too small like baby potatoes so I didnt feel like chopping them and the this was the best way to cook them !

Ingredients
Baby potatoes - 8
Onion - 2
Tomato - 1
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tbs
Garam masala - 1 tsp
Red chilly powder - 1tsp
Turmeric - 1/4 tsp
Coriander leaves

Preparation

Boil the poatoes and peel the skin.
In a sucepan add some oil,sputter cumin seeds and saute onions till soft. Add ginger garlic paste saute for 1 minute and then add all the masala powders and tomotoes.Cook till it becomes mushy.Now add the cooked poatoes and cook it covered for 2-3 minutes.Garnish with coriander leaves.

Almond pannacotta

2011-11-29T07:08:00.000-08:00

When Namitha posted her mango pannacotta recipe I gave it a go and we all liked it . I made this again couple more times when we had friends for dinner and could impess them too , it's so easy to make and tastes good too.
When I saw almond pudding in Ente pachakashala ,that too attracted me a lot, so I tried that too ,even though it came out good,we didn't like the strong flavour of almond extract. I m sure it's just our taste buds,most of you won't have any problem with the flavour ,anyway since I had bit more of almond powder left I decided to make the pudding again with vanilla essence,but then for a change I decided to fuse both the recipes and it didn't let me down !!

Ingredients
Milk - 1 cup (250 ml )
Double cream - 1 cup (250 ml)
Almond powder - 30 gm
Milk - 4-5 tbs
Gelatin - 1 packet
water - 3 tbs
Vanilla extract -1 tsp
Sugar - 1/ 2 cup ( according to your sweetness)

Preparation

Make a paste of almond powder with 4-5 tbs of milk and keep it aside. In another bowl soak gelatin in few tbs of water.
In a saucepan add milk, cream and sugar and when it is about to boil add almond mixture and gelatin. Stir continously until gelatin is completely dissolved. Add vanila extract and switch off the flame.Pour the mixture to pudding bowls and when it comes to room temperature decorate with almond flakes and chill it in the refrigerartor for 3-4 hrs or until its completely set.

Sending this to Julie's Christmas Delicacy at Erivum puliyum.

Stuffed Pepper/Capsicum

2011-11-27T05:58:00.000-08:00

Watching cookery shows or anything related with cooking , baking or dining is something that me and my Hubby love to watch together, all other times we will be fighting for remotes."Come dine with me" is a programme which airs in U.K in which four strangers go to dine at each others place and secretly score them. I have seen many contestants making stuffed pepper for their starter course .There are many recipes like that which attracted me . I even buy the ingredients but never makes it,finally when the ingredients go beyond the use by or best before date,I chuck it in the bin when S is not around. About a month ago I decided to give this a try and bought peppers but when the peppers were nearing the use by dates I used it in my daily cooking and finished it off.I bought peppers again last week and kept it in the fridge for few days but this time I got a mood to try it out as we had friends for dinner yesterday,I was not very sure about the results as I never tried this before ,but trust me we all liked it.

Ingredients
Pepper - 4
Cuscous - 3/4 cup
Vegetable stock /chicken stock - 1 cube
Water - 1 cup
Onion -1 small
Carrot- 1 grated
Paneer -1/2 cup grated
Salt
Pepper
oil for brushing

Preparation
In a saucepan add some oil and saute the chopped onions,when onions are soft add grated carrot and cook.Finally add grated paneer,season it with salt and pepper and cook for 1 minute.
In another saucepan pour 1 cup of water and add the stock cube.When water boils add cuscous and cook it covered until all water is absorbed. Add the cooked cuscous to the paneer mixture and mix well.
Slice the top of the pepper ,remove the seeds and core.Stuff the pepper with the filling. Brush the outer skin of pepper with oil and bake it in a preheated oven at 200 degree centigrade for 20 minutes.

Rajma and chana dal curry

2011-11-18T09:54:00.000-08:00

Rajma was a thing which I never ate when I grew up,my mom never cooked it, but when I got my own kitchen , cooking became my passion . My h always appreciate whatever I cook which gives me even more enthu to try out new things. I first tried rajma curry 5 years ago when my mother in law came to visit us for a short time,I was trying to impress her with new things ,but I was not lucky enough with rajma,I didn't know that rajma need to be soaked overnight and pressure cooked bit more than normal dals, I tried out couple more times till that packet got finished ,but my rajma never used to get cooked properly and we had to somehow eat it.I totally ignored rajma after that until I had it from a friends place an year ago,I couldn't believe that rajma was giving such good gravy !! I asked her how to cook it and she gave me some tips. After that I have been cooking rajma regularly and never had problem cooking it.

Ingredients

Rajma - 1/2 cup
Chana dal - 1/4 cup
Onions - 2
Tomato - 1 1/2
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp
Garam masala - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 1tbs
Redchilly powder - 1 tbs
Turmeric - 1/4 tsp
Salt
Coriander leaves

Preparation
Soak rajma overnight in warm water.Soak Chana for 2-3 hrs.
Pressure cook rajma first atleast for 3-4 whistles.Then add in soaked chana and pressure cook again for 2-3 whistles.
In a saucepan add some oil and sputter cumin seeds. Add chopped onions and saute till it is light brown. Add in ginger garlic paste and fry for 1 minute.Thrown in chopped tomotoes and all the masala powders and saute till it becomes a paste .Now add this paste to cooked dal , pour some water if required and pressure cook again for 1 whistle. Check the salt and garnish with coriander leaves.

Meen pollichathu/ Baked Fish Pollichathu

2011-11-16T08:34:00.000-08:00

Every time I do blog hoping I feel that I should try recipes from others spaces at least once in a while, I even bookmark recipes thinking that I will try it soon, most of the time I never get enough time to try the book marked one.When I saw fish polliachathu in Nisha's Look who is cooking too I thought I will give it a go later, never thought this soon, It was not planned at all,Yesterday evening I prepared sambar and mushroom stir fry,as my hubby doesnt like sambar I thought as usual I will fry a fish for him and checked my freezer to see what I have got,it was all empty except a packet of 2 whole seabreams.Thawing one is not easy so I defrosted both.Fish was looking beautiful,so I didnt feel like cutting it,suddenly this fish pollichathu striked me,I went to her space and had a look,it didnt look very elaborate to me,so I made up my mind and kept her blog opened in kitchen and followed it almost to the dot and we were so happy with the outcome ,it tasted great and is much healthier than the shallow fried ones,even though we were tempted to eat the second one too,I reserved it for today mainly for having it for lunch all by myself and for clicking it during day time....

You can find the original recipe here.

Ingredients

For marination
Fish - 2 whole fish ( I used seabream)
Pepper powder - 1 1/2 tbs
Salt
Turmeric - 1/4 tbs
For masala
Shallots - 20 nos
Ginger garlic paste- 1tbs
Coriander powder - 1 1/2 tbs
Salt
Redchilly powder - 1tbs
Tumeric - 1/4 tsp
Fenugreek powder -1/8 tsp
Tomato paste -paste of 1/2 a tomato
Greenchillies -2
Curry leaves - few
Garlic chopped - 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp

Preparation
Clean the fish and make gashes . Marinate the fish with salt ,pepper and turmeric and keep it aside for 1 hr or preferably longer.
Make a paste of all the masala powders with ginger garlic paste.
In a saucepan add oil and sputter mustard seeds,add chopped shallots and saute well.When is soft add chopped ginger and fry for 1 minute.Add the masala paste,curryleaves and saute till raw smell goes,finally add tomoto paste and saute till it makes a paste.
In a pan fry add some oil and shallow fry the fish for 30 seconds on both sides . Now coat the fish with the masala paste and bake in a preheated oven at 170 degree centigrade for 30 mins.

Note - The origianl recipe calls for coconut milk but I forgot to add it.

Pav Bhaji

2011-11-13T11:13:00.000-08:00

One thing that I loved the most during our stay in Pune was the food ! We used to eat out every friday night and sometimes on saturdays too ! Gone are those beautiful days when we used to fly in bike enjoying the night life:( There is one more thing that I loved most,street food ! pani puri ,bel puri,pav baji etc Mhmm it was soo delicious.
We lived in a flat which was full so lively and energetic. During diwali,holi etc the celebrations was so colourful with lots of fun,games,dancing,food etc we even had a stall for all street foods during festival time,I just had to go down for my favourite chaats !!

Ingredients
Potato - 1 large
Cauliflower florets - 3/4 cup
Carrot - 1
Green peas - 1/2 cup
Beans - 5-6 nos
Tomato - 2 small
Onion -1 medium
Green pepper - 1/2
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tbs
Redchilly powder - 1/2tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt
Pav baji masala - 3 tsp
Coriander leaves

Pav buns/burger buns
Butter

Preparation
Boil the potato and mash it.
In saucepan pour some oil and add chopped onions,saute till its soft,add ginger garlic paste fry for 1 minute, add tomoatoes,spice powders and cook for 1-2 minutes, finally add all the vegetables,pour some water and cook.When the vegetables are nearly done add mashed poatatoes and chopped pepper and cook .Mash the vegetables and turn off the stove.Garnsih with coriander leaves.
In a pan add some butter and fry the pav/burger buns till its toasted.
Serve the pav buns with pav baji masala !!

Note - I didnt fry the buns with butter, to be healthy I just toasted the buns in toaster :)

Chicken Liver Varattiyathu/ Chicken liver stir fry

2011-11-11T01:50:00.000-08:00

Does winter makes everyone feel hungry all the time or is it just my family ?? We are constantly hungry now and we feel like eating something non veg everyday,earlier we used to eat veg meal atleast 2- 3 days a week . I guess if I go on like this I will have to change my wardrobe for new clothes , but I am glad that from January lil A will be starting nursery for 3 hrs so dropping him and picking him will give me a good walk !
Chicken liver is something that we dont buy at home but when my brother in law came last week I prepared this for him as this is his favourite,I only picked up a 300 gm pack thinking that we will not eat it,but it tasted too good and finally nobody got enough portions to eat :)

Ingredients
Chicken liver - 300gm
Onion -1 small
Ginger -garlic paste - 1tsp
Whole Garam masala -(cinnamon,cloves,cardamom,staranise,bayleaf)
Cumin seeds- 1/4 tsp
Fennel seeds - 1/8 tsp
Pepper powder - 1 tbs
Tumeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Redchilly powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt
Curryleaves

Preparation
In a saucepan add some oil and sputter cumin and fennel, add whole garam masala and saute for 1 minute. Add onions saute till its brown,add curry leaves and all the masala powders and saute till raw smell goes. Finally add the chicken liver and cook until its done.

Cauliflower masala

2011-11-06T08:20:00.000-08:00

Last week I was telling all about the awesome weather here,but things have changed,its grey,chilly and miserable now,but atleast the christmas decorations and gifts all around the shops is bringing some postive energy .This time my lil one also knows more about christmas and father christmas,he has already asked for his favourite train for christmas !!
This recipe is from my friend who lives next door,she prepared this for a get together and we all loved it, I also used to make cauliflower masala but my cauliflower always gets bit overcooked,but the one she prepared was crucnhy and perfect,so this time I didnt over do cauliflower and we all loved it.

Ingredients
Cauliflower - 1 small
Carrot - 1
Green peas - 1/2 cup
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
Onion - 1
Tomato -1
Green chillies -2
Redchilly powder - 1/2 tbs
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tbs
Garam masala - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp

Preparation
In a saucepan add some oil,sputter cumin seeds,add chopped onions and saute till soft. Add ginger garlic paste fry for 1 minute and then throw in chopped tomatoes and all masala powders , green chillies and saute till raw smell of masalas goes. Finally add cauliflower and carrot and when they are half done add green peas and cook .

Sunny Weekend In London !

2011-10-31T08:24:00.001-07:00

The clock in U.K has changed to GMT and I am not liking it at all, I dont mind if the sun rise is a bit late but when it gets dark by 4- 4.30 its so aweful, but anyway I m glad that I will get more time for blogging :)
We had a surprise VIP this weekend,my brother in law (my younger sister's hubby) !! He came here on an official trip and was with us over this weekend and we had a great weekend with him taking him in and around London .We were lucky enough with the weather too ,it was so sunny and slighlty warm too.Cant believe its nearly November and the temperature is still in 2 digits !

Here are the few pictures we clicked..

Kerala Spinach /Cheera Thoran

2011-10-27T07:29:00.000-07:00

Hope u all had a good Diwali..Mine was good too ,had a small party on Diwali day with my friends and is going to have one more with family soon..I love parties,who doesnt right?? I love to eat what others cook ,even once in a week when I am bored of my dishes I ask my H to cook and he does it happily..

Are u all set for Halloween too ?? I havent made up my mind whether to carve a pumkin yet, I guess its a little early for my lil one to appreciate it,infact I m scared that he might even cry if I manage to carve a scary one !!

Kerala spinach/cheera (red and green) is my favourite leafy vegetable , I can eat 2 meals of rice in a go with this.My love for this cheera is even popular among my inlaws ,and I remember one time soon after marriage when were invited for lunch at his uncles place I was so surprised to see that even the aunty knew about this and she prepared this especially for me..

Here goes my favourite cheera thoran recipe for u all.

Ingredients

Cheera/Kerala spinach - 1 bundle
Onion - 1
Green chillies - 1-2
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Grated coconut - 3-4 tbs
Curry leaves
Mustard seeds- 1/4 tsp
Salt

Preparation
Wash and chop the spinach.
In a saucepan add oil,sputter mustard and add green chillies and chopped onions ,saute onions until soft. Add spinach ,turmeric ,salt and cook it covered.When it is almost cooked add grated cononut and curry leaves and cook for 1-2minutes.

Edichakka Thoran/Tender Jackfruit Thoran

2011-10-23T14:18:00.000-07:00

Back home we have few jackfruit trees in our orchard and since summer is the time its all ripe and ready I never really missed eating this every year until I moved to U.K.
We eat all forms of this fruit ,like the tender stage called Edi chakka,then the raw jackfruit and ripen one,even the seeds of the jackfruit!! We even cook some dumplings in jackfruit leaves which gives a unique flavour .My grandmother showed us how to make cute little spoons with jackfruit leaves and eat rice/kanji with those falvourful spoons .Mhmmm its delicious !!

Twice in a week or once in month I go to a Srilankan shop here where I get all Indian veggies,when I see all those fresh green veggies I go wild and end up buying a lottt ,but after coming back I have a tough job, chopping and freezing it,but it makes my job easier for the rest of the week.Coming to my topic,on our last week's visit to that shop I was soo thrilled to see tender jackfruit/Edi chakka ,without even thinking I picked up one,had no idea how to cook it as I never bothered to watch my mom cooking it.Gave a ring to mum and she gave me instructions how to clean and cook it.Taadda.. I could recreate the exact taste of my mums delicious edichakka thoran.

Ingredients
Edi chakka - 1
Shallots -5-7
Garlic- 1 or 2pods
Grated coconut - 1/4 cup
Cumin seeds -1/2 tsp
Redchilly powder - 3/4 tbs
Turmeric powder -1/4 tsp
Salt
For tempering
Mustard seeds -1/2 tsp
Whole redchilly-1
Curry leaves- few
Oil

Preparation
Clean edichakka and peel the thick green outer skin till you find the white porous flesh.Chop it into big slices and pressure cook it with redchilly powder,turmeric and salt for 1-2 whistles.Once it is cooked gently mash it and keep it aside.Make a coarse paste of grated coconut,garlic,shallots and cumin seeds.In another saucepan sputter mustard seeds,whole redchilly,curryleaves and add edichakka and coarse cocnut paste cook it for 1-2 minute.

Potato Bonda/Aloo bonda in 2 styles

2011-10-19T08:29:00.001-07:00

Bonda brings back a lot of childhood memories to me..When my father finally managed to get a transfer to our home town (kannur) we all were so happy that we can finally live in our own house and be with our cousins and relatives.Since our house was in a country side there were no good schools there so we had to go all the way to town for school.Going in fully packed school van was a nightmare for me and my 2 sisters.After struggling for few weeks we decided to go in local bus but again that was just the same,since our place was bit far there were not so many buses running in our route so morning and evening bus was fully packed with school kids,so finally my father decided to drop us and pick us everyday.But since its a long way back home after picking us from school he took us to his office,we waited outside in the car in protected carkpark .From 4- 6 pm we stayed in the car doing home works and chatting about our day at school.Apart from 3 of us our cousin brother who was in college also used to join us.Like all other kids after school we used to be soo hungry and so our cousin brother used to go to a small coffee shop and get us some hot snacks like Bonda,Ela ada,Uzhunu vada etc everyday.. Years passed by but still the taste of those delicious snacks are still in the tip of my tongue.

Since I like both kerala and North Indian style bondas I am sharing the recipe of both here...

Ingredients( for Kerala style )
Potatoes -2(medium size)
Onion - 1/2 (finely chopped)
Greenchillies -1-2
Cumin seeds- 1/4 tsp
Mustard seeds -1/4 tsp
Ginger chopped -1tsp
Curryleaves - few
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt
Gram flour -3/4 cup
Redchiily powder - pinch
Salt
oil for deep frying

Preparation
Boil potatoes , peel the skin and mash it.
In a saucepan add some oil sputter mustard seeds and cumin. Add chopped onions,ginger,greenchillies and curryleaves.When onion becomes soft add turmeric , salt and finally add potatoes and mix well.Make balls from the mixture. Meanwhile make a batter of gram flour with water adding little salt and redchilly powder.Batter should not be to thick or too loose.In a kadai pour some oil and keep it on a medium flame,when the oil is ready dip balls in the batter and fry till golden brown.

Ingredients North Indian Style

Potatoes -2(medium size)
Onion - 1/2 (finely chopped)
Greenchillies -1-2
Cumin seeds- 1/4 tsp
Ginger chopped -1tsp
Coriander leaves - few
Turmeric - 1/4 tsp
Coriander powder -1tbs
Garam masala - 1/2 tsp
Gram flour - 1 cup
redchilly powder- pinch
Salt
Ajwain -pinch
Oil for deep frying

Preparation
Boil potatoes , peel the skin and mash it.
In a saucepan add some oil sputter cumin. Add chopped onions,ginger,greenchillies .When onion becomes soft add turmeric , salt and finally add potatoes and coriander leaves and mix well.Make balls from the mixture. Meanwhile make a batter of gram flour with water adding little salt ,redchilly powder and ajwain .Batter should not be to thick or too loose.In a kadai pour some oil and keep it on a medium flame,when the oil is ready dip balls in the batter and fry till golden brown

Milk Peda for Diwali !

2011-10-14T08:18:00.001-07:00

Yay..Diwali is almost around the corner !!When we dont have anything really exciting to look forward too until the winter passes its good to celebrate all the festivals that comes along.Diwali,Halloween,Christmas,New Year,Valentines Day... we have something to celebrate till February.
In Kerala(especially in Malabar) we dont celebrate Diwali like other states of India.During my college days I used to take tuition to a small boy from Rajasthan who lived nearby.One Diwali day his family came to our house for wishing Diwali and giving some sweets ,they were soo surprised to see that it was just a normal day for us.From that day onwards I felt that we should celebrate Diwali too..After that somany Diwalis passed by and I think I only celebrated 1-2 till now :( Anyway this year we are celebrating it.I will light some candles ,make some sweets and prepare some special food.
So here is a sweet treat for all my friends as a Diwali Special !!

I adapted this recipe from Show me the curry.com.
Here goes the recipe

Ingredients

Milk powder - 2 cup
Sweetened Condensed milk - 1 tin
Butter -5 tbs

Preparation

Melt the butter in microwave and add milk powder and condensed milk,mix it well and cook in the microwave for 1 min.Take it out and mix well again and cook it again for 1 minute,Do the same one more time and mix well.Allow it cool down and then roll it to desired shape and size and decorate according to your wish.

Chicken Kurma for a Special friend..

2011-10-12T13:15:00.000-07:00

Living far away from my home country was so aweful for me in the beginning.I was feeling so lonely and miserable especially when the weather outside is so gloomy and chilly.Family, friends,homely foods,festivals ..list goes on...I missed all of these :( But like any other person I too adjusted soon, made lot of friends and they are like a family to me now.

Today when my typing this I m little bit sad because one of my friend 'N' is going back home (Japan) after living more than half of her life here. I m happy for her as she can be with her family and friends but its soo sad when our friends say goodbye to us.One day she had lunch with us and she loved the chicken curry I prepared for her, since her birthday is coming soon I thought I should share my chicken Kurma for her as a birthday gift. I guess it will be a little surprise for her as she doesnt know about my blog.

Ingredients

Chicken boneless- 750 gm( I used diced thigh)
Onions - 3-4
Ginger garlic paste - 1tbs
Green chillies 2-3
Coriander powder -1 1/2 tbs
Turmeric powder 1/3 tsp
Pepper powder - 1tsp
Red chilly powder -1 tbs
Garam masala - 1 tsp
Fennel powder - 1/2 tsp(optional)
Yogurt - 1/4 cup
Cahsewnut paste (1/4 cup cahewnuts grinded to a smooth paste)
Coconut milk - 1cup
Salt

Prepartion

Marinate the chicken with redchilly powder,turmeric,salt,coriander powder,ginger garlic paste , garam masala, pepper,fennel powder and yogurt.Keep it aside for 1/2 an hour.
In a saucepan add some oil and saute the chopped onions until its soft and brown. Add greenchillies and saute for 1-2 minutes. Add the marinated chicken and cook until chicken is done.Finally add coconut milk and grinded cashewnut paste and water if required.When it starts to boil swith off the flame.
This Kurma goes well with Chapathy.

Coconut Rice (My 100 th post)

2011-10-09T03:22:00.000-07:00

It took me nearly 4 yrs to reach this milestone. It has been a slow and smooth journey till now.I was on and off blogging . Sometimes I feel that I am like animals that hibernate,I go to sleep for longtime then when I come back I will be active for sometime , but then again I go back to sleep mode :( But one thing that I am proud of myself is that I never gave up blogging :) I made lot of new friends and they kept me going till now...Thanks to all my friends for supporting me to keep this blog alive.

To celebrate my happiness I am sharing a coconut rice which u can prepare in less than 1/2 an hour, the great part is it is so easy and doesnt need any accompaniment.

Ingredients

Rice - 1 1/4 cup

Grated coconut - 1/2 cup

Urad dal - 1 tbs

Chana dal - 1tbs

Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Mustard seeds - 3/4 tsp

Curryleaves - few

Whole redchilly -2 (optional)

Green chillies -2 (slit lengthwise)

Salt

Prepartion

Cook the rice and keep it aside.

In a tawa/wok add some oil sputter mustard seeds ,add all the other ingredients except grated coconut and fry for sometime.Finally add grated coconut and roast it for sometime.Dont allow the coconut to become brown.Finally add cooked rice and mix well.

Fish curry (Salmon curry )

2011-10-03T13:50:00.000-07:00

Weather in U.K is so unpredictable,we all said goodbye to Summer few weeks ago and were getting ready for the chilly days but to our surprise the hot scroching sun came out again last week !!
Like everyone else we too decided to make the most of the weather,but our day out in hot day was sooo tiring.Eventhough the temperatures were not high like in India I felt that the sun here is much hotter ...Maybe it doesnt make any sense ! I was wondering how the people enjoy lying down in the hot sun taking sun bath !!
Anyway today it looks like Autumn is returning again , but I am wishing for few more sunny days,I dont mind even if it is bit chilly , just sunny days is more than enough ..

Since its Navaratri I have been eating vegeterian food for few days and on the final day (vijayadashami ) I will end my vratham eating Nonveg food. So on the eve of Vijayadashami/Dusserah I am sharing a Fish curry which I made last week..

Wishing all my friends Happy Dusserah/Vijayadashami !!

Ingredients
Fish (salmon )- 250 gm
Onions -2
Tomatoes - 2
Greenchillies- 2-3
Ginger-garlic chopped- 1tbs
Curryleaves
Redchilly powder- 1 tbs
Turmeric powder- 1/3 tsp
Corainder powder - 1 tbs
Salt
Mustard seeds - 3/4 tsp
Feni greek - 3/4 tsp
Coconut milk - 1 cup

Preparation
In a pan add some oil and sputter mustards , add fenugreek and when it becomes light brown,add chopped onions and saute till it becomes soft and brown. Add ginger-garlic ,curryleaves,green chillies and saute for few more minutes. Add chopped tomatoes and all the masala powders and cook till tomatoes becomes cooked and mashed. Add fish , pour some water and cook till the fish is done. Finally add coconut milk and when it is starts to boil switch off the flame.

Erachi Ada/Erachi pathiri

2011-09-29T05:45:00.000-07:00

My Little one's and Hubby's birthday are only 4 days apart,so after all the fun we had on junior's birthday,It didnt feel like a special day when his bday came,We even had left over birthday cake from lil one's party.As usual in the morning just wished him and thought of getting a birthday card and give him in the evening,but my friend was coming over for a tea with a brithday card for him,so finally I got mood to do something.If somebody joins us for tea/lunch or dinner I get all the extra energy to cook,So I decided to make something special,and the first thing that struck on my mind was Erachi ada/Erachi pathriri which is a malabar special item. Multi tasking is always easier,as I have to clean the chicken I decided to take a big portion of chicken to make some chicken curry aswell. While cleaning the chicken I kept some rice in a thick bottomed vessel for making paal payasam too,since it is thick bottomed I dont have to bother about stirring it until I finish cleaning the chicken. Voila !! Altast the day turned out to be surprise for him and even me too, it was a three course dinner !!

Ingredients

For dough

Plain flour or Wheat flour - 2 cups ( I used both plain flour and wheat flour 1 cup each)
Salt
Oil
Water

For chicken filling

Chicken -250 gm
Onion - 1 small
Ginger - garlic paste - 1 tsp (optional)
Ginger chopped - 1tsp
Garlic chopped - 1 tsp
Redchilly powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Coriander powder - 3/4 tbs
Garam masala - 1 tsp
Oil for deep frying

Preparation

Marinate the chicken with redchilly powder,turmeric powder ,Ginger garlic paste and salt and keep it aside for half an hour.Cook the chicken and mince it.

In a nonstick pan pour some oil and saute the onions till brown in colour,add chopped ginger and garlic and then add garam masala , coriander powder and saute for 1 minute. Add the minced chicken and saute for 2-3 minutes.

Now divide the dough to small balls.Take one ball and roll it out to a small circle and spread the minced chicken mixture on it. Cover it with another one and press on the edges.Deep fry it in oil.
Serve hot with tea !!

This will yield 7-8 Erachi ada .

Vanilla-Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Frosting

2011-09-26T07:56:00.000-07:00

It has been more than 3 months now since I have posted anything here,its just because of mere laziness.Summer activities with my preschooler was making me tired, so I prefered to relax during the free time doing nothing.My boy has turned 3 last week and I baked a cake which everyone loved,so I thought I should share the recipe to my friends too.I made this cake for his party so it was quite big, since I have made this cake (in a small tin )several times this recipe is for a a smaller cake.

Ingredients

Flour - 1 1/2 cup
Sugar - 1 cup
Unsalted Butter(softenend) - 1/2 cup
Egg -2
Baking powder - 1tsp
Baking soda - 1/2 tsp
Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
Cocoa powder - 2 tbs
Milk - 1/2 cup

For frosting

Double cream - 100ml
Dark chocolate - 100gm
Butter - 25gm
Honey - 3/4 tbs

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 180 degree centigrade.
In a mixing bowl beat butter and sugar together.Crack the eggs in and beat again.Add flour,baking powder,baking soda,vanilla extract and beat again.Add milk slowly and beat until milk is poured completely.Now pour 3/4 th the white batter to the cake tin.Add 2 tbs of cocoa powder to the remaining batter and mix well.Pour the cocoa batter to white batter and incoporate it into white one,but dont mix it completely.Bake the cake for 35 - 40 mins until the tooth pick inserted comes out clean.Let the cake cool down.

For frosting
In a saucepan pour the double cream and jsut before it starts to boil turn off the flame and add chocolate,butter and honey and mix .Spread the frosting to the cake.If you like to decorate the cake you can sprinkle chocolate strands, or shavings or grated chocolate on the top of the frosting.

Egg Rice ( Lunch box Special )

2011-06-17T06:58:00.000-07:00

Since my hubby takes packed lunch to office,I am always on look out for easy recipes like this one,which I can prepare under 30 minutes(like Jamie oliver says).This recipe is again from my friend Smitha ,she knows so many recipes like this which can be prepared in a jiffy.

Ingredients

Rice - 3/4 cup
Boiled Eggs - 3
Mixed vegetables - 1/2 cup( I used frozen mix veg packet ,it has carrot,beans,corns,greenpeas etc)
Onion -2
Tomato -1
Ginger- garlic paste - 1tsp
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Fennel seeds - 1/2 tsp
Redchilly powder - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder - pinch
Coriander powder -1 tbs
Garam masala- 1/2 tsp
Salt
Fresh corainder leaves

Preparation

Cook the rice and keep it aside.
In a wok add oil and sputter cumin and fennel.Add onions and saute till it becomes soft,add ginger garlic paste fry for 1 minute.Add chopped tomotoes and cook for 1-2 minutes and finally add mixed vegetables and all the masala powders and cook till vegetables are done. Add the cooked rice and mix well.Cut the eggs into two and gently fold into the rice.Garnish with chopped coriander leaves.

Eton mess ( English Dessert)

2011-06-15T08:01:00.000-07:00

Ingredients

Strawberries - 400 gm
Double cream - 300ml ( 1 1/2 cup)
Sugar - 4 tbs
Meringue nest - 5-6

Preparartion

Hull strawberries and chop them into half (lenghtwise) ,add sugar and mix well. Whisk double cream until soft peaks are formed fold the strawberry mixture into it and refrigerate. Just before serving crush the meringue nest to the mixture and fold in.

Chicken Sukka( Manglorean Style)

2011-06-11T12:29:00.000-07:00

I had this chicken sukka from a friend's place 2 weeks ago and absolutely loved it. I always loved mangalorean specialities which we used to have from a mangalorean restaurant when we lived in Pune, but never had an opportunity to learn manglorean cuisine.
After meeting Smitha ,we go to each others place often ,while our boys play together we prepare lunch.There is so much similarities between our recipes as we both use coconut a lot,but still her dishes are unique.
This recipe is from her and I tried this out today and it turned out great.So If anyone fancy a Manglorean special do try this one.

Ingredients

Chicken - 500 gm ( I used boneless)
Onion - 1
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tbs
Salt
Mustard seeds
Redchilly
Curry leaves

For paste

Shallots - 7
cinnamon - 1 stick
Cloves 2-3
Cardamom -2
Cumin - 1/2 tsp
Fennel - 1/2 tsp
Star anise - 2
Red chilly powder - 1 tbs
Turmeic powder - 1/4 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 1/2 tbs
Fenugreek seed - 4-5 n0
Tamarind - a small piece( according to your taste)

For coarse paste

Grated coconut - 1/4 cup

Preparation

Clean and cut the chicken to small pieces.

In a saucepan add some oil and add cumin seeds,fennel.Let it sputter.Throw in cloves,cardamom,cinnamon,star anise.Saute for 1 min.Add chopped shallots and saute till it is soft.Add redchilly powder,coriander powder and turmeric powder and saute till raw smell goes.Let it cool down and then grind it with tamarind to a smooth paste.

In a separate pan add some oil and roast coconut till it becomes brown in colour.Grind it to a coarse paste.

In a wok/saucepan add oil and add chciken and fry till its light brown.Add ginger -garlic paste saute again for 1-2 minutes.Add the masala paste and let the chicken cook in the masala.When its half done,add chopped onion and cook again.When chicken is almost done add the roasted coconut and cook for 2-3 minutes.

Finally sputter mustard seeds and add redchilly and curry leaves.

Serve hot !

Tawa Pulao ( I am back)

2011-06-08T08:55:00.000-07:00

Hi my friends,
It has been ages since I have posted anything here.After my vacation in India in April I was not in mood to cook or post anything,but now I need some serious refreshing in cooking,I m bored of my day to day cooking so I am back again for a new beginning.
Todays recipe is adapted from Sanjeev Kapoor,which was quite simple and delicious. Please excuse me for the picture.I took this picture while cooking and thought about taking another one while serving which I totally forgot.

Ingredients

Onion - 1
Tomato -1
Finely Chopped vegetables - 1 cup (Carrot,beans,peas etc)
Green pepper (Capsicum) - 1
Cooked rice ( for 2 adults )
Coriander leaves
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tbs
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Pav baji masala - 2 tbs
Turmerc powder -1/4 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Salt

Preparation

In a wok pour some oil and sputter cumin. Add onions and saute till soft. Add ginger garlic paste and saute for 1 min.Add chopped tomato,vegetables and all the powders and cook till vegetables are done.Add the cooked rice and mix well.Finally add chopped green pepper and turn off the flame.Garnish with coriander leaves.

XX

Chicken Kichadi (kids meal)

2011-03-01T05:36:00.000-08:00

Ingredients

Rice - 1/4 cup
Dals ( Toor dal,chana dal,moong dal,urad dal,red lentils) - 1/2 cup
Vegetables - (Carrots,beans,Spinach,Greenpeas, broccoli,tomato )- 1 cup
Chicken - 1/2 of a breast fillet
Redchiily powder - 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp
Chicken stock/water - 1 1/2 cup
salt
Ghee/Butter - 1 tbs

Preparation

Soak rice and dals together atleast for 1 - 2 hrs.If you dont have time just soak them for half an water in hot water.
In a pressure cooker add ghee/butter and when it melts add cumin seeds when in sputters add all the vegetables and saute for 1-2 minutes.Add rice and dal and saute again.Finely chop chicken breast into small pieces and throw it in.Add all powders and chicken stock/water and stir well. Pressure cook it for 1 or 2 whistle.

This is an ideal meal for growing up kids,they will get enough protiens from dals and chicken,Vitamins and Iron from vegteables especially from Spinach and broccoli

Pineapple upside down Cake.

2011-02-11T13:19:00.000-08:00

I am still in the excitement ,I will tell you why,I became an aunt last week.My younger sister had a baby boy on Feb 5th.I cant wait to see my Nephew !

The moment I saw Pineapple upside down cake at Dolly's Curry and Beyond I was craving for it very badly so I decided to try it out,but waited till last week for my birthday and the attempt was successful, the cake was soo delicous. Thanks to Dolly for sharing this recipe.You can find the recipe here.

Eventhough me and my DH doesnt celebrate Valentines day,I wish you all a Happy Valentines day.

Anchovy Pasta

2011-02-04T05:59:00.000-08:00

It has been a month since I have posted anything here.All these days I was so busy with property search ,I am happy that after a month finally we found one.I have one more month before I move the house,but I have to start cleaning and packing soon.As Soon as I move the house I am flying to India again for my sister's wedding !

Ingredients

Pasta - 250 gm

For sauce

Onion - 1
Tomato - 1
Garlic - 1-2 clove
Bottled Anchovy in salt
soft cheese (philadelphia) - 100 gm
Salt
Pepper
Oregano - a pinch

Preparation

Cook pasta in salted water for 12 minutes and drain the water.

In a saucepan add some olive oil,saute onions till soft,add chopped garlic stir for 1-2 minutes,add tomatoes and seasoning.When tomatoes are cooked add anchovy and cheese.Let it boil for 2-3 minutes.Mix the pasta with the sauce and serve hot !

Black Forest Cake

2011-01-02T13:38:00.000-08:00

Ingredients

Flour - 1 cup
Cocoa Powder - 1/2 cup
Egg - 4
Sugar - 1 cup
Vanilla Essence - 1tsp
Melted Butter - 1/2 cup

For syrup
Fresh cherries(stoned and halved) - 250 gm
Cherry brandy - 100ml(optional)
Water - 100 ml(Take 200 ml water if you are not adding cherry brandy)
Sugar - 5 tbs

For Layering and Decoration
Whipping cream - 300 ml
Icing sugar - according to your sweetness
Glaced cherries
Fresh cherries
Dark Chocolate

Preparation

Place the fresh cherries in a saucepan adding cherry brandy,water and sugar.when it starts to boil simmer it for 5 minutes.

Melt the butter and keep it aside.

Whip the cream with little icing sugar and keep it aside

In a mixing bowl sift flour and cocoa powder.

Place the eggs in a heatproof bowl.Place the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water.Beat the eggs with sugar for about 6 minutes until it is thick.Remove from heat and fold in the flour mixture and melted butter to it.Pour the batter into a cake tin and bake in a preheated oven at 180 degree centigrade for about 40 minutes.Allow the cake to cool down.

Cut the cake horizontally into 2 slices and spread the sugar syrup to both the slices.Spread the whipped cream and arrange the glaced cherries on the first layer.Place the second slice of cake above it and cover the whole cake with cream and grate some chocolate on the top.Decorate the cake with Fresh cherries and glaced cherries.

Recipe courtsey

Marks and Spencers Easy Desserts

Baked Sweet Potato

2010-12-24T06:19:00.000-08:00

Hello my dear friends..

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy Newyear !!
I am sure you all will be busy today making all the preparations for Christmas.Even I am planning to bake a black forest cake and make a good lunch tomorrow.Me being the last minute person ordered for an icing bag and set of nozzles online just this week and luckily I got it delivered today so I am all set to bake and try my decorating skills tomorrow ! Wsh me luck :)

These days I dont update my blogs regularly and as we all know Christmas is all about sharing here I am to share the only recipe that I have in my draft.

Ingredients

Sweet potatoes

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 220 degree centigrade and bake the Sweet potatoes to 60 -75 minutes.
Remove the skin and Enjoy !

Baked Fish fingers

2010-11-29T08:28:00.000-08:00

Ingredients

Fish fillet - 1 medium fish
Rice flour - 1/4 cup
Egg -1
Bread crumbs - 1/2 cup
Redchilly powder - 1/4 tsp
Limejuice
Salt
Pepper

Preparation

Clean and cut the fish fillet into small pieces.Marinate the fish with salt,pepper and limejuice and keep it aside for half an hour.
In a plate add the rice flour and redchilly powder and mix.Dust the fish in this flour and dip in egg and coat the fish with breadcrumbs.Place them in a baking tray and bake in a preheated oven at 200 degree centigrade for 20 - 25 minutes.

Chakka Puzhukku

2010-11-12T08:02:00.000-08:00

The weather here in London is worse since last week,its very windy and rainy all the time.Cant go out really, yesterday I had to go out for a music session for my little one and the wind nearly blew me away, so today me and my little one stayed inside and I decided to make my time useful by visiting my friends blogs and refreshing my blog too. After my holidays I am still not in a mood to do some serious cooking,So I dont have anything fresh to post today. This chakka puzhukku is my moms special which we had during our holidays..

Here goes the recipe

Ingredients

Raw Jackfruit - 1/2 of the fruit
Grated coconut- 1/4 cup
Shallots - 10
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Garlic crushed - 1 tbs
Redchilly powder - 1 tbs
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt
Mustard seeds
Whole redchilly
Curry eaves
Oil

Preparation

Cook the jackfruit with redchilly powder,turmeric powder and salt by adding water till it is cooked and mushy.
Grind coconut ,shallots,cumin seeds into a coarse paste.Add this paste to the cooked jackfruit along with crushed garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes.Finally in a pan take some oil and sputter mustard seeds followed by whole redchillies and curry leaves and add to the chakka puzhukku.

Cottage pie( English meat pie)

2010-10-26T03:33:00.000-07:00

Ingredients

Minced Beef - 250 gm
Potatoes - 5 -7 medium size
Milk - 1/4 cup
Butter - 1 tbs
Carrot(chopped) - 3
Chicken stock - 1/2 cup
Worcestershire sauce - 1 1/2 tbs
Onion - 2
Garlic chopped- 1 tbs
Cheese - 75 gm
Pepper powder
Salt

Preparation

Boil potatoes and mash well by adding little milk,salt,pepper (optional) and butter.
In a pan fry the minced meat until its brown in colour.
In a saucepan saute onions,garlic for few minutes. Add chopped carrots,meat and chicken stock.Add salt,pepper and worcesteshire sauce and cook it covered for half an hour.
Meanwhile preheat the oven to 200 degree centigrade.In an ovenproof dish spread the meat mixure.Cover it with mashed potatoes and place it in the oven.After 20 minutes sprinkle the cheese on the top of the pie and bake for another 10 minutes.Serve warm !!
If we use minced lamb instead of beef they call it SHEPERD'S PIE.

Chakka Ada( Vacation special)

2010-10-18T04:53:00.000-07:00

Hi friends,
I am back after my holidays.It took me a while to get adjusted with cold weather and empty home which welcomed us back. The vacation was so wonderful,we enjoyed each and every moment and on the way back we stopped in Dubai to visit my sister there.I have never been to Dubai before,so It was like a wonderland to me with the huge buildings and constuctions everywhere.The view from Burj khalifa,the world tallest building was so amazing.Palm island which is a man made island in the middle of sea was another wonder,but weather wise I am happy with London's weather,atleast we can go out wearing layers of clothes.It was too hot in Dubai,outdoor activities is not possible in the hot sun,winter is the best time to visit Dubai.I am sharing some Dubai pictures below.

BURJ KHALIFA

The recipe that I am going to post today is one of the delicacies that my mom cooked for me while we were in India.The jackfruit season in kerala is usually during the months of april,may but my mom reserved few for me in the tree itself.My mom never thought that it would stay in the tree till september,but luckily it didnt ripe and nor did the birds pecked it.So I had the luck to eat jackfruit in all forms both ripen and as a chakka puzhukku with raw jackfruit.

Here goes the recipe.

Jackfruit ripen - 1/4 of the fruit
Rice flour - 1 1/4 cup
jagerry - according to your sweetness
Cardamom powder -pinch
Banana leaf

Preparation

In a saucepan cook the jackfruit with melted jaggery.Allow it to cool down and blend it into a smooth paste. Melt some more jaggery with little water and keep it aside.In a mixing bowl take the rice flour and add the jackfruit paste to it and add the melted jaggery too.Finally add a pinch of cardamom powder.Mix well.Roast the banana leaf in the flame so that it wont tear.Take a spoonfull of the mixture into small banana leaves,press it gently with hands and fold it.Steam the leaves in a steamer for about 30 to 45 minutes. Enjoy with cup of tea !!

Mathi molishan/ spicy sardines and a blogging break

2010-09-09T05:44:00.000-07:00

I am all ready to go for an exciting 4 weeks holidays to India and a short Dubai visit on my return.I am now in the phase of clearing out my fridge and pantry.Cooking is just for namesake these days,and I wonder how long will it take for my kitchen to be back on full swing even when I am back.Anyway coming to todays recipe..

Ingredients

Sardines - 3
Shallots - 10 -15
Tomato -1
Redchilly powder - 1 tbs
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Green chillies - 1 or 2
Curry leaves - few
Salt
Tamarind water - (small piece of tamarind soaked in 1/4 cup water)
Ginger -1/2 tbs
Garlic crushed - 1/2 tbs
Coconut oil

Preparation

Cut and clean sardines.In a chatty(earthern pot)/ saucepan add all the ingredients with fish adding little water .Cook till the fish is done and drizzle some coconut oil.
Serve hot with steamed rice.

Happy Onam

2010-08-22T04:22:00.000-07:00

Wishing you all a Happy and Prosperous Onam !!

Banofee pie (English Dessert)

2010-08-18T03:11:00.000-07:00

Ingredients

Digestive biscuits - 12-14 biscuits
Melted butter - 1/4 cup
Banana - 4
Caramelised condensed milk - 1 tin( I used nestle caramel)/ Sweetened condensed milk - 2 tins
Whipping cream-2 cup
Icing sugar - According to your sweetness
Grated Chocolate

Preparation

If you are using sweetened condensed milk immerse 2 tins in boiling water and simmer it for 2-3 hours.Its a long process.Make sure that you completely immerse the tin in water because I have read that tin might explode if you dont immerse it fully.I used nestle caramel which made my job easier.

To make biscuit crumbs place the biscuits in a plastic bag and roll with a rolling pin.Add melted butter to the biscuits crumbs and mix well.Spread the mixture evenly in a tin with removable base and gently press it.Refrigerate it for 1-2 hours.Spread the caramel mixture above the biscuit layer and spread it evenly.Slice the banana and make a layer or two above the caramel layer. Finally whip the cream with sugar and spread the cream above the banana layer.Deccorate with grated chocolate.Keep in in the fridge for few hours before you serve it.

Ethapazham/Nenthra pazham chuttathu (oven roasted plantain)

2010-08-12T06:18:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends,

I feel so bad for not catching up with your posts and for not updating mine too. I think for me active bloggging is not possible for a couple more months.For me winter is the best time for blogging when we dont go out much and have so much time to kill.Eventhough the word Winter itselves scares me I have blogging to look forward too.
I am also excited about our vaccation next month. We are going on to India for 4 weeks. My little boy is going to turn 2 years in september so we are planning to have a small party there with his grandparents ,friends and family. I have already started shopping which never makes me tired.I have to get some gifts for my close family and friends.
I dont have any recipe today I am posting a simple snack which my mother used to make in aduppu(grilling on charcoal),we call it chutta pazham .

Ingredients

Ripe plantains

Preparation
Preheat the oven to 200 degree celcious.Place the plantains in the oven and cook for 20 minutes.Allow it cool down .Remove the skin and enjoy !!

Kalathappam/ Rice cake ( Kannur special ) cooked in oven

2010-08-01T13:35:00.000-07:00

Kalathappam is a kannur special tea time snack ,we usually make this is in a pressure cooker but this was my first attempt in oven and the result was unbelievable, it came out so well without any burns which used to be my problem when I make this in cooker.

Ingredients

Rice - 1 1/4 cup
Cooked rice - 1/4 cup
Jaggery -5- 6 cubes( according to your sweetness)
Grated coconut - 1/4 cup
Shallots - 10 nos
Coconut cuts- 2 tbs
Ghee/coconut oil
Baking soda - 1/4 tsp(optional)
Cardamom powder - a pinch
Cumin powder - a pinch

Preparation

Soak rice for 5-6 hrs in water.Grind rice with cooked rice and grated coconut by adding enough water and prepare a loose batter.Add cumin powder and cardamom powder. Allow the batter to stand for 5-6 hrs or if you want to use batter immediately add baking soda.Melt the jaggery by adding little water and add this to the batter.
In a thick saucepan add some ghee/coconut oil and saute the chopped shallots till light brown in colour.In a small pan add some oil and brown the coconut cuts.Add this to the sauted shallots.Pour the batter to the saucepan and gently warm the mixture by stirring continiously .Pour the batter into a greased tin and bake in a preheated oven at 170 degree centigrade for 25- 30 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted comes out clean.Allow it cool down for another half and hour before you cut it.

Poori

2010-07-19T04:57:00.000-07:00

Ingredients

Wheat flour - 3 cups
Warm Water
Salt
Oil - 1tbs
Oil - for deep frying

Preparation
Knead the atta by adding water,salt and oil and keep it aside for 30 minutes.Roll smalls balls and using rolling pin roll out the balls into small circles.In a sauceapan heat some oil and when the oil is hot ,deep fry the puris one by one.Serve hot with bhajis, kadala curry or any curry of your choice.

Beetroot pachadi

2010-07-12T07:11:00.000-07:00

Ingredients

Beetroot - 1
Green chillies - 2
Salt
Grated coconut - 1/8 cup
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp (for grinding)
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Yogurt/Curd - 1/2 cup
Whole redchillies -1-2
Curry leaves

Preparation

Grate the beetroot and cook by adding salt and green chillies.
Grind coconut with cumin seeds and mustard seeds by adding little water.Add this to the cooked beetroot.let it cook for 2-3 minutes and turn off the flame.Beat yogurt with a spoon and add to the pachadi.In a saucepan take some oil and sputter mustard seeds,add redchillies and curry leaves.Season pachadi with tempering.

Chicken roast

2010-07-02T07:25:00.000-07:00

Ingredients

Chicken - 1 kilo
Onions - 4
Tomato -1
Ginger - garlic paste - 1 tbs
Green chillies - 3
Red chilly powder - 1 tbs
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Chicken masala - 1 tbs
Coriander powder - 2 tbs
Garam masala - 1tsp
Curry leaves - few
Coconut cuts - 1 tbs
Salt

Preparation

Marinate the chicken with all the powders,ginger garlic paste and keep it aside for 2-3 hours.
In a saucepan add oil and saute chopped onions till light brown in colour.Add green chillies tomatoes and saute well.Add chicken and oook it covered until its almost done.Take the lid off and cook until the gravy dries and coat the chicken pieces well.Finally in a saucepan add some oil and roast the thinly chopped coconut cuts till light brown in colour and add curry leaves.Add this to the roast.

Vermicilli upmav

2010-06-24T08:49:00.000-07:00

Hi blogger friends,
Hope you all are doing great. I am so sorry for not visiting your space regularly now. I used to get a lot of free time before which I used in a very useful way by reading ur posts and trying out the recipes that I liked.My little boy is 21 months now,almost 2 yr old!! Hope you can guess why I am not active in blogosphere as before.

Ingredients

Vermicilli - 1 1/2 cup
Water - 3 cup
Chopped vegetables - 3/4 cup(carrot,beans,green pepper(capsicum),green peas etc)
Onion - 1
Ginger - 1 tbs(finely chopped)
Green chillies - 3-4
Oil
salt
Turmeric powder - 1/8 tsp

Preparation

In a saucepan take some oil and saute the vermicilli for couple of minutes until it is light brown in colour.Keep it aside.

In another saucepan add some oil and sputter mustard seeds.Add chopped onions and saute well.Add chopped ginger, green chillies,chopped vegetables,salt and turmeric powder and cook till the vegetables are done.Add the water and when it starts to boil add the roasted vermicilli and cook for about 10 minutes or until vermicilli is cooked.

Butter chicken

2010-06-15T09:56:00.000-07:00

Ingredients

To marinate

Chicken (boneless) - 1/2 kg
Redchilly powder - 1 tbs
Turmeric powder -1/4 tsp
Salt
Coriander powder - 1 tbs
Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam masala - 1 tsp
Yogurt -1/2 cup
Lime juice - 1/2 tsp
Ginger -garlic paste - 1 tbs

For gravy

Onion - 3
Tomato puree - 3 tomotoes
Ginger - garlic chopped - 1 tsp
Redchilly powder - 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp
Kasoorimethi - 3/4 tsp
Garam masala - 1/2 tsp
Fresh cream - 1/2 cup

Preparation

Marinate the chicken with ingredients mentioned and set aside for 1 hour.Preheat the oven to 200 degree centigrade and cook the chicken for 15 -20 minutes.(For extra taste add the fat that get deposited in the baking tray to the gravy)

In a a saucepan add some oil and saute onions till light brown in colour.Add chopped ginger and garlic saute for few minutes and add all the powders except kasoorimethi and saute till raw smell goes off. Allow it cool down and blend it to a smooth paste.Pour the gravy back to a saucepan ,add tomoto puree and allow it boil.Add cooked chicken and kasoorimethi powder .Let it boil for few more minutes.Finally add fresh cream and when it is starts to boil turn off the flame and garnish with coriander leaves.

Vellerikka Perekku (Tempered Indian Cucumber - Mango salad) Kannur special

2010-06-08T05:23:00.000-07:00

Ingredients

Indian Cucumber - 1
Raw Mango - 1
Grated coconut - 1/4 cup
Mustard seeds - 3/4 tbs
Redchilly powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt

For tempering

Curry leaves
Whole red chillies - 1-2
Mustard seeds

Preparation

Peel the skin of the cucumber. Remove the seeds from inside and slice cucmber very thinly( paper thin).Marinate the sliced cucmber with salt and turmeric powder and keep it aside for 1/2 an hour.Strain the water that comes out from the cucumber and squash it gently to remove water completely.Add finely chopped raw mangoes to it.In a belnder make a coarse pase of grated coconut,mustard seeds and redchilly powder.Add this to the salad.Check the salt.Finally in a pan add some oil and sputter mustard followed by curry leaves and whole red chillies.Pour this to the salad.

This salad goes well with rice as a side dish.

Wheat rava upmav

2010-06-02T09:54:00.000-07:00

Usually on weekdays I hardly make Indian breakfast but this upmav is a an easy and healthy one that I fix even on weekdays.

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Ingredients

Wheat rava - 1 1/2 cup

Water - 4 cup

Finely chopped vegetables (carrots,beans etc)- 1/4 cup

Green peas - 1/4 cup

Onion -1

Tomato -1

Green chillies -3

Pepper powder - 1/4 tsp
Tumeric powder - 1/3
Grated coconut(dessicated coconut)- 3 tbs
Curry leaves
Corainder leaves
Ginger chopped -1 tbs
Garlic Crushed- 1 tsp
Salt

Preparation

In a saucepan add some oil and sputter mustard seeds. Add chopped onions and saute well. Add finely chopped vegetables , green peas ,tomatoes, ginger, garlic , green chillies ,curry leaves,salt, tumeric powder, pepper powder , salt and cook the vegetables . When the vegetables are almost cooked add grated coconut and give it a good mix.Finally add rava , water and cook well. Add freshly chopped coriander leaves and turn off the flame.

Chicken Dopiaza

2010-05-24T04:54:00.000-07:00

Summer has finally arrived in its full glory in London. Everybody is out enjoying this lovely warm weather outside. Finally we can go out without sweaters and coats. Hope all my friends are enjoying the summer too.

I think it was an year ago when we were back home ,I saw a cookery show in Kairali TV(Malayalam channel) and the hostess Laksmi nair prepared this dish.I scribbled the recipe in a book.I tried this recipe last week and it was delicious.Those who can follow malayalam please find the recipe video here. For others here is the recipe...

Ingredients

Chicken - 1 kilo

Onion -4(sliced in round)

Tomato- 2

Green chillies -4

Garam masala - 1 tsp

Redchillypowder - 1 tbs

Cashew nuts - 50 gm

Kasoorimethi - 3/4tsp

Ginger - (chopped lengthwise ) 1 tbs

Oil - 2 tbs

Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp

For gravy

Onion -3

Garlic - 1 1/2 tbs(chopped)

Tomato -1

Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp

Red chilly powder - 1/2 tsp

Tumeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Ginger - 1 tbs

Preparation

In a saucepan add all the ingredients for the gravy and add 1 cup of water and cook well.Allow it to cool .Blend it in a blender to get a smooth paste. Add chicken to this gravy , add 1/2 tsp of garam masala and salt.Cook the chicken.
In another saucepan take some oil and add the sliced onions (round shaped),ginger and green chillies and saute well.Add the tomatoes and saute again.Add all the spice powders and saute till raw smell goes.Finally add the chicken gravy and mix well. Allow it to boil for few minutes. Finally add the cashewnut paste and bring to boil.Turn off the flame and garnish with coriander leaves.

Chocolate chip cookies

2010-05-18T07:08:00.000-07:00

Yes I am back after my break. My sister and hubby is back in Dubai and I am back to my normal routine. Feeling a bit lonely after they left :(

When I took the break I thought that I can be back with special recipes that I cook for them, but I was totally wrong.The days were too short for me to even enter my kitchen..They were here only for 8 days and 3 days we were out of the city. And the remaining days after all the outing by the time we come back it will be very late to cook, so we eat outside. I cooked only 2 days and that to just a simple dinner.

Today I am going to post a recipe of chocolate chip cookies which I made for them before they came.They really like it and it was all gone within 2 days.

Ingredients

Flour - 1 1/4 cup

Butter - 1/2 cup

Sugar - 1/2 cup

Brown sugar - 1/4 cup

Egg - 1

Vanilla essence - 1 tsp

Chocolate chips - 1/4 cup

Baking soda - 1/2 tsp

Salt - a pinch

Preparation

Beat butter , sugar and brown sugar. Add egg and vanilla essence and beat again. Add all the dry ingredients and mix well.Finally add chocolate chips and mix well.

Make small balls with batter and place them in a baking tray and cook in a preheated oven at 190 degree centrigrade for about 15 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool down before you taste them.

Green Chicken and a short break

2010-04-20T08:04:00.000-07:00

My younger sister and her hubby is coming for a short trip to London in 2 weeks time.I am so excited about their visit and I m counting days now. I have plenty of planning to do aswell,my hubby has asked me to plan the trips and I have some Leisure guides to read for the planning .We are going to take them to wales for 3 days thats the only plan I have now.So I m going to take a short break for few weeks from active blogging and will be back with the treats that I am going to cook for them...

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Ingredients

Chicken pieces - 4

Ginger-parlic paste - 2 tbs

Green chilly paste - 2-3 tbs

Curry leaves-coriander leaves - mint leaves paste - 5- 6 tbs

yogurt - 1 tbs

Limejuice - 1 tsp

Salt

************************

Preparation

Marinate the chicken with all the ingredients and refrigerate for few hours. Preheat the oven to 180 degree centigrade. Place the chicken in the oven and cook for 20- 25 minutes flipping the sides over in between.

Rava Fish Fry

2010-04-19T04:35:00.000-07:00

Ingredients

Fish - 4 pieces

Red chilly powder - 1 1/2 tbs

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Ginger paste - 1 tbs

Lime juice - 1 tsp

Cury leaves - few

Salt

Rava/Semolina - 1/4 cup

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Preparation

Marinate the fish pieces with all the ingredients except rava and keep it aside for half an hour. Coat the fish pieces in Rava/semolina. In a pan heat some oil and shallow fry the fish .

Avial

2010-04-16T07:07:00.001-07:00

Hope all those who celebrated Vishu and Newyear had a fabulous day yesterday. Thank you all for your warm wishes on my previous post. As mentioned earlier I arranged a Vishukkani and made a small sadhya.With just me, my hubby and my little one to eat I didnt pepare all the sadhya items. I have loads of leftover in my fridge even after making on a small scale. I prepared a Kallathappam(kannur special),Payasam,Sambar. Avial, kootu curry,Pachadi and a Thoran.

Today I am going to post the simple recipe of Avial which was requested by one of my friend last month , since Vishu was around the corner I posponed making it till yesterday.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup vegetables chopped lengthwise. I used

Carrot ,Plantain,Yam (chena),Long Green beans and Drumsticks

Greenchillies- 3

Grated Coconut - 1/2 cup

Cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp

Cuury leaves- few sprigs

Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp

Curd/Yogurt - 1 cup

Salt

Coconut oil

* * * * * * * * *

Preparation

Cook the vegetables by adding salt and turmeric powder,

In a blender make a coarse paste of grated coconut,green chillies , cumin seeds and curry leaves.When vegetables are cooked add this paste and cook for 1 - 2 minutes. Add the beaten curd/yogurt and give it a good stir and turn off the flame immediately. Add coconut oil and give a good mix again.

Vishu

2010-04-12T03:22:00.000-07:00

Malayalees around the globe are celebrating Vishu on 15 th of April this year.Vishu is the first day of Malayalam year . Wikipedia says that the occasion signifies the suns transit to first Zoadiac sign as per Indian Astrology.Eventhough the official New year of Malayalees is in Chingam (Aug- Sep) ,Vishu is the Astrological New Year day of Kerala.

Back home Vishukkani is the most important thing about Vishu , we arrange fruits,vegetables,rice, grains etc in our Pooja room where we keep our Gods .We do all the arrangement in the night before and early morning my mom gets up first and she light the lamp(vilakku) and come and call us.We close the eyes and walk to the poojaroom and open our eyes to a bright future ahead by seeing the Vishukkani. Dad gives us kaineetam (money)which is the most exciting part.We also get Kaineetam from our Uncles, Aunts and all elderly persons. So Vishu is season of Pocket money !! In my place ( Kannur ) making uniappam and neyappam is very important for Vishu. So our kitchen will be very busy in the night, we make 100's of uniappam and in my place there is custom where children around the area come in gangs to see the Vishukkani. We have to give Kaineetam and unippam to them. Fire works is the other exciting part( not so excting for me as I m scared of Fire crackers).We spend so much money for it.We start the fire works on the previous night and finish it after seeing the vishukkani in the morning. Last but not least is our delicious sadhya(feast) !!

This year our Vishu is going to here , will really miss the vibrant celebration back home.But I will defintely arrange a Vishukkani and make a Sadhya.

Kadai Paneer

2010-04-11T08:00:00.000-07:00

Ingredients

For the Sauce

Onion - 1
Tomato - 2
Redchilly powder - 1 tbs
Corainder powder - 1 tbs
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Garam masala - 1/2 tsp
Ginger - Garlic paste - 1tsp
Salt

Paneer- 1 1/2 cup
Green and Red pepper( Capsicum)
Kasoori methi - 1 tbs

Preparation

In a saucepan add oil and saute onions till soft, add ginger garlic paste saute till the raw smell goes off. Add the spice powders and saute again. Add tomatoes and cook again .
In another pan add some oil and fry paneer cubes and chopped capsicum ,add the sauce and mix well. Finally add kasoori methi powder stir again.Turn off the flame when paneer is well coated in the sauce.

Caramel Custard

2010-04-07T07:56:00.000-07:00

Ingredients

Milk - 2 1/2 cup
Egg - 3
Sugar - 3/4 -1 cup
Vanilla essence - 1 tsp

Preparation

Caramelise 4-5 tbs of sugar in a pan adding little water. Pour the caramelised sugar into a greased baking tin immediately and spread the mixture evenly by titlting.
Beat Egg and sugar in a mixing bowl and add milk ,vanilla essence and stir again .Pour this mixture into the baking tin and keep it in a baking tray filled with water. Place the tray into a preheated oven at 190 degree centigrade and bake for 45 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted comes out clean . Allow it cook down and chill it in a refrigerator overnight.

Malai Kofta

2010-04-06T10:16:00.000-07:00

Collaborative curry needs no special introduction , a Collaborative blog by my friends Namitha and Sunitha. They always come up with fabulous recipes and irrestitable clicks, so I have a long try list from their blog but only time is the factor that restrict me from trying our their recipes.When Sunitha posted this recipe I bookmarked this one and last week was perfect to try it out and the outcome was superb...My hubby has approved this as a hit item and I am defintely going to include this in my guest menu. Thank you so much Sunitha for sharing this recipe.

Thai Scallops curry

2010-03-31T03:43:00.000-07:00

This is one of the easiest and delicious curry that anyone can make , all you have to do is a little shopping . Those who love Thai curry and scallops do try this out and I gurantee that you can really impress your family. If scallops is not available in your place, substitute with any other seafood of your choice.

Ingredients

Scallops - 300 gm

Spring onion -4

Fish sauce - 2 tbs

Thai curry paste - 3 tbs

Coconut milk - 1 - 1 1/2 cup

Salt

Preparation

Finely chop the white portion of the spring onions. In a saucepan add some oil and saute the chopped spring onions for few minutes. Add Thai curry paste and saute again for few seconds. Add scallops , fish sauce, coconut milk and bring to boil. Simmer it for few minutes until Scallops are cooked.

Spring Pictures

2010-03-28T10:07:00.001-07:00

Finally much awaited spring has arrived. Of all the four seasons ,to me spring is the most beautiful one .Flowers has started to appear everywhere , birds are singing and making nest. This weekend we went to capture the colour of spring and took a few pictures.The most exciting part was that we got a chance to see a peacock dancing with its gorgeous feathers to seek the attention of a female one.

Thenga chammanthi and awards

2010-03-25T07:51:00.000-07:00

Ingredients

Grated coconut - 1 cup

Shallots - 5 no

Garlic clove -1-2

Curry leaves

Red chilly powder - 1tbs

Tamarind - a small piece

Salt

Preparation

Grind all the above ingredients in a mixie without adding water .

Now going on to awards..

Sarah and Beena has shared this sunshine award with me.Thank you so much Sarah and Beena for thinking about me.

Rules for accepting this award,

1, Put the logo on your blog or within your post.

2, Pass the award to 12 bloggers.
3, Link the nominees within your post.

4, Let the nominees know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog

5,Share the love and link the person from whom you received this award.

I would like to pass this award to

Jagruti, Sathyasridhar, Priya, Siddhi, Aparna, Dolly, Sangeetha, Namitha and sunitha, Sangi , Lassi, Neetz, Asha.

Lassi has shared this wonderful award with me.Thanks a lot for sharing this award dear.

Crab masala

2010-03-23T09:53:00.000-07:00

My younger sister who got recently married has started a food blog today.Please do check out her blog when you find time.

Ingredients

Crab - 5 nos

Onion -3

Tomato - 1

Ginger-garlic crushed - 1 tbs

Red chilly powder - 1 tbs

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Coriander powder - 1 tbs

Chicken masala powder - 1 tbs

Salt

Curry leaves

Preparation

In a saucepan take some oil and saute the chopped onions well. Add ginger garlic paste and saute again. Add all the powders and saute again.Finally add tomatoes,cook for few minutes. Add cut crabs and cook.

Chicken 65

2010-03-20T14:07:00.000-07:00

I first came across this recipe in Akal's Saapadu which she tried from Ushnish ji's blog. I followed her link and discovered the wonderful space of Ushnish ji. You can find the original recipe here. Vinola's description about the dish itself made me drool and I thought about trying it sometimes later , but Ushnish ji himself suggested that Chicken 65 was one of the best recipe he has in his blog so I made up my mind to try it soon. The result was awesome, it was absolutely delicious.Thank you Ushnish ji for sharing this recipe and thank you Vinola for posting about it in your space.

Strawberry Ice Cream

2010-03-16T06:25:00.000-07:00

This is a very easy version anyone can make within no time.

Ingredients

Double cream - 1 1/4 cup

Icing Sugar (add according to your taste)

Strawberry -2-3

Preparation

Juice strawberry in a bowl. Add icing sugar and whisk to dissolve it. Pour the double cream and whisk again until it becomes soft and fluffy. Freeze it overnight in an airtight container.If you have the problem of ice forming on the ice cream you can blend it in a mixie after it gets set in the freezer and freeze it again.If you have the patience you can repeat it 2-3 times which makes the ice cream very soft. I dont have that problem so I skipped that part.Sometimes if u find it hard to scoop it just leave the icecream at room temperature for 15- 20 minutes before serving for the ice cream to get softened.

Egg puffs

2010-03-15T07:04:00.000-07:00

Ingredients

Puff pastry sheet

Boiled eggs -3

Onion -2

Tomato - 1

Ginger chopped - 1tbs

Green chillies -2

Red chilly powder - 1/2 tbs

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Coriander powder - 1 tbs

Chicken masala powder - 1 tbs

Curry leaves -few

Salt

Preparation

In a saucepan take some oil and saute onions well. Add chopped ginger,green chillies,curry leaves and saute again.Add all the spice powders and saute again.Finally add tomatoes and salt cook until tomatoes are mashed.Cut the boiled egg into two halves and add this to the masala .Coat the eggs with masala and turn off the flame.

Cut the pastry sheets into squares and fill the masala with a egg half in each puffs and fold the sheets.Bake the puffs in a preheated oven at 220 degree centigrade for 20 minutes until it becomes golden brown.

Vegetable Pulav and Fish egg Thoran

2010-03-13T13:20:00.000-08:00

Rohini's Curries and Spices is one of my favourite blog. She presents all her recipes with a good write up which attract readers like me and now her guest post series has already became a hit in blogosphere. Above all what I like best about her is that she inspires us to cook from other blogs by trying recipes from their space and clicking the outcome and posting it in her blog.
I made her vegetable pulav when a vegetarian friend came for a lunch on weekend .He really liked it as much as me and my hubby.Thanks Rohini for sharing this recipe.

When Aparna posted this recipe in her blog I couldn't stop thinking about the taste of fish egg .Back home we never get to buy fish egg separately from fish market or fisherman, so my mother never prepared fish eggs separately.Fewdays later when I went for shopping I saw fish eggs and without any doubt I picked a packet. Aparna prepared this thoran with king fish egg but I had to satisfy with what I get here. Thoran was so delicious and we all loved it.

Spanish omlette

2010-03-11T08:17:00.000-08:00

Winter has started to give way to spring now . Daylights are coming back and temperatures are getting better. After 3- 4 months of horrible weather , roads are getting busier and so am I. My little one got really fed up by getting locked up within four walls for the last few months ,So we are going out everyday now for 3-4 hrs to his playgroup. After we come back in the evening he will be worn out and goes to sleep soon and I have loads of household work to do.By the time I finish my work he will awake, anyway I will find time somehow to catch up with up my fellow bloggers posts,but please excuse me if I am bit late.

Ingredients

4 eggs

Potatoes -2 medium
Onion - 1
Green pepper(capsicum) - 1/2
Cheese - less than 1/4 cup
Salt
Pepper

Preparation

Cook potatoes for 15 minutes and mash it gently with a spoon. Beat eggs in a bowl and add chopped onions,cooked potatoes,grated cheese ,capsicum,salt and pepper.Give it a good mix.In a pan add some oil and pour the mix and cook for 5-10 minutes.

Ari kadukka /Stuffed Mussels

2010-03-07T14:06:00.000-08:00

Mussels /Kallumakai is undoubtedly the most favourite shellfish in Kannur,Kerala .The best ones are found around Telicherry which is hubby's Place. Kannurites prepare many yummy recipes with Kallummakai like Kallumkai varattiyathu ,Kallumakkai curry , Kallumakai biriyani ,Kalummakai porichathu,Ari kadukka etc etc.

Ari kadukka is a very popular tea time snack in Kannur.The tastier ones are served in roadside thattukada. Its also available in bakeries now. I can say without a doubt that this is one of my favourite snack.

Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients

For stuffing

Fresh Mussels - 15 no

Rice flour - 1 1/4 cup

Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Grated coconut - 1/4 cup

Shallots - 8 -10

Salt

For frying

Redchilly powder - 1 1/ 2 tbs

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Salt

Preparation

Clean the mussels under running water.Gently slide the knife through the slits and open the shell by running the knife around. This is quite tricky and should be careful .It is easier to open the shell if you slide the knife at straight portion of the the slit.

In a mixie pulse grated coconut, shallots and cumin seeds to a coarse paste. Add this to the riceflour and make a soft dough by adding salted warm water.Stuff the mussels with the dough and steam it for 15 -20 minues.Allow it cool down.Once it is cooled remove the shell and marinate the arikadukka with redchiily powder,turmeric powder and little salt( dont add too much salt as the dough contains salt).Keep it aside for 10 - 15 minutes.In a frying pan take some oil and shallow fry the ari kadukka by flipping the sides over.

Mussel Pasta

2010-03-06T13:41:00.000-08:00

Ingredients

Pasta - 250gm

Fresh mussels - 1 kilo

Onions -1

Garlic clove -1

Tomato -1

Chedddar cheese 1/4 cup or more

Fresh Parsley leaves

Olive oil

Salt

Pepper

Preparation

Cook the pasta in boling salt water for 5-10 minutes until soft. Drain the water.

Place the mussels in a big saucepan with little water and heat for few minutes until their shells open.Strain their cooking liquid and keep it aside. Allow the mussels to cool down and take the mussels from their shells.

In a saucepan saute onions until soft and transulent, add garlic and stir for few minutes . Add skinned tomatoes and cook well. Add the cooking liquid and cook for few minutes.Finally add mussels,cheese and parsley leaves and cook for 2-3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.Add the cooked pasta to the sauce and mix well. Garnish with mussel shells.

Idly,ulli sambar(onion sambar) and award

2010-03-04T23:31:00.000-08:00

Ingredients (Idly)

Rice - 1 cup
Urad dhal - 1/2 cup
Fenugreek - 1 tsp
Cooked rice - 3 tbs

Preparation

Saok rice,urad dhal and fenugreek for 6-7 hrs and grind it into a smooth batter adding cooked rice.Leave it overnight(maybe 2 overnights) for fermentation.
Add salt to the batter and pour the batter into a greased idly maker and steam it for 5-7 minutes.

Onion Sambar

Ingredients

Shallots/onions - 20 /2 small
Toor dhal - 1/4 cup
Tomato - 1
Red chilly powder - 1 tbs
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Sambar powder - 3 tbs
Hing - pinch
Garlic cloves -2 -3
Curry leaves

Preparation

Pressure cook the dhal with onions and tomatoes for 2 -3 whistle. Add redchilly powder,turmeric powder,salt,sambar powder to the cooked dhal and boil it for few minutes.

Tempering

In a pan take some oil and add sputter mustard seeds. Add chopped garlic cloves and saute till it becomes light brown. Add hing powder and curry leaves. Add this to the gravy.

Now its award time.

Sowmya has passed this Honest scarp award to me. Thank you so much dear for sharing this award.

Vegetable kurma

2010-03-02T13:24:00.000-08:00

Ingredients

Onion -2

Potato -2

Mushroom - 1cup

Carrot -1

Green peas - 1/2 cup

Capsicum (green pepper) - 1

Green chillies -2

Ginger garlic paste - 1 tbs

Turmeric powder

Corainder powder - 1 tbs

Garam masala powder - 1 tbs

Red chilly powder - 1 tbs

Salt

Fresh cream - 1 cup

Preparation

Saute the onions in a saucepan until it becomes soft. Add green chillies and ginger garlic paste and saute again for few minutes. Add all the chopped vegetables along with spice powders and salt.Add water and cook. When vegetables are cooked add fresh cream and when it is about to boil turn off the stove and garnish the kurma with coriander leaves.

Chocolate mousse (eggless)

2010-03-01T02:05:00.000-08:00

Ingredients

Marshmallows - 1/2 cup

Butter - 1/4 cup

Dark chocolate - 125 gm

Warm water - less than 1/4 cup

Double cream - 3/4 cup

Vanilla esence - 1tsp

Preparation

In a saucepan take marshmallows,butter,chocolate and water nd heat it until all the contents melt .In a mixig bowl whip the cream with vanilla extract until it becomes thick.Fold in the chocolate mixture into it until we get a smooth mixture.

Recipe courtsey

Nigella Express

Paneer Butter masala

2010-02-25T02:47:00.000-08:00

Ingredients

Paneer - 2 cup

Onion -2

Tomato -1(puree)

Ginger garlic paste -1 tbs

Kasoorimethi - 1 tbs

Red chilly powder - 1 tbs

Garam masala - 1 tbs

Corainder powder - 1 tbs

Turmeric powder = 1/4 tsp

Salt

Milk - 1 cup

Preparation

In a saucepan take some oil and fry the paneer cubes flipping the sides until its light brown in colour.In another saucepan saute the chopped onions till it becomes light brown in colour.Add ginger garlic paste and all the spice powders ,saute for few minutes until the raw smell goes off.Add the pureed tomato and saute again.Finally add milk and when it stars to boil add the fried paneer cubes.Let it cook for few minutes.Garnish with coriander leaves.

Paal payasam (Kheer) in cooker

2010-02-22T03:29:00.000-08:00

Ingredients

Basmati rice - 1/2 cup

Milk - 4 cup

Sugar - 1 cup

Cardamom powder - pinch

Cashewnuts - 1 tbs

Raisins - 1 tbs

Ghee - 1 tbs

Preparation

In a big cooker ( I used 5 ltr) add the measured quantity of rice,milk,sugar and cardamom powder .Stir until sugar is completely dissolved.Cook it in a large flame until one whistle comes,simmer it for another 20 minutes and turn off the flame.Open the cooker after half an hour. Roast cahewnuts and raisins in ghee and add this to the kheer.

Simple Yellow Stew

2010-02-16T02:29:00.000-08:00

Ingredients

Onion -1

Potato -2

Carrot -1

Green chillies -2

Ginger chopped - 1 tsp

Curry leaves - few

Shallots - finely chopped 2tbs

Coconut milk - 1/2 cup

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Pepper powder- 1tsp

Salt

Preparation

In a saucepan cook potatoes, carrots,onions along with chopped ginger,turmeric powder,salt and green chillies .When it cooked mash half of the potatoes and add coconut milk and pepper powder.When it about to boil turn off the flame.

For tempering

In a pan add some oil/ghee and add finely chopped shallots and fry until golden brown,add curry leaves too. Add this to the gravy.

This stew goes well with Appam,Puttu and Dosha.

Egg plant/ Brinjal Fry and Awards

2010-02-11T08:32:00.000-08:00

I had a fabulous birthday this year with all the birthday wishes from my dear blogger friends.You really made the day very special to me and few of my friends has even gifted some awards as birthday gift .I would like to thank you all for your warm wishes and awards...

Today's recipe is a spicy Egg plant fry/Brinjal fry

Ingredients

Egg plant - 1 large
Redchilly powder - 1 tbs
Pepper powder - 1/2 tbs
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tbs
Garlic paste - 1 tbs
Salt

Preparation

Slice the egg plant and marinate it with all the above ingredreients and keep it aside for 30 minutes.
Take some oil in a frying pan and shallow fry it.

Now my awards...

Malar has shared 3 awards with me as birthday gift..Thank you so much for your gift dear..

I got this blog loving award from Vinola of Akal's Sapadu as a birthday gift again..Thank you dear for this birthday present.

Nithu my Birthday mate has gifted this award with me.Thank you Nithu for sharing this award with me.

Rules for accepting this award

1, Thank the person who gave you this award

2, Pass this award to your blogger friends.

I would like to share this award with

Nithu , Swapna and Malar has shared this award with me.Thank you all for sharing this award with me.

I would like share all these awards with all my blogger friends.Kindly accept it.

Butter Scotch cake ( 50 th post and Birthday special)

2010-02-08T02:57:00.000-08:00

Today is a special day for me , its my birthday today and this is my 50 th post. I would like to thank all my blogger buddies and readers on this day for all your support and encouragement
you gave me .

Ingredients

Flour - 1 cup
Butter - 1/4 cup
Brown sugar - 1/2 cup
Milk -3/4 cup
Butter Scotch -3 -4 tbs
Baking powder - 1 1/2 tsp
Vanilla essence - 1 tsp
Egg -1

For Butter Scotch

Brown Sugar - 1/4 cup
Butter - 1tbs
Whipping Cream - 1/4 cup
Vanilla essence - 1/4 tsp

Preparation

Butter Scotch

In a pan add butter and when it starts melting add brown sugar and stir well until it reaches a liquid stage. Add cream at this stage and stri well. keep stirring until we get a creamy texture. Allow it to cool down and add vanilla essence.

Cake

In a bowl take flour,baking powder and keep it aside.

In another bowl beat brown sugar and butter. Add egg,vanilla essence ,butter scotch and beat again. Add flour ,baking powder ,milk and beat again.Pour the batter into to greased cake tin and bake it in a preheated oven at 190 degree centigrade for 25 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted to cake comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool down and frost the cake with butter icing or icing of your choice.

Beef fry

2010-02-05T01:16:00.000-08:00

Even though 90% of the Malayalees are carnivorous ,a fair number of non vegeterians doesnot eat beef. Even at my home and my hubby's home beef is not cooked ,but we both used to eat it outside and loved it. I searched for a recipe online and found one here.I must say this beef fry was a super hit and we both loved it.

Sambar -1 (my favourite version)

2010-02-03T02:38:00.000-08:00

Ingredients

Toor dal (yellow lentils) -3/4 cup

Onion -1

Potato -1

Carrot -1

Tomato -1

Drumstick -1

Okra (Ladies finger) -5 -7

Green chillies -2

Garlic -3 pods

Tamarind -a small piece

Turmeric powder

Salt

For sambar masala

Grated coconut - 3tbs

Toor dal - 1tbs

Raw rice -1 tbs

Urad dal -1tbs

Chana dal -1 tbs

Fenugreek seeds - 1 tsp

Cumin seeds -1/4 tsp

Curry leaves 2-3 sprigs

Asafoetida powder -less than 1/4 tsp

Whole Red chilly -4

Coriander powder - 2 1/2 tbs

Pepper corns -3

Preparation

Soak tamarind in little water and keep it aside.

In a pan take some oil and roast grated coconut till light brown in colour,add rest of the ingredients and roast again until it becomes dark in colour.Grind it to smooth paste by adding litle water.

Cook toor dal in a pressure cooker . Add all the chopped vegetables except drumsticks and okra (ladies finger) along with green chillies,turmeric powder and crushed garlic .Add salt.After 5-8 minutes add drumsticks and cook again for 2-3 minutes.Finally add okra and add the tamarind water .When Okra is almost cooked add the sambar masala and cook again for few minutes.

Add some coriander leaves.

Tempering

Take oil in a pan and sputter mustard seeds and add whole red chillies and curry leaves. Add this to sambar.

Easy pizza for kids

2010-02-01T02:10:00.000-08:00

Ingredients

For pizza base

All purpose flour -1 cup

Milk/water - 1/4 cup(maybe a little less)

Butter/oil -1 tbs

yeast - 3/4 tsp

Sugar - 1tsp

Salt

For topping

Tomato -1

Parmasan cheese

Mushroom/chicken

Pepper powder - a pinch

Preparation

In lukewarm milk/water add yeast and sugar and keep it aside for 5- 10 min .

In a bowl take flour and add butter/oil,salt and yeast solution and knead till we get a smooth dough.Cover the dough and keep it aside for 1-2 hrs for the dough to rise.

After 1 hour take the dough and spread the dough on a baking tray with fingers to a round shape.Mash the tomato with a fork or by using hand and spread on the pizza base.Sprinkle some pepper powder.Spread the topping of your choice and finely add grated cheese . Put the pizza in a preheated oven at 250 degree centigrade for about 15- 2o minutes.

Kovakka Urulakizhangu Thoran ( Ivy gourd potato stir fry)

2010-01-29T03:12:00.000-08:00

I never liked kovakka when I grew up but after marriage my mother in law used to make kovakka with potato and it tasted great.The combination with potato makes this thoran yummy and now Ivy gourd has become my favourite thoran.Here is my mother in law's recipe..

Ingredients

Kovakka(Ivy gourd) - 250 gm
Potato - 1
Tomato - 1/2
Onion -1
Green chillies- 2-3
Pepper powder - 1tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt
Curry leaves
Grated coconut - 3-4 tbs

Preparation

In a pan take some oil and sputter mustard seeds.Add chopped onions and saute for few minutes.Add chopped kovakka(chopped lengthwise), potato and tomato together with green chillies,turmeric and pepper powder. Add salt and water and cook .When it is almost cooked add grated conut and curry leaves and cook for few more minutes.

Kadala curry ( Black channa curry)

2010-01-26T06:14:00.000-08:00

Ingredients

Kadala(Black channa) - 3/4 cup
Onion -1
Green chillies -2
Turmeric powder -1/4 tsp
Red chilly powder - 1tsp
Pepper powder -1/2 tsp
Garam masala - 1tbs
Coriander powder - 2 tbs
Chicken masala powder - 1 tbs
Ginger chopped -1tbs
Grated coconut - 1/2 cup
cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves
Red chillies -2
Mustard seeds - 1tsp
Oil
salt

Preparation

Soak kadala overnight.

Grind the grated coconut in a mixie by adding little turmeric powder and cumin seeds into a smooth paste.

In a pressure cooker,cook kadala by adding water along with chopped onions, ginger and green chillies to 3 whistle.Add ground coconut,salt and all the spice powders and cook for few minutes.

Tempering

In a pan add some oil sputter mustard seeds ,then add red chillies and curry leaves.Add this to the gravy.

Ceramic work and Awards

2010-01-25T06:01:00.001-08:00

These 2 pot works are ceramic work that I did long time ago..

Its award time again...

Devi has been very kind enough to share this award with me.Thank you so much Devi.

Priya of Priya's recipe has shared this beautiful award with me. She always share her awards with me, she is a sweet friend.Thank you so much Priya.

Sowmya , my new friend has shared 2 awards with me .Thank you much Sowmya, It means a lot to me.

I would like share all the awards with all my blogger friends .Please accept it.

Hyderabadi chicken biriyani in cooker

2010-01-23T05:43:00.001-08:00

Hyderabadi biriyani needs no introduction. Its very famous in India and I have tasted this so many times from hyderbadi restaurants in Pune. It was my cousin sister who told me that she makes hyderbadi biriyani at home which always turns out good for her. She was following an online recipe. You can find the original recipe here. When I tried it first, I followed the recipe exactly as mentioned. Second time, I made a few changes and turned out better. In the original recipe the chef is using fried onions, but in my version, to be more healthy, I sauted onions till it was golden brown. Also, in the original recipe javantri is a key ingredient but since I didn't like the taste of javantri(mace) I didnt use it. Since hyderbadi biriyani is a dum biriyani, the steam should not escape when cooking it. First time, I sealed the vessel with flour, but second time I tried it in pressure cooker, which gave an awesome result. The rice was very soft and tender.

Here goes the recipe...

Ingredients

To marinate

Chicken - 750 gm
Green chillies -3
Ginger garlic paste - 2tbs
Cinnamon sticks -2
Cloves -5
Cardamom -4 pods
Cumin seeds -1tsp
Corainder powder - 2 tbs
Chilly powder -1tbs
Pepper powder - 1tsp
Turmeric powder -1/4 tsp
Mint leaves - few
Coriander leaves - few
Salt
Yogurt - 3/4 cup

For Biriyani

Onions -3
Basmathi rice - 3 cup
Fried onions to garnish
Saffron water

Preparation

Marinate the chicken with all the ingredients and keep it aside for 1-2 hrs.

Soak rice in water for 30 minutes.Boil water in a vessel and add rice to boiling water.Cook the rice till it is half done.Drain the water.

In a pressure cooker add oil and saute the chopped onions till golden brown.Turn off the stove and add the marinated chicken and mix well. Above the chicken layer spread the half cooked rice and sprinkle the saffron water.Cover the pressure cooker and put the weight.Cook on a high flame for about 5 minutes and 10 minutes on a medium flame and 15 minutes on a low flame.

Garnish with fried onions and mint leaves.

Masala dosha

2010-01-20T06:37:00.001-08:00

Ingredients (for dosha)

Rice - 1 cup
Urad dal - 1/2 cup
Chana dal- 1/4 cup
Fenugreek seeds - 1 tbs
Cooked rice - handful
Rice flakes/poha/avil - handful
salt
oil/ghee

Preparation

Soak rice,urad dal,chana dal and fenugreek seeds for 6-7 hrs . Add rice flakes to the soaked ingredients and let it soak for 10 - 15 minutes. Add cooked rice to soaked ingredients and grind by adding enough water . Allow it to ferment overnight( I kept it 2 overnights because of the cold weather here).Add salt to the batter and mix well.
Heat a non stick pan /griddle, rub some oil/ghee on the pan and pour one laddle of batter and spread it with bottom of the laddle as thin as possible.Cook it covered for 1-2 minutes.When the bottom of the dosha is brown and crisp its ready!!

Rava idly

2010-01-18T05:59:00.000-08:00

Ingredients

Rava - 1 cup
Yogurt - 1 cup
Water - 1/2 cup(as required)
carrot -1 (very finely chopped)
Urad dal- 1tsp
Green chillies -2
Curry leaves - few
Asafoetida -pinch
Baking soda -1/4 tsp
Salt

Preparation

In a pan take some oil and sputter mustard seeds,add urad dal and stir until it becomes light brown.Add finely chopped carrot, green chillies and curry leaves and stir for few seconds.Add rava and asafoetida and stir until rava gets roasted.Allow it cool down.
Add yogurt and water to the rava mixture and mix well.Finally add salt and baking soda to the batter.Pour the batter into a greased idly maker and steam it for 15 seconds.

Broccoli and prawns stir fry( broccoli and chemmen thoran) and an award

2010-01-13T05:46:00.001-08:00

Ingredients
Broccoli -1
onion - 1
prawns - 3/4 cup
Green chillies -3
Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Grated coconut - 2-3 tbs
Curry leaves - few
salt

Preparation
In a pan take some oil and sputter mustard seeds,add chopped onions and saute well until onions become soft. Add broccoli florets, and prawns. Add green chillies,turmeric powder,pepper powder,salt and cook it covered.When it almost cooked add grated cocnut and curry leaves and saute for few seconds and turn off the flame.

Award time again...

My friend Dolly has passed this beautiful award to me...I am so happy and thrilled to receive this award...Thank you Dolly for this beautiful award and for all the support you give me through your encouraging comments.

I would like to pass this award to all my blogger friends.Please accept it .

Pepper chicken and an Award

2010-01-09T02:57:00.000-08:00

Ingredients

Chicken - 600 gm

onion - 2

Tomato -2

Ginger garlic paste - 1 tbs

Cinnamon - 1 stick

Cardamom - 2 pods

Clove -3

Bay leaf -1

Star anise -1

Fennel seeds - 1/2 tsp

Cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp

Pepper corns

Redchilly powder - 1/2 tsp

Turmeric powder -1/4 tsp

Pepper powder - 1 tbs

Coriander powder - 2 tbs

Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp

Garam masala - 1/2 tsp

Curry leaves

Salt

Preparation

Marinate the chicken with red chilly powder,tumeric powder, coriander powder,cumin powder,pepper powder and half of the ginger garlic paste and keep aside for 1 hour.

In a saucepan take some oil and sputter cumin seeds and fennel seeds. Add the whole spices and stir for few seconds.Add finely chopped onions and saute until it becomes brown in colour.Add ginger garlic paste and saute again until the raw smell goes. Add chopped tomatoes and saute until it is well cooked and so that it can be mashed. Add our marinated chicken to this paste and stir well.Cook coverd in a lowflame.Donot add any water.Chicken itself leaves plenty of water while it is cooked.When chicken is almost cooked add crushed peppercorns and curry leaves.To make the chicken dry ,cook for fewminutes uncoverd untill the chicken is well coated in the gravy.

Now my award...

Priya of priyas recipes, Namitha and sunitha of collaborativecurry and sangeetha of kothiyavunu has gifted me with this beautiful award.Thank you so much my dear friends.

Rules for accepting this award:

1) Thank the person giving the award

2) Copy the award to your blog

3) Place a link to their blog

4) Name 7 things people don't know about you

5) Nominate 7 bloggers

6) Place a link to those bloggers

7) Leave a comment letting those bloggers know about the award

7 things people don't know about me:

Here it goes

1) I hate to get up in the morning , I turn off alarm 2-3 times before I get up.

2) My husband thinks that I am good in mimicking .

3) I value friendship a lot, I always try to keep my friendship and try to be in touch with my friends wherever I go.

4) I am scared of loud fire works and fire crackers ,I close my ears with fingers whenever I hear it.

5)Its very easy to make me laugh,I laugh hard on simple jocks.Love watching funny movies,funny home videos,anything funny.

6)I am a paranoid at nights, always double check my gas stove is switched off :)I have burnt my saucepans 2 times before !!

7)Before marriage I cooked only very rarely, and its my hubby who taught me cooking.

I would like to nominate this award to
Asha

Rogan josh( Lamb cooked in yogurt)

2010-01-06T06:03:00.000-08:00

During our 1 year stay in Pune, me and my hubby being foodies used to go out for dinner every friday night and treat ourselfs with a three course dinner.I really miss those beautiful friday nights.We covered so many restaurants in the city and tried all types of cuisines available there.But among all the foods that I tried from different restaurants I had a favourite kashmiri restaurant.It was from that restaurant I tased this wonderful dish first.The taste was so incredible .Eventhough I tried other yummy mutton varieties too this is my all time favourite.This goes so well with all types of Indian breads and ofcourse with rice too.

This was my first attempt to prepare this at home, I did little google search, went through so many recipes and finally made my version. I made this for dinner and luckily it came out well and I was planning to take a picture next day during daylight but nothing was left after the dinner :(

Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients

Lamb - 500 g
Onion - 2
Tomato - 2
Green chillies -2
cinnamon stick -1
bayleaf - 1
cardamom pods -1
cloves -2
cumin - 1 tsp
Ginger garlic paste - 2 tbs
Kashmiri redchilly powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Coraiander powder - 2 tbs
Garam masala - 1 tbs
yogurt -1/4 cup
Fresh cream(optional)
Salt

Preparation

In a saucepan take some oil sputter some cumin seeds,add the whole spices (cinnamom,cloves,cardamom,bayleaf) and stir for few seconds.Add the finely chopped onions to it and saute until onions becomes soft. Add ginger garlic paste and stir again.Add all powders and stir until the raw smell goes. Add the mutton chops to it and fry it for few minutes till the meat becomes little brown.Add finely chopped tomatoes and stir for few minutes until the tomatoes get mashed.Finally add the yogurt and cook it uncovered for 5 minutes.When it is about to boil simmer it cook on a lowflame,strirrng occassionally until the meat is well cooked.It took 1 hour for me .If you wish to make it richer add some fresh cream after the meat is cooked.I added little fresh cream as my gravy was very spicy.Garnish with coriander leaves.

Pancake

2010-01-05T06:11:00.000-08:00

I love pancakes not just because its yummy but it the easiest breakfast that anyone can cook.
Egg,milk and fruits makes it nutrious as well. Feeding my toddler is a tough job for me but when I make this I dont have to run after him, he will come after me..he loves it,thats why I love this pancake :)

Ingredients

Self raising flour/All purpose flour - 1 cup
Milk - 1 cup
Egg - 1
Grated fruit(I used apple) - 1 apple
Baking soda(optional) If you are using all purpose flour add 1/4 tsp baking soda ,no need to add for selfraising flour
salt - pinch
Butter - as required

For serving

Yoghurt
Honey

Preparation

In a mixing bowl take flour,add milk,egg,baking soda and a pinch of salt.Whisk until the batter is smooth. Add grated fruit and mix .
Heat a pan add little butter and when it melts pour a laddle of batter.Cook it uncovered.When the bottom side is golden brown flip them over and cook for a 1-2 minutes or until they are done.
Serve pancake with yoghurt and honey, by drizzling honey over yoghurt.

Recipe courtsey
Jamie oliver, channel 4

Chocloate cake with rich chocolate frosting

2009-12-30T05:20:00.000-08:00

Ingredients

For cake
All purpose flour/ self raising flour -1 1/4 cup
sugar - 1 cup
Butter -1/2 cup
Eggs -2
cocoa powder - 1/4 cup
Baking powder- 1 tsp
Baking soda - 1/2 tsp (optional, if you are using self raising flour no need to to add baking soda)
vanilla essence - 1 tsp
Milk - 1/2 cup
Salt -a pinch

For frosting

Double cream - 100 ml
Butter - 25 g
Dark chocolate - 100 gm
Honey - 1 1/2 tbs

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 180 degree c

Sift all purpose flour /selfraising flour and keep it aside.
In a mixing bowl beat butter,followed by sugar . Add cocoa powder and beat again until it is well incorporated. Add sifted flour,baking powder,baking soda,salt and beat again. Finally add vanilla essence , milk and beat. Pour the batter into a greased cake tin.Bake for about 40 - 45 minutes( if a knife inserted come out clean cake is ready).Remove from the oven and allow the cake to cool for some time.

For Frosting

Heat double cream in pan and when it is about to boil switch off the stove and add rest of the ingredients and wait for five minutes until the chocolate melts . Mix well.

Spread the frosting on the cake and finally decorate the cake with grated or shaved chocolate.Wait for the frosting to set before you cut the cake.

Butter Naan

2009-12-29T04:42:00.000-08:00

I am a big fan of all Indian breads, but never thought about making one at home until I came across the recipe of naan here. The clicks was so temting and I made up my mind to try it soon.I wasn't sure that how it is going to turn out. Whenever I try new recipes its like a lucky lottery draw, sometimes it comes out incredibly well , but sometimes it will be a total failure :)

Sangeetha's instructions was so clear , So I didnt have any second thought. My naan came out very well . Me and my hubby loved it. Even my 15 month old baby ate half of a naan.Thank you sangeetha for sharing the recipe.She has got a wonderful blog out there. You can find her recipes here

Awards

2009-12-23T04:46:00.000-08:00

I got this wonderful cheering award from Asha latha of Asra ashaon ka .Thanks for cheering me up Asha.

Priya of priyas recipe has given me a beautiful thank you award .Thanks for the gift priya.

I would like to pass these awards to all my blogger friends.

Baingan bartha

2009-12-22T08:02:00.000-08:00

Ingredients

Egg plant -1 large

Onions -2

Tomatoes -2

Ginger-garlic minced - 1 tbs

Green chillies -2

cumin seed- 1 tsp

Corainder powder - 2 tbs

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

cumin powder - 1/4 tsp

Garam masala - 1/2 tsp

Redchilly powder -1 tsp

Green peas -1/2 cup

Preparation

Rub oil over the eggplant and bake it in an oven at 200 degree c for about 1 hour .You can also burn the eggplant directly over flame turning the sides over or grill over charcoal until the skin is charred.Let it cool for some time .Peel the skin and chop the flesh.

In sucepan take oil and sputter cumin seeds. Add chopped onion and saute well until it becomes soft.Add chopped tomatoes,green chillies ,minced ginger and garlic and saute for few minutes until it becomes a paste .Add all the masala powders and saute until the raw smell of the masala goes. Add chopped flesh of egg plant and stir for few minutes.Finally add the green peas and cook it covered until green peas get cooked.Garnish with coriander leaves.

Gobi manchurian

2009-12-22T02:39:00.000-08:00

Ingredients

For Frying

Cauliflower -1 (small)

All pupose flour/Maida -5 tbs

Cornflour-3 tbs

Ginger- garlic paste - 1tbs

Pepper powder- 1/2 tbs

salt

Oil

For Sauce

Onion -1 large

Green pepper Capsicum)chopped - 1/2 cup

Spring onion

Minced Ginger and Garlic -1 tbsp

Green chillies -3
Tomato Sauce -4 tbs

Soya sauce -2 tbs

Redchilly Sauce - 2 tbs

Salt

Cornflour

Water

Preparation

Saute chopped onions in a pan until it becomes soft. Add minced ginger and garlic, chopped green chillies,capsicum and stir for few minutes. Add all the sauces and cook for 1-2 minutes.Dissolve 3-4 tbs of cornflour in 3/4 cup of water and add slowly to the pan.when it starts to thicken turn off the flame.

Make a batter of cornflour and all purpose with water adding pepper,salt and ginger - garlic paste.Dip the cauliflower florets in it and deep fry the florets in oil until cripy and light brown in colour.

Add Fried cauliflower to the sauce and mix well. Cook it covered for 2 minutes.Garnish with spring onions.