Milk Peda for Diwali !

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..

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)

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/ Pachari / Long grain rice - 1 1/2 cup

Grated coconut - 1 cup

Urad dal / Uzhunnu parippu  - 1 tbs

Chana dal / kadala parippu - 1tbs

Mustard seeds - 3/4 tsp

Curryleaves - few

Whole redchilly -2 (optional)

Green chillies -2 (slit lengthwise)

Salt

Prepartion

1. Cook the rice and keep it aside.
2. In a tawa/wok add some oil sputter mustard seeds. 
3. Add urad dal, chana dal and fry till its lightly roasted.
4. Addd grated coconut, green chillies, curry leaves  and roast it for a minute or so ( Donot allow the coconut to become brown). 
5. Finally add cooked rice, mix well and check the salt.

Fish curry (Salmon curry )

Ingredients

Fish (salmon)- 500 gm 

Mustard seeds -1 tsp  

Fenugreek - 1 tsp 

 Onions -2  

Tomatoes - 3  

Ginger minced- 1tbs  

Garlic minced – 1 tbs 

Mango ginger minced – 1 tbs(optional) 

Green chillies- - 3- 4   

Curry leaves  

Red chilli powder- 2 tbs  

Turmeric powder- 1/2 tsp  

Coriander powder - 1 tbs

Salt  

Cocum -1 small piece  

Coconut milk - 1 1/2cup ( 1 cup thin milk + ½ cup thick milk) 

Fenugreek powder - a pinch  

coconut oil - 1tsp  

 
Preparation

 In a pan add some oil and sputter mustard seeds, add fenugreek and when it becomes light brown, add chopped onions and sauté till it becomes soft and brown.  

Add minced ginger-garlic, mango ginger, curry leaves , green chillies and sauté for few more minutes.  

Add all the spice powders and sauté for minute or so until raw smell goes. 

Add chopped tomatoes and cook till tomatoes becomes cooked and mashed. 

 Add warm some water, fish pieces and a piece of cocum and cook covered till the fish is 3/4 th done.

Add thin coconut milk and cook for a minute or so until fish is done. 

Finally add thick coconut milk and just when it is about to boil, add some coconut oil, fenugreek powder, curry leaves and switch off the flame. 

 

 

Erachi Ada/Erachi pathiri

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

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 )

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.