Kale Kootu/ Kale and lentils stir fry

Each season has its own beauty, maybe not winters expect for the snow. Back home I never bothered about seasons as there was hardly any season change expect the monsoon. Here I love 'spring' the most especially as it promises a new beginning… It's indeed a beautiful feeling to see the flowers blooming, bees buzzing, birds nesting, children playing outside and most of all getting some sunshine ! Yesterday we went to our local park to enjoy the spring, to my distress  some trees were still barren but what I call the beauty of Spring “Daffodils” were on full bloom. I clicked away Daffodils to my heart’s content and I was a happy gal J

Coming to today’s post, I have to thank blogging for making me try new things which wouldn’t have dared to try otherwise. I saw this kale kootu in Anupa’s blog palaharam  and it was one of those recipes I knew I definitely want to try and so I did. It was so delicious and we wiped off our plate clean that day. We have been buying kale often after that and now if I don’t buy the leaves,  my boy often reminds  me in supermarket   “can you buy that curly kale amma”? Thank god he has inherited the foodie tongue of ours and he likes his greens!

Recipe adapted from - Palaharam

Ingredients
Kale leaves - 200 gm
Chana dal/ Kadala parippu - 1/3 cup
Shallots/ Kunjulli - 5-6 no
Grated coconut - 1/2 cup
Cumin seeds/ Jeerakam - 3/4 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Redchilly powder - 3/4 tsp
Salt
Oil
 Mustard seeds- 1 tsp
Whole redchillies
Curry leaves

Method

• Soak chana dal for few hours and pressure cook it for 3-4 whistles.
• Chope the kale leaves and keep it aside( I didn't use stem)
• Cook kale with redchilly powder, turmeric powder, salt for 5-7 minutes.
• Make a coarse paste of shallots, cumin and grated coconut in  a mixie.
• Add the cooked chana dal, coconut paste and give it mix.
• Add salt and cook for 3- 5 minutes.
• Finally take oil in small pan add mustard seeds and when it crackle add whole rechilly and curry leaves and pour the tempering to cooked Kale and give it a mix.

Corn meal Puttu / Cholam puttu

It all started one fine Christmas morning when I decided to pamper Su with South Indian breakfast for a week as a Christmas gift. Before that he was happily eating cereals on weekdays without any complaint but after that one week he got spoilt and when we got back to routine and cereals appeared on breakfast table he declared that he is lactose intolerant!! I really wonder whether it’s true though J.Now it’s almost 3 months since I have been cooking breakfast in the morning. Puttu has been my life saver  on  crazy mornings and  if I don’t get time to make a curry for it  I get away by pairing it  with some banana and he is sold J 

When it comes to writing down shopping list I am really bad and won’t notice things finishing until the last moment , so one morning when I was trying to grab my puttu flour I found that it was not enough for the day. There was nothing else I could fix that day and that’s when I noticed a corn meal on my cupboard. I decided to add corn meal to rice flour to deal the crisis and it was a perfect mix! After that day I tried making puttu with just corn meal (without rice flour) but the mixture of rice flour-corn meal tasted well than corn puttu. So if you want a change from usual puttu this might be good alternative.One good thing I like about adding corn meal to rice flour is that when I moistened the flour it is easy to break the lumps  and it saves my time !

Ingredients

Rice flour – 1 cup

Corn meal – 1 cup

Water – ¾ cup

Salt

Grated coconut – 8- 10 tbs

Method

• Measure the rice flour and corn meal into a mixing bowl.

  

• Add salt to water and add salt water slowly to the flour moistening it. Break any lumps formed.

• Layer puttu maker with a table spoon of grated coconut on bottom and then add moistened flour to 1/3 rd add grated coconut again and repeat the process.

• Place the puttu maker on a steamer or on top of a pressure cooker and steam for 3-4 minutes. 

• Push the puttu out and enjoy with some kadala curry, cherupayar curry or banana, ghee and sugar !!

Home made Ghee/ Clarified butter with step by step pictures

Reading is a habit that I gave long time back not because I wanted to but once lil one came along priorities changed and somehow I lost that good habit of mine…sigh!  Time flies quickly now he is 5 ½ and he himself has got into a very good reading habit which kind of enthused me go back to the snuggly world of books again! I was never an English book reader; I used to find comfort in reading Malayalam books which lifted me into a different world without paying attention to what’s happening around me. Mohammed Basheer was one of my favourite author and  had read almost all his books during those good old days…Getting a Malayalam book to read was not an option here ,so I went to the library and  picked up a book a friend suggested “ The Alchemist “ . I couldn’t believe that I still can read books without getting distracted too much and I finished the book in 2 days!! Book had a great moral for us, i.e. we should follow our dreams and never give up!! Sometimes we never know we can do something unless we try it. I think that should be my resolution for the rest of the year J

Getting back to the topic, today I am going to share a simple post of making homemade ghee from butter. For those  who live back home getting pure ghee is not a big affair, but here what we get in tins as ghee doesn’t taste or smell like ghee. I was bringing ghee from India every year but after few months when it finishes I had to use the rubbish ghee (read expensive too) we get here, so I decided to make my own ghee from butter. I was so happy that I made it as it smelled and tasted  just like the divine ghee we get back home,100 % pure too! Making ghee from butter is a breeze, all you need is 20 minutes and a thick bottomed pan and some patience J

Ingredients

Unsalted butter – 500gm

Method

• In a thick bottomed pan place the butter and heat it on a low flame.                                  
  
                                                                                                                           
• Butter will melt and boil and it looks foamy. Simmer it on a low flame and continue boiling on a low flame stirring occasionally.                                                        
          
                                                         
                                                 
  
                 

                 

• After 18- 20 minutes it becomes clear and u will see a residue settled on the bottom.                                                                                                                           
  

• Once its cools down a little, sieve it and store it a clean airtight bottle. 

               

                                                                                                                    

Before  I sign off let me wish  all the friends who celebrate Holi a very Happy Holi !!              

Cow cake , Peppa Pig cake and some Ireland Pictures

I really wish I get more time to do blog post at least once in a week. Now that its officially spring I am hoping that with little extra day light that we have now, I might be able to do some justice to the blog. I know that nobody is going to question me or maybe no one might  even care if I don’t blog , but  deep inside me I get a quirky feeling that I am letting down my supporters/ readers J Spring has definitely uplifted my spirits and that’s why I am here too. I have a kitchen by the window which faces a back garden or maybe I should call it wild garden with lots of trees and bushes. Every day when I do the washing up I get to watch a pair of doves playing on the branches and following each other, they were so in love and it was a pleasure to watch them. This was the sight for almost many weeks but today when I was doing the washing up I saw the one of the dove busy gathering twigs for building their nest!! It made me soo happy inside to see their love story moving to next level, I really wish they build their nest on the same branch they used to live together! 

Coming back to today's post, not a recipe post,its just some fondant cakes which I made rescently. The cow cake was for my nephew who turned 1 and Peppa pig cake was for a friend's daughter. We were holidaying in Ireland last week with my sister and I took the cake all the way to Ireland in my cabin bag, my first creation to go on a plane !! Ireland is a such beautiful place and we had a great time there. I will let the pictures talk more rather than me rambling again.That's all for now, will come back again soon.

  

Gulab Jamun, A guest post for Rafeeda of Big Sweet Tooth

 

Rafeeda or Rafee as I fondly call her who blogs at Big sweet tooth is one of the sweetest friend virtual friend has gifted me. She has been a great support and encouragement for my blog through her beautiful comments which comes straight from her heart. I owe it to Rafee for  making my blog's font to a readable size as they were really really small before and it was she pointed out that I should make it a bit bigger. So after lots of experiments finally I figured out everything and changed it but what surprised me was  even before mentioning that to her  she noticed the difference  and got back to me ! Such genuine friends are rare to find right ??

I look up to Rafee’s blog not just for recipes, I enjoy reading her lovely write ups and beautiful quotes she posts in her blog. Rafees recipes has left me drooling several times, especially all her typical Malabar dishes and various Biriyani’s. When Rafee hosted a cook out in kerala kitchen I joined her and tried her Attipathiri recipe. She gave all the directions precisely in post, so it was so easy to follow her recipe and it tasted soo delicious too !

When Rafee asked whether  I could do a guest post for her I was more than happy to do it for her and knowing me well, she gave 3 months time, so I got ample time to plan and do this post for her. Since she she left everything to me and I choose this gulab jamun for the Big sweet tooth girl J 

Coming to the  post, making Gulab jamuns were  not really easy peasy as I thought or maybe I should say it’s so easy to  screw it up  if u don’t follow the recipe to dot and that’s what my over confidence did to me. First time I made this I added a  little extra baking soda so even though jamuns tasted good, it didn’t hold the round shape after it was fried.  Second time I reduced the baking soda but I think I added one spoon extra butter moreover the baking soda was still more so it had to be  binned straight away as it didn’t hold shape at all. So by the third time I had better idea and the jamus came out soo perfect ! So the key to get a good jamun is to add just a pinch of baking soda which  doesn’t mean  ¼ tsp or 1/8 tsp as I  thought ( silly me ! ). A pinch really does mean a pinch in gulab jamun recipe !! If you would like to see  the recipe head over to Rafee's blog and while you are there please dont forget to check out her blog.

Chemmen ullarthu / chemmen roast/ Kerala prawns roast

After a 2 weeks silence, I am back again with a simple post. During our last trip to India my sis in law made this yummy prawn’s ullarthu for us and ever since I was dying to make this at home. Getting hold of fresh/ raw prawns is an expensive affair here, so we always buy the prepared prawns (cooked and peeled) which doesn’t have any flavour like the ones  we get back home. Couple of weeks backs we found a good deal for raw prawns in an Asian market , so I picked one packet with this ullarthu in mind. Despite of having a hectic day I cooked the prawns same day as I didn’t want to freeze it and miss out that fresh flavour. The prawn’s tastes yumm after a long time, but it  still it missed the flavour I grew up eating, but nonetheless we all enjoyed it as it was a delicious preparation. 

Ingredients Prawns – 500 gm (cleaned) Shallots/ cheriya ulli (thinly sliced) 3/4 cup  or 2 medium onion  thinly sliced Ginger (minced) – 2 tsp. Garlic (minced) – 2 tsp. Curry leaves – few sprigs Red chilli powder – 2 tbs Turmeric powder – 2 tsp Salt Coconut oil Crushed red chilli flakes - 1 tsp Method Marinate the prawns with red chilli powder, turmeric powder and salt for 30 minutes . In a non stick pan  add coconut oil and fry the red chill flakes for few seconds,  add in the  sliced shallots and saute until soft. Add minced ginger – garlic, curry leaves and fry for a minute or so. Add marinated  prawns stir until prawns are coated in masala. Cover and cook for 5 minutes or until prawns are cooked. Remove the lid and cook for 2-3 minutes on high flame until prawns are well coated in the masala.

Ras Malai ( with step by step pictures)

I have never been so busy in my life, lots of thing happening and I am working really hard after ages. Blogging should be the last thing I should be doing now, but sometimes for a break I find blogging and cooking therapeutic. I really wish I could spend more time on styling the picture and taking beautiful pictures but if I go for that doing a post might not happen for another few more weeks and I don’t want to ignore my blog that long. Let me get straight to the recipe before my hubby catches me doing a blog post when I have lots of pending work to finish.

Recipe adapted from - Show me the curry

Ingredients ( serves 6 )

For paneer

Milk – 6 cups

Lime juice – 3 tbsp.

For making Malai

Water – 5 cup

Sugar – cup

Paneer patties

For Ras

Milk – 5 cups

Sugar – 1 cup or as required

Cardamom crushed – ¼ tsp.

Saffron strand – few

Nuts- Almonds and Pistachios

Method

Making Paneer

• Boil milk and add 3 tbsp. of lime juice.
• Milk curdles and whey separates, strain it in colander lined with muslin cloth and rinse few times in cold water to remove lime flavour.
• Squeeze it hard and hang the muslin cloth under the tap for 30 minutes to strain any water left.
• Place a small weight on top of the muslin cloth to remove the water completely.

Making Paneer patties

• In a food processor or mixie blitz the Paneer for few seconds and knead until it’s soft or alternatively knead them well for 5- 10 minutes until soft.                              
  
• Divide the dough into 15- 20 equal sized balls and press them gently and make patties.                                                                                                                  
  

• Meanwhile add 5 cups of water and 1 cup of sugar in a pressure cooker. Place it on a medium flame until sugar I dissolved. Now carefully add the patties to the sugar water and close the lid and pressure cook it for 1 whistle and remove from fire.                                                                                                                         
  

• After 5 minutes take the pressure to kitchen sink and pour cold water to it so release the pressure, once the pressure is released open the cooker and take out the patties one by one with a ladle or spoon and gently give it squeeze to remove the excess water.                                                                                                       
           

• Let it cool down.

Making Ras

•  Boil milk with saffron strands in a thick bottomed vessel or a non-stick vessel and simmer it for 30- 45  minutes stirring every now and then until milk reduces to half.   
  
•  Add crushed cardamom and in the end and remove from fire once sugar is dissolved. Let it cool down a little bit.                                                                   
  

Chilling and serving

• Add the patties to Ras (Reduced milk) and chill it the fridge for 3-4 hours.
• Add Pistachios and Almond shavings on top before serving. 

Notes
When I made paneer I added a bit too much lime juice than 3 tbs so my paneer had a subtle ime flavour, but neverthless it was delicious. So please stick to 3 tbs. if you dont want a paneer with lime flavour :)